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Title: The Diagnosis : A Novel by Alan Lightman ISBN: 0-679-43615-4 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: September, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.89 (73 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A commentary on life in our times.
Comment: After reading several reviews of what I believed was a thought-provoking and ultimately disturbing commentary on our times, I was forced to counter the reviews of those who found the book lacked meaning. In my view, Lightman is addressing the spiritual poverty of the business community, and in turn, millions of Americans who are part of that community, by way of his main character Bill Chalmers. The vaguely unhappy Bill is blindly chasing the American Dream working in a hyper-competitive, soul-deadening position, and bears some similarity to the Kevein Spacey character in American Beauty. The unique twist to Lightman's story is this spiritual unhappiness manifests itself in a physical way, causing Chalmers to grow increasingly ill and physically deteriorate over the course of the story. As doctor after doctor fails to find the cause of his illness, he slowly begins to sense the reason for his malady and lashes out at the people and institutions that caused it. But he can not find the way out, the solution that will enable him to escape the confines of his life which ultimately (and literally) paralyze him. This story may hit too close to home for some -- for others, it will be a cause for serious reflection on the spiritual ills of the business world today and on the changes we might make in our own lives to avoid or better cope with them.
Rating: 3
Summary: Suffering From Information Overload
Comment: I was introduced to the writing of Alan Lightman with his delightful book, EINSTEIN'S DREAMS. I have to admit, I really didn't care for THE DIAGNOSIS nearly as much as I thought I would, but it is very well written.
THE DIAGNOSIS is the story of Bill Chalmers, a Bostonian who spends far more time in cyberspace than he does in the "real" world. Bill is totally engrossed in his job-the processing of information-and he's totally dependent on things like mobile phones, PDAs and, most of all, the Internet. Chalmers' son, Alexander and his wife, Melissa, live their lives in cyberspace as well, all to their detriment rather than to their good.
One day, while Chalmers is running for the subway, he's distracted by a woman using a new type of mobile phone and a digital display involving stock quotes. The next thing he knows, he can't remember anything...not even his own name. Despite not knowing who he is or where he's supposed to be going, Chalmers gets on the subway and rides. And rides. And rides.
It gives nothing of the plot away to say the Chalmers' memory does return in a very short time, but he finds himself faced with another problem...he's behind in his work and it seems like he simply can't catch up. And, even though he's regained his memory, he still doesn't feel well and his productivity suffers, something he knows his company won't tolerate.
Despite setting up the story of Bill Chalmers and his loss of memory and productivity, Lightman switches gears, so to speak, in midstream and begins to focus on Chalmers' son, Alexander, instead. Here is where the book got a little strange for me.
Alexander, who decides he wants to take an online course on Plato, manages to break into the school's computer, download the course and send it to Bill. Now, the story cuts back and forth between Bill's flagging productivity, Alexander's desire to learn about Plato and goings on in ancient Athens. I have to say, I really didn't "get" the point of all of this.
Bill, meantime, is pressing his doctor, Dr. Petrov, for a definitive diagnosis as to his loss of productivity, his anxiety and the numbness and tingling in his arms and legs. Petrov, however, is very reluctant to confer a diagnosis on Bill. Instead, he sends Bill to a round of specialists who email their findings to Petrov who then emails Bill. More of the dreaded cyberspace. Bill's anxiety, as well as his other symptoms, increase, and he certainly doesn't find a sympathetic soul in Melissa. His wife is more annoyed with him than anything else.
To say more would give away too much of the plot, and especially the ending of THE DIAGNOSIS, but suffice it to say that it ends in cyberspace, just as it began and neither Bill's story nor Alexander's nor Melissa's nor even Socrates' ends on a wholly satisfactory note, but I think that's part of the book's theme.
I think computers are very convenient things to have around and I love online shopping, but I hate technical things. THE DIAGNOSIS is filled with texting and email jargon, much of which I simply didn't understand (and what I did understand, I loathed). Both the story and the characters failed to engage me, though Lightman is certainly an original writer and his prose is excellent. Even though I didn't enjoy reading the book, I do think it succeeded in doing what it set out to do, and, for that reason, I gave it four stars. I simply couldn't justify five, since I couldn't find anything engaging in the book. THE DIAGNOSIS focuses far more on theme than it does on plot of character.
If you like computers and cyberspace, you'll probably like this book. If you're like me, however, and you only like computers for the convenience they offer, then THE DIAGNOSIS probably won't be the right book for you. I kept wishing Lightman would change course and focus on character development instead of theme, but I don't think character is what this book is all about. Good, not great, and certainly not the delight that EINSTEIN'S DREAMS is.
Rating: 2
Summary: Dreary and confusing
Comment: The opening chapter is frightening and compelling, but beyond that it was, for me, a tough read. The author doesn't seem to have much sympathy for any of his characters. I didn't either. The wife, Melissa, seems real if not appealing and the son is appealing but not very real. Bill seems to have no personality, no inner drive except to keep going, no moral center, no core of any sort. Is that the point? In my experience most victims of modern society, business, technology, whatever, have a stronger core (often badly flawed) than Bill. Bill doesn't seem to like his meaningless job, but that hardly differentiates him from millions of others and hardly makes him sympathetic. I felt as if I were watching a robot melt down -- fascinating in its way but hardly the subject of great fiction. My curiosity in finding out Bill's ultimate fate was more idle than fueled by any interest in Bill. I really don't think you need to suffer a debilitating illness to figure out that your life is dull and silly.
I got tired of reading his e-mails long before he did, and I guess his high-powered business colleagues had not discovered spell checking -- the misspellings were irritating and a stupid device (to indicate what?).
I actually found the Plato material far more interesting than Bill's story but found only superficial parallels with the main story. It's a relatively short book, but it took me forever to get through it.
Maybe it's time to call a halt to fiction based on "life in modern society is hell and technology rules." It is and it does, but been there, read that.
Well written, I must say.
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Title: Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman ISBN: 0446670111 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1994 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Good Benito by Alan Lightman ISBN: 0446671606 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1996 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Reunion : A Novel by Alan Lightman ISBN: 037542167X Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 22 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Dance for Two : Essays by Alan Lightman ISBN: 0679758771 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 26 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Ancient Light: Our Changing View of the Universe by Alan P. Lightman ISBN: 0674033639 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: February, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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