Rating: 
Summary: Starts Fast , Ends Slow...
Review: ...much like the protagonist of the novel. The opening chapter is fantastic but the book seems to stall after Chalmers is released from his job. I like the jabs at technology and society and the idea of the human machine failing while the electronic revolution keeps moving forward but I thought that the e-mail sections of the novel were a bit tedious and the internet affair of Bill's wife just disappears. I agree that not all questions should be resolved in a good novel but this one left too many. Buy the book if you don't need a feel good ending (sorry!) and enjoy reading Kafka.
Rating: 
Summary: Stick your tongue out and say "Blah."
Review: A disappointment. "The Diagnosis" tells the Kafka-esque story of Bill Chalmers, a 40-something financial analyst in Boston who, unable to keep pace with the overload of information modern society requires of him, slowly loses all of his physical senses. The modern story is offset by a parallel tale set in ancient Greece concerning Anytus, the executioner of Socrates, during the final days before the execution.The relation between these two seemingly disparate stories is this: Socrates introduced Western society to the practice of acquiring knowledge through public discourse and communication, and both Anytus and Chalmers suffer for their irrational rejection of the "information revolutions" of their time. Each of their sons, however, embrace the free exchange of ideas enabled by public discourse and technology and are rewarded for it. So what? It's a superficially clever conceit, but it's not sufficient to sustain a book. It's not even sufficient to sustain a "Twilight Zone" episode, as no diagnosis for Chalmers' condition, however farfetched, is ever revealed. The characters are woodenly written and unconvincing. (Why, for example, did Chalmers flee the hospital during his initial memory loss?) Moreover, Lightman's attitude towards the rejection of modernity is never made clear. On the one hand, Lightman's portrayal of Chalmers' degeneration (and Anytus' parallel tale) suggests that it's a fool's strategy; on the other, Lightman's horrific depiction of modern life (as an unending clutter of car horns, emails, phone calls and red tape) suggests that it's the only rational reaction. Pick one, Mr. Lightman, then write a book. There's no gnosis in "The Diagnosis." You're better off reading Socrates.
Rating: 
Summary: a disturbing masterpiece
Review: A profoundly beautiful book of masterful detail and nuance, "The Diagnosis" is nonethless painful and disturbing in its relentless candor about the absurdities of modern life. The mental and physical decline of Bill Chalmers and his world is haunting in its vivid sadness. Alan Lightman is a masterful writer of the greatest skill. This is a truly memorable book.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks God I am no longer in America
Review: Did you know? The Moscow Metro system is designed a way that makes a person want to ride it to work, and then makes him want to go back. Of course America has its equivalent, which is the largest highway pullution system in the world. If you haven't yet, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Diagnosis of "The Diagnosis"
Review: Great book, belonging on your bookshelf between Saramago's "Blindness" and Kafka's "The Trial"; Camus and Kazantzakis should be close by. In Bill Chalmers'frenetic life -- and perplexing and progressively debilitating malady -- Lightman exquisitely captures the angst and paradoxical "helplessness" of modern society "trapped" in the Information Age. Those time-and-laborsaving techno-gizmos intended to liberate us have instead become our masters; plugged-in everywhere at all times, we're now on call 25 hours a day. And that's a problem. Nathaniel Arata's review above is dead-on. Don't read this book if you expect Lightman to answer every question or to spoon-feed you the answers. But that should come as no surprise to any reader. The book's title says it all. To "diagnose," from the Greek, literally means "to know apart", that is, to identify a problem, to name the nature or cause of a thing; it does not mean in any sense to identify a solution to the problem. Lightman, like his stand-in Socrates, continually probes and challenges, requiring the reader to re-think his or her answer time and again. He renders one zinger of a diagnosis along the way, in sharp, witty prose. For those wanting definitive resolution, maybe Lightman's next book will be entitled "The Cure".
