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| Plot Summary of No Laughing Matter |
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"One morning Joseph Heller was unable to chew his food at breakfast, which was alarming in itself because he loved to eat. Even more alarming though was the reason for his inability to masticate--a frightening neuromuscular disease called Guillian-Barre' Syndrome, a progressive disease that can leave its victim paralyzed and unable to breathe...or worse. "No Laughing Matter" is the account of the author's battle with the disease. Told in a poignant, yet lighthearted style, it follows the progression of the disease and at no point is the reader or the author sure of what the outcome will be."
Bill Brumlow, Resident Scholar
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"Successful novelist Joseph Heller was 58 and separated from his wife when the mysterious illness known as Guillain-Barre Syndrome struck him down. Suddenly paralyzed over most of his body, unable even to swallow food, Heller was rushed into hospital care and given lots of neurological tests. Among his visitors were a can-do Dustin Hoffman, expert hypochondriac Mel Brooks, and terrified Mario Puzo. G-B is a strange and incurable disease that kills some, goes away in others, returns in still others. Heller alternates chapters that describe his experience and recovery with much less interesting ones by his friend Speed Vogel, a sometime artist and jack-of-all-trades who took care of Heller, his home, his bills, and other matters. Eventually the descriptions of parties and getaways in the Hamptons, Cannes, and St. Croix get a little tiresome."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of No Laughing Matter |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Phys disability/mental struggle?
Yes
Struggle with
- physical disability/sickness
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- eccentric
- obsessed
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Jewish
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- physically sick
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Biography of famous person?
Yes
How sensitive is this person?
- hard edged
Physique
- physically sick
Main Adversary
Identity:
- natural phenomena
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 1 ()
- 2 ()
United States
Yes
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Century:
- 1980's-Present
Style
Person
- rotating 1st
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Book makes you feel?
- concerned
Unusual Style:
- written like a journal/diary/letters
- a lot of play on words
Writer's slant towards subject:
- favorable
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
How much dialogue in bio?
- significantly more descript than dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 0-25% of book
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Click here for more information about this book
Joseph Heller Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 bonzai
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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