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Title: Is it live or is it....?
Review: As an academic novel, Koestler's Call Girls has relatively little to recommend it, perhaps in part because it cuts so close the bone. Reading Koester's description of a small conference of academic "call girls" is all too similar to the real thing. The pompous posturing and politicking of such a group is every bit as tedious on the printed page as it is in person. If one is looking for an enjoyable academic satire, try David Lodge's Changing Places or Small World, try Richard Russo's Straight Man, or even try Jane Smiley's Moo; for a somewhat more serious expose, try Carl Djerassi's Cantor's Dilemma.Not that I wish to dismiss this work entirely; Koestler's novel is far more successful as a bleak commentary on the direction of the human race, mostly due to the two brilliant short pieces which frame the centeral academic tale. These pieces remaing brilliant and haunting despite the dry centerpiece.
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