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I agree with another reviewer who says this book started strong but then lost momentum. I finished it to keep my word, having told someone I would read it and share what I think ... which is the following: there is no resolution to the conflict (it is left hanging, abandoned); characters are not fully developed; and the juxtaposiiton of Anytus's story is more irritating than illuminating. The story could have been rendered more effectively as a novella. The theme, though compelling certainly in this information and computer age, becomes cloying by the end of the book. We get it, Mr. Lightman. Human health and personal interactions are more fragile, indeed, than man's creations to improve both. They flourish while we founder. What we don't get is the engaging storyline, the simple "what's-going-to-happen-next" delight in reading a story that entertains as it instructs, and reassures as it reveals. On this count, the novel fails committed readers who read on, faithfully, watching Bill Chalmers' mysterious condition deteriorate, undiagnosed. Then the book ends.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I agree with another reviewer who says this book started strong but then lost momentum. I finished it to keep my word, having told someone I would read it and share what I think ... which is the following: there is no resolution to the conflict (it is left hanging, abandoned); characters are not fully developed; and the juxtaposiiton of Anytus's story is more irritating than illuminating. The story could have been rendered more effectively as a novella. The theme, though compelling certainly in this information and computer age, becomes cloying by the end of the book. We get it, Mr. Lightman. Human health and personal interactions are more fragile, indeed, than man's creations to improve both. They flourish while we founder. What we don't get is the engaging storyline, the simple "what's-going-to-happen-next" delight in reading a story that entertains as it instructs, and reassures as it reveals. On this count, the novel fails committed readers who read on, faithfully, watching Bill Chalmers' mysterious condition deteriorate, undiagnosed. Then the book ends.
Rating:
Summary: Just Not Very Compelling to Me
Review: I guess I'm surprised if people don't understand the rampant symbolism of this book. Bombarded by the processing of information, Bill Chalmers shuts down. Granted, The Diagnosis is not nearly that simple, but Lightman's moralizing is pretty clear and direct. His use of e-mail, the Socrates sub-plot, and other device are fine with me. They add to the pacing of the story and don't necessarily detract from it unless you don't believe that people type poorly in e-mails. These aren't the things that made me give The Diagnosis only two stars. Instead, during the course of the book, I found I just wasn't moved by too much of it. The opening sequence is strong and engaging and there are other scenes -- when Chalmers' old friend comes to visit and describes photos he's brought -- that are emotionally engaging. Otherwise, I just wasn't compelled to care. The supporting characters -- his wife, the doctors, the attorneys, even his son -- were transparent and not only were they selfish and uncaring, but they were badly written as well. The conclusion -- or lack of -- is not surprising. By the time it comes along, the reader has a pretty good idea where it's going. The need for finality and closure is unnecessary. Overall, I don't have a lot of gripes with this book. I like the idea, I like the style, I even like a lot of the writing. I just don't like it the way Lightman put it all together. Maybe that was his intention -- to leave the reader with the same disquiet, unfulfilled feeling that Bill Chalmers experienced. Unfortunately, as the reader, I was never griped by the story and certainly never compelled by it.
Rating: 
Summary: ugh
Review: I listened to this book ( 10 Cds!) waiting for something to happen.... waiting, waiting, ( does this sound like the book) and was just totally disappointed in the book. It went no where after a very exciting beginning and left me totally cold. If you are thinking of reading it, don't.
Rating:
Summary: An Angry, Intelligent Attack on Our Culture
Review: I want to begin on a note of cynicism -- if, in fact, we live in a morally bankrupt society that becomes less intelligent each year, why is the market for highly-literate novels, plays and films about our corporate dystopia so sizeable? "American Beauty" was a surprise hit and it seems that every young novelist in America has been influenced by Don DeLillo. For all the talk about our smothering popular culture, we seem to have ample wriggle room to escape into intelligent critiques of that culture. Is it that we cultural elitists just want to tut-tut those who can't see through the most shallow features of our culture? I hold none of this against Alan Lightman or his fine book. "The Diagnosis" begins with, in my opinion, the best first chapter of the year, a Kafka-esque nightmare of lost identity amid technological chaos. From there, the book deftly changes tone several times, alternating between medical drama, corporate satire, domestic soap opera and philosophical treatise. "The Diagnosis" lives in the same moral universe as Don DeLillo's "White Noise" and even includes two veiled references (one would have been sufficient) to that book. It falls short of DeLillo's greatness because it lacks his humor and keen social insight. Lightman's anger at contemporary America is sometimes suffocating -- every character in the book becomes a victim of his wrath. But taken as a work of philosophy and a snapshot of our times, "The Diagnosis" is effective and (in a strange way) entertaining. Lightman gives no easy payoffs and is completely willing to leave his reader on a down note. But somewhere in this jungle of despair is a glimmer of hope ... if we can just see, feel and hear the real world beneath our virtual creation, there is salvation. Maybe we, the great anti-consumer consumers, are the hope. Even if we aren't, thinking so makes us feel good.
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