A Man of Parts

September 12, 2011
In this comprehensive, often bland novel, Lodge (Small World) focuses on the extensive erotic experiences of celebrated British author H.G. Wells. As he states in his authorâs note, every character and plot development is non-fiction, and Lodge makes extensive use of quotes from Wellsâs personal correspondence. Unfortunately, the result reads more like a biography than a novel, with a plot that strictly adheres to the chronology of Wellsâs lifeâfrom early boyhood to death. Many of the circumstances and details are salacious, from the protective sheaths which Wells uses to make his philandering possible, to his perennial interest in making love outdoors, to some big cats role-play with writer Rebecca West (he was her Panther, she his Jaguar), with some relevant quotes from their love lettersââI shall lay my paw on you this Wednesday night.â However, the womanizing becomes repetitive, with one too many frigid wives, and too many virgins in need of a sexual education from an older, more experienced lover, all resulting in a certain tedium best suited for readers who are already devotees of Wells or Lodge.

July 15, 2011

At his best when he artfully blends comedy and pathos (Deaf Sentence, 2008, etc.), Lodge returns to the fictional biography genre that didn't serve him particularly well in Author, Author (2004).

At least, unlike Henry James (the earlier novel's protagonist), H.G. Wells had an eventful life rife with political controversies and a tangled variety of love affairs, as well as bestselling books ranging from early sci-fi classics such as The War of the Worlds to popular nonfiction like The Outline of History. The books are conscientiously covered; indeed, the novel reminds us just how influential and famous Wells was from the 1890s through World War I. But his romantic life is the main focus here, as the writer looks back from the vantage point of 1944 on his tumultuous relations with a parade of independent young women who worshipped him as a titillating socialist/feminist bad boy. They offered sexual excitement while wife Jane provided domestic comforts at home. His straitlaced comrades at the Fabian Society were appalled by Wells' open espousal of free love—especially in the several cases where their daughters took him up on it—and resistant to his desire to make the Society more populist and aggressive. He eventually parted ways with the Fabians, just as he did with his youthful lovers, though his turbulent relationship with Rebecca West lasted the longest and produced an understandably neurotic son. The character sketches are sharp, particularly of West and of fellow Fabians George Bernard Shaw and Edith Bland (better known as children's novelist E. Nesbit), and Wells' uneasy friendship with Henry James is hilariously expressed in fulsomely insincere letters on both sides. (Its rupture after Wells publishes a cruel satire of James' baroque style is surprisingly moving.) Yet Lodge's well-written book doesn't offer any unusual insights that justify making this straightforward narrative of Wells' most prominent and productive years a novel rather than a biography.

Readable but ultimately rather pointless.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2011

In Author, Author, acclaimed novelist/critic Lodge reimagined the meteoric rise and fall of the great Henry James. Here he performs the same task for the novelist best known for such popular tales as The War of the Worlds. Drawing deeply on H.G. Wells's autobiographical writings and on a wide array of secondary literature, Lodge draws a portrait of a novelist in his final years, reflecting on his powers spent and fame gained. The narrator's thoughts on Wells's mistresses are woven with Wells's own reflections on mortality, free love, politics, and writing. The novel plods along as Wells wonders whether the world will remember him, and the one-dimensional characters (the women, even Rebecca West, simply stand for sex and how much about sex Wells can teach them) elicit no deep feelings. In a mournfully didactic ending, the narrator declares that H.G. was like a comet that appeared suddenly and blazed in the literary firmament for decades before his imagination and intellect dwindled in brightness. VERDICT Lodge is a brilliant comic writer, but this dull and dreary novel about a now mostly forgotten writer is disappointing. It would be sad to think that, like his take on Wells, Lodge's imagination and intellect have dwindled in brightness. Still, most public libraries will want this book to satisfy his many fans. [See Prepub Alert, 3/28/11.]--Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Evanston, IL

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2011
Writers intrigue and amuse ebullient and droll British novelist and critic Lodge. Imaginary scribblers appear in his satirical novels, and he has portrayed two real-life masters at opposite ends of the literary spectrum, friends who became adversaries: Henry James in Author, Author (2004), and now H. G. Wells. A mad carnival of books, sex, celebrity, social activism, notoriety, and love, Wells' fervent and unconventional life is prime material for astutely mischievous and marveling comedy, and Lodge is all but purring throughout this capacious, bawdy, historically veracious, and profoundly perceptive novel. Ailing and reflective in 1944, after bravely enduring the blitz in London, Wells is sparring with his inner inquisitor, who grills him about his myriad affairs and reputation-damaging snafus and blunders. Extended flashbacks ensue, in which Lodge dramatizes Wells' sexual adventures, excising the pain his philandering caused to emphasis the outrageously needy absurdity of it all. Lodge casts Wells' pragmatic wife, Jane, as confidante and sidekick to his turbulent adultery and tells the extraordinary stories of Wells' lovers, from innocent but determined Rosamund to brainy and resilient Amber Reeves and Rebecca West to the alleged Russian spy Moura Budberg. In Wells and his women, Lodge finds a plexus of creativity and sexuality, and the deep desire to leave one's mark on the scroll of human endeavor. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Literary-star Lodge's sexy bionovel, in conjunction with Michael Sherborne's superb new Wells biography, will kick off a Wells revival.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)