The Office of Desire [Hardcover]

Martha Moody (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2007

From the author of the runaway bestselling novel Best Friends, a smart, touching novel about the intimate yet fragile relationships among five very different people, thrown together in a small medical office, and how each life affects the others.

Alicia, Brice, and Caroline are the ABCs-three close friends who have been brought together while working at the cozy medical practice of Drs. Markowitz and Strub in Midburg, Ohio. But when Alicia and Dr. Strub begin an affair, a dramatic chain of events ensues that gradually but drastically alters the office environment-ultimately requiring all five coworkers to redefine their relationships to one another. As Dr. Strub's romantic life is thrown into turmoil, Dr. Markowitz is faced with the dire illness of his own wife and the secret life she has kept from him. Nurse Alicia withdraws to focus on her prodigy son; receptionist Caroline enters into a strange romance she previously would have dismissed; and office manager Brice, his once-ordered world disintegrating, is set dangerously adrift. Finally, a questionable business venture that evolves into financial scandal precipitates a monstrous tragedy that threatens to destroy everyone involved. Warm, moving, and witty, The Off ice of Desire offers an insightful look at human nature that will appeal to those who loved Moody's previous novel and anyone else who has worked in an office.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Moody (Best Friends) stages this sharply observed tale of office relationships gone very wrong at a small Ohio medical practice. When Dr. Will Strub marries office nurse Alicia, he becomes increasingly involved in the local fundamentalist church. That puts him somewhat at odds with his fellow doctor and business partner, Dr. Hap Markowitz, who defines himself as a non-observant, God-fearing Jew. Meanwhile, middle aged office receptionist Caroline begins her own new relationship with a 72-year-old patient named Fred, while Hap devotes his spare time to his seriously ill wife, making office manager Brice literally the odd man out. The slow descent into insanity by one of the characters leads to a tragedy that affects all involved; gay relationships, evangelical fervor, amputation and infidelity all play in. There is a point where loyalty became a sickness, where faithfulness to someone else became a way to destroy yourself, Hap observes, and each of Moody's well-drawn characters embodies that statement in his or her own way. Hap and Caroline alternate with first person narration, which lends Upstairs Downstairs–like shifts in perspective, which can be distracting. Moody keeps things moving, though, and gets the details right, whether adding up emotional balances, Prozac samples or a patient's bill. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

Moody's follow-up to her best-seller Best Friends (2001) is set at a small medical practice in Ohio. The five characters who populate the office—Dr. Hap Markowitz, his medical partner Dr. Will Strub, receptionist Caroline, nurse Alicia, and accountant Brice—are deeply sensitive to changes in each other's moods and relationships. When Dr. Strub's wife leaves him, he takes up with single-mother Alicia, creating a breech in Alicia's friendships with Caroline, who lost a leg to cancer, and painfully shy Brice. Alicia and Dr. Strub marry, and in their wake Caroline and Brice begin a furtive, short-lived affair while Dr. Markowitz struggles with the news that his wife, Janis, is suffering from hepatitis C. Told in alternating sections from Caroline and Hap's perspectives, the novel builds inevitably toward a tragic event that affects all the characters in the office. Though the book meanders a bit in the middle, when Dr. Strub finds religion, Moody's second outing perfectly captures the nuances of a small group of people working closely together in an insular environment. Huntley, Kristine

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; 1st Printing edition (August 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594489491
• ISBN-13: 978-1594489495
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,118,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Officially a fan..., January 29, 2008

By 

Pi (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Office of Desire (Hardcover)

of Martha Moody. I picked up "The Office of Desire" after reading (and loving), "Best Friends". I was not disappointed. This book was a fascinating book, I could not put it down, and read it in just a few hours. I found the characters fascinating, and well crafted. Fantastic book, can't wait for more from Moody.

3.0 out of 5 stars An unusual read, November 25, 2011

By 

J. Robert Ewbank (Mobile, Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Office of Desire (Paperback)

This book by Moody was a very unusual read in its own way. It covered the doctors office in which there are two doctors and three supporting personnel along with spouses of the doctors, former and past. It covers their relationships with each other and what happens in the office as the relationships between the participants change. Though it does not go too far in completing the story it speaks through the voices of the various participants which was interesting. I enjoyed it.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent story, November 22, 2011

By 

M/M fan "Michael Wayne" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Office of Desire (Paperback)

I did enjoy this first book for me by Moody- The story kept me involved and wanting to find out where the characters ended up. My only complaint was some of the excess discritors of shrubs and office furniture. Other than that- nicely written.