The British Museum Is Falling Down (King Penguin) [Paperback]

David Lodge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 1989 | Series: King Penguin

A graduate student in literature and a practicing Catholic, Adam Appleby is also married and has three children. On this foggy day in London, work and life conspire to propel Adam through a series of disasters which will leave readers laughing out loud.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Lodge is the author of ten previous novels, a trilogy of plays and a novella. He has also written stage plays screenplays and numerous works of literary criticism. His books have been translated into twenty-five languages. He is Honorary Professor of Modern English Literature at the University of Birmingham, where he taught for many years, and lives in that city. David Lodge’s books have sold over 2.5 million copies.


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (September 5, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140124195
• ISBN-13: 978-0140124194
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,240,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flustered student attempts to focus, April 26, 1998

By 

Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The British Museum Is Falling Down (King Penguin) (Paperback)

Frazzled, brainy, and distractable doctoral candidate Adam Appleby spends a day (among many) in the Reading Room of the British Museum. His wife is home with their young children. This clever, playful, and sweet novel contains in it parodies of Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Conrad, Kafka, Hemingway, Graham Greene, and others. (They're named in Lodge's introduction to the recent edition.) Written in 1965; one of Lodge's earliest novels.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good "historical" reading for Lodge fans, October 22, 2001

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The British Museum Is Falling Down (King Penguin) (Paperback)

This is Lodge's third novel and first comedy, written while he was a young lecturer on a fellowship in the U.S.; while it's much more narrow and not nearly as subtle as his later work, it's still pretty good. There's a good deal of slapstick but more pastiche and sly satire, and Lodge's ear for hilarious dialogue is very evident. The subject matter, however, is now rather outdated, as it concerns the trials and tribulations of a young English Catholic couple who can't quite bring themselves to rebel against the Church's teachings regarding birth control. With three young children in four years of marriage, and now the threat of a fourth pregnancy, both of them are economically and psychologically despondent and sexually frustrated from trying to follow the Rhythm Method. The author himself is Catholic, and one has to wonder if he still believes as he apparently did then.

Still, this story of Adam and Barbara Appleby, which spans a single day of Adam's attempts to carry on his thesis research in the Reading Room of the British Museum, raises all the questions of authority vs. conscience that concerned Vatican II. Lodge even manages to bring about a classic comedic denouement without it seeming contrived. Good "historical" reading for the Lodge afficionado. The Penguin edition also includes a revealing introduction by the author discussing the story behind the novel and the themes he was attempting to address.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious; wonderful diversion from academic work, July 7, 1998

By 

Richard Briggs ([e-mail]) (Nottingham, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The British Museum Is Falling Down (King Penguin) (Paperback)

This short novel is a great way to relieve the anxiety of academic work. I recommend that all academics and students read it about once a year to keep sane. Hard to believe the author's claim that it is not autobiographical...