OK, back by popular demand (well a couple of people vaguely enquired), here is the first non-holiday reading book review. Actually, this one was started during the holidays, but only finished last Monday, which tells you something about either the book, relative time available for reading, or both...
Philip Roth is a master. You see this, you feel this, on every page, with every sentence. This is a Great Writer, a Grand Old Man of contemporary literature. There's a reason for this - the geezer can really write. I, for one, keep coming back for more - I have consumed much of his recent work (it helps that he has taken to writing slim volumes), and there's one more waiting in the "pending" section of my bookshelf ("Indignation"). In this case, I decided, during a pre-summer trip to the bookshop, to try something meatier, an acknowledged major work.
So he's a Master. He is. But, and you knew there was a but coming, right?, I still can't work out if I actually ENJOY reading Roth. With the shorter recent books - all on gloomy subjects such as old age, loss of vitality, death - this was maybe not such an issue; they are short. But here, you're in for the long haul: this is a substantial read. That applies in all senses: this is a book which has something to say and says it powerfully. It's about the American Dream falling apart, for one man - the made-it-in-WASP-America Newark Jew - and for America in general. The insight into a character and a mind is extraordinary - there is real depth here. Yet it is also a bit of a slog: you get the idea early (at least you think) and then it is laid on you more and more. The effect is slow and cumulative. But the effect is powerful. This is not a book you will forget in a hurry.
Recommendation: don't read this if you want thrills and spills; don't read it if you want entertainment; don't read it if you want to finish it quickly and read something else. Otherwise, if you want to see what the mature Roth does, and how he does it: read it.
Philip Roth is a master. You see this, you feel this, on every page, with every sentence. This is a Great Writer, a Grand Old Man of contemporary literature. There's a reason for this - the geezer can really write. I, for one, keep coming back for more - I have consumed much of his recent work (it helps that he has taken to writing slim volumes), and there's one more waiting in the "pending" section of my bookshelf ("Indignation"). In this case, I decided, during a pre-summer trip to the bookshop, to try something meatier, an acknowledged major work.
So he's a Master. He is. But, and you knew there was a but coming, right?, I still can't work out if I actually ENJOY reading Roth. With the shorter recent books - all on gloomy subjects such as old age, loss of vitality, death - this was maybe not such an issue; they are short. But here, you're in for the long haul: this is a substantial read. That applies in all senses: this is a book which has something to say and says it powerfully. It's about the American Dream falling apart, for one man - the made-it-in-WASP-America Newark Jew - and for America in general. The insight into a character and a mind is extraordinary - there is real depth here. Yet it is also a bit of a slog: you get the idea early (at least you think) and then it is laid on you more and more. The effect is slow and cumulative. But the effect is powerful. This is not a book you will forget in a hurry.
Recommendation: don't read this if you want thrills and spills; don't read it if you want entertainment; don't read it if you want to finish it quickly and read something else. Otherwise, if you want to see what the mature Roth does, and how he does it: read it.
Heavy Roth
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