Product Description

Winner of the Sunday Express Book of the Year Award and short-listed for the Booker Prize, ‘Nice Work’ is a hilarious comedy of society and class misunderstandings. When Vic Wilcox, MD of Pringle’s engineering works, meets English lecturer Dr Robyn Penrose, sparks fly as their lifestyles and ideologies collide head on. But, in time, both parties make some surprising discoveries about each other’s worlds – and about themselves. 'A work of immense intelligence, informative, disturbing and diverting' Observer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28257 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

Definitive Campus Novel
Quite simply, this is one of the great campus novels. Believe me - as a PhD student, I am amazed at the way Lodge draws humour from the often dry and slightly weird world of academia. You don't need to have a degree to read this book, though - it is a wonderful example of the way two worlds that are not as different as you may think interact. very, very funny. To me, it screams out for a sequel (although Robyn makes a cameo in Thinks..). I would love to know what she's up to today! Someone should slap a preservation order on Lodge.
Better than the History Man - better than Lucky Jim. Brilliant.

cross-profession comedy as academia and industry collide
Lodge's talent is at full force here in one of his earlier novels; set in the fictional town of Rummidge (as are "Changing places" and Small World", two of his later novels), "Nice Work" charts the entry of an attractive female university English lecturer, Robyn Penrose, into the life of Vic Wilcox, gruff middle aged MD of an engineering factory. Set up as part of an Industry Year exchange, Robyn follows Vic around, viewing for the first time a world she knows nothing about and casting her sensitive and educated eye over all that she sees. The comic mismatch beteen the couple is a joy to read as Lodge expertly switches between the world of the univesity campus, with all its pretentious enquiry and the rougher, more competitive environment of the factory workplace. Inevitably, sparks fly as the two discover the fallacy of their previously-held notions of the other's profession and learn to accept the differences. Written with flair and perfect comic timing, it is a must for any reader, whether a Lodge fan or not. Excellent.

Superb
This is a wonderful satire on universities and business - particularly in the mid 80s. It captures the mood of "the cuts" and universities in the 1980s like nothing else I've read. You can see it, very loosely, as the final member of a trilogy (formed by "Changing places" and "Small world"), but you don't need to have read the other two in order to appreciate this one. It is immensely readable (I didn't need a dictionary once), and fully deserved its Booker nomination.