Alright, bad pun. “Deaf Sentence” is actually the title to a novel by Deaf Sentence. This is his latest novel, which means he’s written more than one.
According to the NYT, this new novel: “it nonetheless showcases the author’s ability to use sympathy and slapstick humor to create an appealingly hapless hero and to recount his adventures with Waugh-like verve. The humor is more muted here, not least because his hero is grappling with sobering matters like an ailing parent, a stale marriage and the frustrations and disappointments of advancing age, instead of the sort of career woes and sexual misalliances faced by Mr. Lodge’s earlier heroes.”
The reviewer dismisses the author’s earlier attempts as “lackluster.”
Publishers Weekly notes:
“The novel takes the form of his newly begun daily diary. At a gallery event, Bates mistakenly agrees to help shapely, enigmatic American student Alex Loom with her Ph.D. thesis on suicide notes.
It quickly becomes clear that Loom's intentions are anything but academic and her instability shakes not only the sound foundations of Bates's family life but his long-since-stagnant fantasy life as well. Lodge's amiable, deliberate narrative tickles like
Viking is the publisher, and the full NYT review can be found here .
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