Rating: 
Summary: Special reason to read this book
Review: I'll get to the very special reason to read this book in a moment...If you're familiar with what DiLlilo tried to do in his novel White Noise then you're ready for a better example of that effort here. This is a much more readable and entertaining story of modernity (post-modernity?) overtaking life. If there's anything annoying about the novel it might be the sense that it was written hastily by someone just getting out of a postmodern theory course. You can talk about fragmented identity, hyperreality, hypertexts, intertexts, pastiche, white noise, simulacra and all that. But it works here. Don't think too much while you're reading this book. You're supposed to feel a jostled and displaced from time to time. You should also find a somewhat predictable narrative running through it all. It's part of the experience. The story of Anytus? Just a foil to Chalmers, don't you think? The protagonists in the Anytus segments face some disconcerting options in their lives just like Chalmers and his gang do. Compare and contrast. How do the slaves in Athens compare to the corporate slaves in 21st century Boston? Compare father-son relationships. Etc. Ok...Now the real special thing about this novel: Unlike every flipping novel that I've read that has been written in the last 10 years, this novel does not -- DOES NOT -- include the word condom once! Hurray for Lightman! I am not kidding...there's no mention of condoms. That's enough for a star. This book is five stars if you've had it with condoms, 4.5 stars if condoms matter not a whit to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Multiple Narratives and deep meanings
Review: In response to Tim Appelo's review. - Great Review, just to add: Bill's paralysis: (caused by) (smymptom?)His innability to do anything about his situation, his life, the speed car that got him to where is today. Also: Both Socrates and Bill were put in a "Cage"...(but an individual's mind can never be caged..)
Rating: 
Summary: Dreary and confusing
Review: The opening chapter is frightening and compelling, but beyond that it was, for me, a tough read. The author doesn't seem to have much sympathy for any of his characters. I didn't either. The wife, Melissa, seems real if not appealing and the son is appealing but not very real. Bill seems to have no personality, no inner drive except to keep going, no moral center, no core of any sort. Is that the point? In my experience most victims of modern society, business, technology, whatever, have a stronger core (often badly flawed) than Bill. Bill doesn't seem to like his meaningless job, but that hardly differentiates him from millions of others and hardly makes him sympathetic. I felt as if I were watching a robot melt down -- fascinating in its way but hardly the subject of great fiction. My curiosity in finding out Bill's ultimate fate was more idle than fueled by any interest in Bill. I really don't think you need to suffer a debilitating illness to figure out that your life is dull and silly.
I got tired of reading his e-mails long before he did, and I guess his high-powered business colleagues had not discovered spell checking -- the misspellings were irritating and a stupid device (to indicate what?).
I actually found the Plato material far more interesting than Bill's story but found only superficial parallels with the main story. It's a relatively short book, but it took me forever to get through it.
Maybe it's time to call a halt to fiction based on "life in modern society is hell and technology rules." It is and it does, but been there, read that.
Well written, I must say.
Rating:
Summary: A book out of its time?
Review: The reviews of this novel have seemed mixed, and that caused me to re-analyze the book prior to writing a review. My initial reaction to The Diagnosis was very positive -- I found the characters were very realistic depictions of the classes of people we see every day. The fictional dialogue of Plato, evidently causes most readers to search for some connection to Bill and his story. I think the connection is there (esp. in the relationships between fathers and sons), but the more important point seems to be the very ambition of Lightman to attempt a connection. In rethinking the book, I began to imagine that this novel was being read by someone in the year 2020. From that perspective, how would it be viewed? It seems that as an allegorical tale that ties the problems of the present to the lessons of the past, there is some significant substance here. The reader of 20 years from now would probably wonder why so much time was spent on useless email (since they will only have useful email in the future, I am sure) and why no accurate diagnosis could ever be found. Surely, then, it is all metaphor and there is no diagnosis for what afflicts us as a society now -- for we are in the middle of it and don't have the perspective of time or distance yet. My bottom line is that The Diagnosis is worth reading now, and may be worth even more to your children.
Rating:
Summary: Lightman sees the light
Review: This is a rare accomplishment indeed. A surreal, at times mystical, revelation of modern times. A man witnesses his growing helplessness within the framework of a society which not only fails to discover his "illness," but is smug, self-satisfied, and all but divorced from their own humanity. Lightman's visual portrayals and his incredibly delicate imagery are profound indications of his sensitivity to the dehumanizing influences that surround us. He has no quick fixes, even though in one passage his character, Bill Chalmers, strikes out at the crass materialism which tempts his teen-age son. This is far from being an unrealized novel--it is most certainly one of the most honest and cogent portraits of our society that I have read.
Rating:
Summary: Why read The Diagnosis?
Review: You all know what The Diagnosis is about, so I'll keep myself from summarizing and cut right to the point: The Diagnosis, while (in my mind) certainly entertaining and involving enough to prompt the reader to finish, does not find its footing in being a good page-turner or thriller-style novel.
The reason it is important, then, is its overall message, which I believe most of us are aware of already. However, Lightman's writing style so uniquely conveys the sense of chaos and meaninglessness, the "spiritual poverty", that confronts our society that I would recommend it to anyone who considers themselves humanistic or "spiritual", as well as aspiring professionals. This book forces you to consider where you stand in your own life and re-think your priorities. As a student halfway through college, it only helped to harden my resolve to do everything in my power not to end up the "Bill Chalmers" type, idly pursuing the so-called American Dream, and to search for more than mere money and material comfort in my life.
I've noted on some of the other reviews posted here that a lot of my fellow readers didn't understand the point of the Socrates/Anytus interludes. While I agree that the life of Bill Chalmers somewhat paralleled the life of Anytus in terms of his relationship with his son, I think it is also crucial to realize the significance of the fact that Anytus was the person primarily responsible for the death of Socrates. Socrates, for those who don't know, was the "gadfly" of his city, and had the ability to prove to people that they had no real rational basis for their beliefs and values. He made people reconsider their priorities and examine themselves on a much deeper level, a talent which eventually made him a threat to his society. He had a real passion for people, it seems, which overrode all desires for fame, fortune, etc., and he did not fear death.
So then, what is the point of these interludes? I believe that the execution of Socrates by Anytus' efforts mirrors that of Bill Chalmers' true "self" by his daily life in a society with little regard for people as human beings. I think this is what Lightman was really getting at...perhaps he should have devoted more time to Socrates and his teachings instead of simply focusing on his death. I am reminded of Mel Gibson's treatment of Jesus in The Passion.
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