Demob Happy

Once upon a time in the Midlands

8/10

Nice Work is a clever, well-constructed comedy and social commentary about a clash of cultures in a fictional Midlands town in the mould of Birmingham. Well-paced and meticulously plotted, the novel revolves around the unlikely convergence of Dr Robyn Penrose – a professor of Women’s studies and purporter of deconstructuralist and feminist theory – and Vic Wilcox, MD of an industrial engineering plant. Written aptly at a time of great social transformation (Thatcher, class strife, the decline of industry and massive cuts to public spending) David Lodge pieces together an astute oberservation of British life. Moreover, he is a master at developing tangible and appealing characters by telling the story – alternately – from their perspective. Billed as ‘the campus novel meets the industrial novel’, this is a highly readable and thought-provoking work.

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