With a new introduction by Thomas Mallon
Dubin's Lives (1979) is a compassionate and wry commedia, a book praised by Christopher Leh... read full description
Dubin's Lives (1979) is a compassionate and wry commedia, a book praised by Christopher Leh... read full description
reviews
Apr 09, 2009
Ken
rated it: 
Long ago, a creative writing teacher recommended this book to me. I've finally read it, and in turn I highly recommend it. Malamud shows a mastery of prose and an immense talent for description. His passages describing the changing seasons are incredible!
At first, the author's tendency to bend the "laws" of punctuation and grammar threw me a little. The first twenty pages didn't hold my interest, but after that I adjusted to his style and grew to appreciate it. It was worth More...
At first, the author's tendency to bend the "laws" of punctuation and grammar threw me a little. The first twenty pages didn't hold my interest, but after that I adjusted to his style and grew to appreciate it. It was worth More...
Mar 29, 2010
Chuck
rated it: 
At tmes there is almost a sensory pleasure to be derived from Malamud's skill in style, detail and story line. In the end, though, it is a well-told story of a selfish, nearly solipsistic life, in a mode very specific (I think) to late-middle-aged males. Every decision Dubin makes s for himself, in his own interests, and as the novel goes on, he even turns the decisions and choices of others into nothing more than a means of justifying his own choices and decisions.
The book offers More...
The book offers More...
Aug 28, 2008
Jordan
rated it:
one of the best novels I've read in a while, one that carries a charge of sorrow and middle-aged eroticism similar to that of Saul Bellow's best work. Are all of Malamud's this good? I don't know, I hope so.
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Sep 07, 2009
Daniel
rated it: 
I don’t believe that I have ever read a book that's kept me emotionally engaged for the entire duration of the story and I hated this story. It tells of a man that creates his own tragedy by means of selfish decisions and self-serving actions; a man who repeatedly chooses to “reward” himself rather than honoring his human obligations to his wife, his family, and his friends.
The story, however, is simply the sugar (or sour) coating of the message. It grabs your attention while servi More...
The story, however, is simply the sugar (or sour) coating of the message. It grabs your attention while servi More...
Jan 29, 2012
Alinola
rated it:
Ho abbandonato e ripreso questo libro molte volte nel corso degli ultimi mesi. Non una volta mi sono dimenticata di che si stava parlando. William Dubin, biografo, quando intraprende la scrittura della biografia di Lawrence entra in crisi. Come uomo, come marito, come padre. E' il racconto di pochi anni della vita di Dubin ma che saranno fondamentali. Non c'è un momento di noia in questo romanzo anche se le azioni avvengono soprattutto nel (non)cambiamento del protagonista. A chi è piaciuto Revo
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Dec 06, 2010
Carrie
rated it:
I liked this book, in that it is extremely well-written and is generally an easy read. But the subject matter is not something I really cared for. Boring white man pain brought about by a selfish man. Really hard to care about anyone in the cast of characters.
May 13, 2008
Boppi
rated it:
This is an extremely well written book about a somewhat depressing subject; ie "male mid-life crisis. It involves a 55 year old biographer who is experiencing writers block. He is doing a biography of D. H. Lawrence and just can't get inside his subject. He has a very unsuccessful affair with a much younger woman. After taking her to Venice he finds her on the floor with a gondolier. He returns to his home in New England and finds himself growing away from his wife and is not happy with h
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Jul 29, 2009
Laura
rated it: 
I'm half way through it and I still can't decide if I like it or not. It's easy to put down, but I do want to know what Dubin is going to do next.
Aug 13, 2010
Jamie
rated it:
Malamud uses up time in a way I’ve rarely seen. For one, it’s fascinating to have the biographer under glass; reading Lawrence by having Dubin wrestle with Lawrence. But the reason I had to keep reading pages twice was the way Malamud uses up time; he gets from one thing to another in the middle of a sentence, and I want to pin this one up like a moth under glass just to figure out how.
Oct 25, 2008
zan
rated it:
His style is something amazing. To have it bouncing around in my head was a pleasure. This might have received 5 stars if I weren't so sick of reading accounts of the male midlife crisis.
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