The British Museum Is Falling Down (1965) is a comic novel by British author David Lodge about a 25-year-old poverty-stricken

student of English literature who, rather than work on his thesis (entitled "The Structure of Long Sentences in Three Modern

English Novels") in the reading room of the British Museum, is distracted time and again from his work and who gets into all kinds

of trouble instead.Summary[edit]Set in Swinging London, the novel describes one day in the life of Adam Appleby, who

lives in constant fear that his wife might bepregnant again with a fourth child. As Catholics, they are denied any form

of contraception and have to play "Vatican roulette" instead. Adam and Barbara have three children: Clare, Dominic, and

Edward; their friends ask if they intend working through the whole alphabet.In the course of only one busy day, several

chances to make some money present themselves to Adam. For example, he is offered the opportunity to edit a

deceased scholar's unpublished manuscripts; however, when he eventually has a look at them, he feels uncomfortable

realizing that the man's writings are worthless drivel. Also, at the house in Bayswater where he is supposed to get the

papers, Adam has to cope with an assortment of weird characters ranging from butchers to a young virgin intent on

seducing him.Lodge's novel makes extensive use of pastiche, incorporating passages where both the motifs and the

styles of writing used by various authors are imitated. For instance, there is a Kafkaesque scene where Adam has to

renew his reading-room ticket. The final chapter of the novel is a monologue by Adam's wife in the style of Molly Bloom's

soliloquy in Ulysses.This use of different styles mirrors James Joyce's Ulysses, a work also about a single day. When

Lodge's novel first came out, quite a number of reviewers and critics, not appreciating the literary allusions, found fault

with Lodge for his inhomogeneous writing.[1] Wise c. The story begins on the 75th birthday of identical twin sisters, Dora

and Nora Chance. By what Dora, who is also the narrator of the story, describes as a bizarre coincidence, it is also the

100th birthday of their natural father, Melchior Hazard, and his fraternal twin brother, Peregrine Hazard, who is believed to

be dead. The date is similarly Shakespeare's supposed birthday – 23 April.[4]Dora and Nora's birthday gets off to a

dramatic start when their half-brother, Tristram Hazard, who believes himself to be the nephew of the twins, arrives on

their doorstep. He announces that Tiffany – his partner, and the goddaughter of the twins, is missing. Dora and Nora soon

discover that Tiffany is pregnant with Tristram's baby, but he is unwilling to take on the responsibility. Once this bombshell

has been dropped, it soon emerges that a body has been found, and it is believed to be Tiffany's.Most of the novel

consists of Dora's memories. As well as providing the backstory of her natural father, Melchior Hazard, her legal father,

Peregrine Hazard, and her guardian, Grandma Chance, Dora describes key events of her life. These include her early

theatre performances, how she and her sister deal with being rejected by their father, as well as the time that she spent in

Hollywood, producing a film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It also makes the reader wonder about a sexual and

incestuous relationship between Peregrine and Dora as there are hints that some sexual activity took place on the

Brighton trip, but Carter does not clear this mystery up.Dora and Nora attend Melchior's 100th birthday party, where he

acknowledges they are his children for the first time in their lives. The twins learn that both Peregrine and Tiffany are alive,

and the true nature of their long-time enemies, Saskia and Imogen, is revealed.The novel ends with Dora and Nora being

presented with twin babies to look after – a gift from Peregrine. They realise that they "can't afford" to die for another

twenty years, as they want to see the children grow up. The final line of the story is a message constantly conveyed by

Carter throughout the novel: "What a joy it is to dance and sing!"Cat-Cat’s Eye is the deeply disturbing story of a young

girl whose life is scarred by the cruel treatment she receives at the hands of her friends. The novel follows the girl from

childhood into middle age, tracing the effects of her early experiences on her adult life.Atwood moves her narrative back

and forth through time to tell Elaine’s story, intercutting the years of the girl’s troubled childhood with scenes from her later
lifeAfter being called back to her childhood home of Toronto for a retrospective show of her art, Elaine reminisces about

her childhood. At the age of eight she becomes friends with Carol and Grace, and, through their eyes, realises that her

atypical background of constant travel with her entomologist father and independent mother has left her ill-equipped for

conventional expectations of femininity. The next year, when Cordelia joins the group, Elaine is bullied by the three girls,

her supposed "best friends". The bullying escalates that winter when the girls throw Elaine's hat into a ravine and abandon

her half-frozen outside in the snow; Elaine sees a vision of the Virgin Mary, who guides her to safety. Afterward, realizing

she had allowed herself to be a victim, Elaine makes new friends. During her high school years, Elaine reestablishes a

friendship with Cordelia, although Elaine is much tougher now than she was as a child and often taunts Cordelia. The two

girls lose touch with one another after high school.The narrative then follows Elaine through her teenage years and her

early adulthood as an art student and a Feminist artist. However, throughout this time, she is haunted by her childhood

and has difficulties forming relationships with other women.Towards the end of the novel, owing to her retrospective

exhibition and her return to Toronto, she eventually faces her past and gets closure.Cat's Eye explores the construction of

identity; it is written mostly as flashbacks, as Elaine reflects on the forgotten events of her childhood that shaped her

personality and struggles to integrate lost aspects of her self.[2] In Elaine's self-portrait, a pier glass reflects three little girls

who are not in the painting, demonstrating their simultaneous absence from Elaine's past and their presence in who she

has become.C..t-Mick and his brother Aston live alone together in a West London house until one night Aston brings

home Davies, who just left his job as a kitchen helper at a restaurant. The old man proves to be a violent, selfish bigot,

uncharitable himself but quick to exploit the kindness of others. He tells Aston that “Blacks, Greeks, Poles” are “treating

him like dirt” and that “nobody’s got more rights than I have.” He also vows to get revenge on another employee at the

restaurant. In contrast to Davies’ vulgar, abrasive, vengeful attitude, Aston’s is quiet, gentle, and accommodating. In

addition to offering Davies a bed for the night, he tries to give him a comfortable pair of shoes. Davies, ungrateful, refuses

the shoes, claiming they do not fit. When Aston offers him money, however, Davies accepts it, insisting that he has to “get

down to Sidcup,” where he can get his papers and resume his true identity as Mac Davies, instead of living as he was

under the assumed name of Bernard Jenkins.Davies stays the night, and in the morning Aston complains that Davies

made noises. When Aston suggests that perhaps Davies was dreaming, Davies counters by saying that he never dreams

and becomes angry when Aston says the “jabbering” kept him from sleeping. Nevertheless, Aston suggests that Davies

stay on longer if he wants and gives him a key to the room. Before going out to shop for a jigsaw, Aston recalls an

encounter he had recently with a woman he met in a café, who offered “to have a look” at his body. Davies asks him for

money, but Aston reminds him that he gave him some money the previous night.Left alone, Davies begins to rummage

through items scattered around the room and is surprised by Mick, who grabs him in a hammerlock and throws him on the

floor, asking “What’s the game?” and demanding to know Davies’ real name. Davies lies, saying his name is Jenkins, and,

as if to punish him for lying, Mick aggressively interrogates Davies, undercutting his confidence, confusing the old man,

critiquing his motives, and questioning his racism, ethnocentrism, suspicions, and arrogance. Mick finally accuses Davies

of being “a born fibber” and teases him by not giving him his trousers. He is interrupted, however, by Aston returning with

a valise—Davies claimed he left his at the restaurant the previous