Changing places door David Lodge

Beoordeling 4.6
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Boekcover Changing places
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  • Boekverslag door een scholier
  • Klas onbekend | 1001 woorden
  • 19 juli 2006
  • 37 keer beoordeeld
Cijfer 4.6
37 keer beoordeeld

Boek
Auteur
David Lodge
Taal
Engels
Vak
Eerste uitgave
1976
Pagina's
256
Geschikt voor
bovenbouw havo/vwo
Oorspronkelijke taal
Engels

Boekcover Changing places
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Changing places door David Lodge
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Changing places: a tale of two campuses, David Lodge

This tale happens at two different places in the world: Europe and America. In England and California, to be specific. The time is during the Viet Nam war, from the beginning of 1969 until a half year later.

The main characters are:
Morris Zapp.
A teacher at Euphoria State in California. He’s married to Désirée, who wants a divorce. Zapp does not. They have two children together, twins; Elizabeth(!) and Darcy. Morris is an expert in Jane Austen books. He often smokes a pipe and wears a kind of cossack’s hat.
He knows a lot about top of the pops and stuff like that.
Philip Swallow.
A teacher at Rummige University in England. He’s married to Hilary. They have a happy marriage. They also have three children, Amanda, Robert and Matthew. He smokes cigars, and keeps the 157 tobacco cans on a bookshelf in his office. He likes asking questions about books and so on, but he especially thinks he should have the ability of answering them too.

The story is told by the third person past point of view. However, in about halfway through the book the story is told by letters (first person past point of view) , and after that by news reports, as if out of a newspaper. Than it switches to normal form again, to end in a kind of script for a play.

The theme is
Exchanging schools and the trouble of having affaires.

The message is
The plot of your live can have sudden changes. You can make it by your decisions.

Summary:
Zapp joins the exchange programme to England because his wife wants to divorce him and this way he gives her the time to consider it all. In the plane it appears that it’s an aircraft for women who want to have an abortion. That’s where he meets Mary. At Rummage he doesn’t get accepted by his colleagues in the beginning, but when the boss arrives he does. Philip’s wife, Hilary, steps by to search for a book for her husband, which she doesn’t find. After that Morris had found the book so he brings it to her. Zapp, hungry for an homemade meal, stays for dinner. After a while in England , Zapp turns bored and he visits a strip club (so did Philip, he rather enjoyed it, Zapp did not), where he meets Mary again, who didn’t go through with the abortion an wants to have her baby in England. As she doesn’t have a home, Morris decides to bring her to Hilary, who is often afraid of being all alone in the house.
Philip joined the exchange program because he thought is was a great opportunity. In California he shares a home with a couple of people in their twenties. One of them is Melany. Philip likes her and he cheats on his wife by sleeping with her. It turns out to be that Melany is Morris’ daughter from a previous marriage. He also immediately feels welcome at Europheia State , were are student activist to keep the garden, who he joins enthusiastically. He also gets invites to party’s and stuff, on one of them he meets Désirée, Morris’s wife. Philip happens to need a car , so he goes for an ad , which appears to be Morris’ old car. Philip and Désirée get an affair. Because of this (Philip’s wife finds out) Morris and Hilary get an affaire too, at first Hilary was holding Zapp back. All those affaires make the situation rather uncomfortable so they decided to talk it out in New York. There, it appears that Morris still loves his, and Philip still loves his wife, but they also love each others wives. The book has a rather open ending.

My favourite scene is that when Mary is faking that the baby is coming , while they are driving fast to catch the train. The police holds them and they want to give them a ticket. The police let them go free because Mary is pretending that it’s an emergency and she’s going to have a baby.

My opinion on the book is:
I didn’t quite enjoyed the book. Campus tales aren’t my favourite subject, and neither are affaires. Besides, the people in the book are too old to catch my interest of reading.

A better summary:
By a half year during school exchange Morris Zapp goes from his university in California to England, and Philip Swallow goes from England to California.
Zapp goes in a marriage crisis. The plane to England is full of pregnant women who want to have an abortion. One of them is Mary. It’s not a easy start at Rummige University. He meets different people in England, like Hilary, who happens to be Philip’s wife. By accident he meets her several of times. Nothing happens. He tries to get amused in a strip club . There he meets Mary again, who has decided to have her baby in England but is homeless. Morris introduces her to Hilary, who likes to have company , as she is sometimes afraid to be alone.
Philip meets a few young people in California. He gets related to Melany and cheats his wife with her. This Melany happens to be a daughter of Morris Zapp from a previous marriage. Philip is very amused by all the young student activists of the Europheia State University. He also goes to party’s and meets Désirée, Morris’ wife, and gets an affaire with her. When Hilary finds outs about this, she overcomes her hesitation, and starts an affair with Zapp. Nobody is really happy with those affaires so they all go to New York to talk it out. In NY , it appears that Morris and Philip still love their own wives and also each other’s . The book has an open ending.

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