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Title: The Diagnosis : A Novel by Alan Lightman ISBN: 0-375-72550-4 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 19 February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.89 (72 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: 2
Summary: Stick your tongue out and say "Blah."
Comment: A disappointment. "The Diagnosis" tells the Kafka-esque story of Bill Chalmers, a 40-something financial analyst in Boston who, unable to keep pace with the overload of information modern society requires of him, slowly loses all of his physical senses. The modern story is offset by a parallel tale set in ancient Greece concerning Anytus, the executioner of Socrates, during the final days before the execution.
The relation between these two seemingly disparate stories is this: Socrates introduced Western society to the practice of acquiring knowledge through public discourse and communication, and both Anytus and Chalmers suffer for their irrational rejection of the "information revolutions" of their time. Each of their sons, however, embrace the free exchange of ideas enabled by public discourse and technology and are rewarded for it.
So what? It's a superficially clever conceit, but it's not sufficient to sustain a book. It's not even sufficient to sustain a "Twilight Zone" episode, as no diagnosis for Chalmers' condition, however farfetched, is ever revealed. The characters are woodenly written and unconvincing. (Why, for example, did Chalmers flee the hospital during his initial memory loss?) Moreover, Lightman's attitude towards the rejection of modernity is never made clear. On the one hand, Lightman's portrayal of Chalmers' degeneration (and Anytus' parallel tale) suggests that it's a fool's strategy; on the other, Lightman's horrific depiction of modern life (as an unending clutter of car horns, emails, phone calls and red tape) suggests that it's the only rational reaction. Pick one, Mr. Lightman, then write a book.
There's no gnosis in "The Diagnosis." You're better off reading Socrates.
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: 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: 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: 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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