Product Description

Every time someone changes sex, there's one less freak in the world - Meet the Divots. They seem a happily married couple, in their cosy suburban home in a cosy suburban town. Then, one day, everything begins to change. Nick drops his bombshell. He wants to become Nicola. Alison is extremely upset, naturally. But she has more reason than most to be upset, because she has a secret too. She wants to become Alan. Nick has pulled the rug from under her. However, she's always been the supportive type and she'll wait her turn. Will Nick become Nicola? Can Alison become Alan? Can both partners in a marriage change sex and save their marriage? What effect will this have on their children, the sexy Emma and the hi-tech loner Graham? There are dramatic changes in store for them too - and for Alison's father, Bernie. In the spirit of David Nobbs' acclaimed novel "Going Gently", "Sex and Other Changes" is a funny, touching and compassionate study of what being a man and a woman really means.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #307559 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Sunday Times
‘a highly readable and strangely affecting comedy of embarrassment, resentment, grief and love’

From the Publisher
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GOING GENTLY AND THE HUGELY SUCCESSFUL AUTOBIOGRAPHY I DIDN'T GET WHERE I AM TODAY

About the Author
David Nobbs was born in Kent. After university, he entered the army, then tried his hand at journalism and advertising before becoming a writer. A distinguished novelist and comedy writer, he lives near Harrogate with his wife Susan.

Customer Reviews

Good but..........
I am a major David Nobbs fan. I loved Reginald Perrin. I laughed and cried at the wonderful Henry Pratt. But sadly I have to say this is not David Nobb's best work. Its not bad; it has some classic Nobbs parts to it but somewhere it just doesn't quite hit the spot. What's missing? Perhaps the main characters are a bit thin; perhaps the story is too predictable; perhaps its not sure whether it is a serious book trying to be funny or a funny book trying to be serious. Either way it doesn't quite get there.

Zeitgeist, like it or not.
I'm a Reggie fan, I loved Nobbs' autobiography. He has an uncanny knack for tapping into the current zeitgeist. I think this may also be true of 'Going Gently' and 'Sex and Other Changes'. Both books illustrate how today's culture emphasises the feminine and values the feminine. For me this soon becomes tedious, like too much candyfloss. There is no drive in his writing, no excitement, no thrill, no real danger or threat of the unexpected, no achievement and no climax. It poodles along in a mildly amusing fashion. The plot is thorough but flat, like his characters. In Sex and Other Changes he gives himself the opportunity to explore the devastating issues of paternity fraud. Instead he treats the subject like a mild case of chicken pox, reminding me rather of the way his autobiography treated his own rape as a young adolescent and his own decision not to have children.

Whether he means to be or not there is no doubt in my mind that Nobbs is 'with it', as we used to say in Reggie's day, so the book is worth reading as an illustration of where our culture is 'at'. Whether you like what you see is a matter for you to decide. Can't say as I do, but that's hardly Nobbs' fault.

Some story!
It's sad, funny, awkward, emotional, silly, strange, makes you think a bit.
"Going Gently" is certainly my favourite Nobbs book but as with that and the Pratt books the characterisations are very neatly sketched. The land is soundly middle England with all the hang ups that that entails.
I felt for and could relate to almost all the characters and I shed a tear at the end - see what it does for you.