The Office of Desire (Hardcover)

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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 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: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #955,059 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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 "vegan chic" (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting study of people and relationships, August 12, 2007

By	Jill A. Herman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Office of Desire is, without question, one of the most well written and insightful novels I have ever read. Moody develops and explores the characters masterfully - and pulls the reader in to the drama of their very human flaws and foibles. It is also very interesting to read about the inner workings of a medical - as portrayed by a physician-writer. Office of Desire - like Moody's first book Best Friends, works so well because Moody is particllarly adept at pulling threads from real life and weaving them into her stories. Her use of language and turn of phrase are beautiful. There are some lines that stay with you - haunt you. I recommend both this book and Best Friends heartily and without reservation!!!

4.0 out of 5 stars Beach read?, July 23, 2008

By	K. Wilcox (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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

This book is not as much of a light-hearted dark comedy as some of the newspaper reviewers would have you believe. The ending of the book is tragic and not the best thing to be reading on the beach. Not to take away anything from the book, which was largely enjoyable, but I didn't like the fact that I took it with me to read on a beach vacation and wound up on the verge of tears at the end.