early review:
"As usual, Roth's voice is wise and full of rueful wit, but the plot is contrived (the accidental meeting with Amy, for example, is particularly unbelievable) and the tone hovers dangerously close to pathetic. In the Rothian pantheon, this one lives closer to The Dying Animal than Everyman" wii be published next month.
― Zeno, Saturday, 15 September 2007 06:29 (eighteen years ago)
Not uncurious exactly, but as I read more Roth I am getting the problem of diminishing returns. I started with Human Stain & American Pastoral, then stuff like Portnoy's Complaint and The Plot Against America, and more recently the likes of the Ghost Writer and the Dying Animal. I like them, but I'm definitely moving down a level in quality every time.
It's like digging your mum's Hot Rocks, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street, then exploring the rest of the Stones' output. It's all good and there's certainly a lot of it, but I'm not sure it's that much fun.
― Ismael Klata, Monday, 17 September 2007 15:39 (eighteen years ago)
yeah, i yhink youve read the "must", without maybe "sabbath's theatre", which is like a darker, more disturbed version of "portnoy".
i still prefer Updike as the ultimate explorer of the american drean and psychology.updike's is a master of poetic,authentic realism, a rare thing.
― Zeno, Monday, 17 September 2007 18:24 (eighteen years ago)
i for one never dug my mum's hot rocks
― thomp, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 01:31 (eighteen years ago)
or indeed her sticky fingers
Zeno, u mad.
I'm more excited about this then I am about almost anything.
― G00blar, Saturday, 22 September 2007 08:42 (eighteen years ago)
it's already sold in some places,at least in ny
― Zeno, Saturday, 22 September 2007 13:50 (eighteen years ago)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/books/02kaku.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin
positive review in the new york times
― Zeno, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 04:53 (eighteen years ago)
I like the weird just-before-the-resurgence stuff like Operation Shylock and Counter-Life best of all his stuff.
― mulla atari, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 14:01 (eighteen years ago)
i was looking at this thread and i thought 'why did no one make that joke' and then i realised i did and it wasn't very funny
reading 'the instructions' made me think i ought to have read roth by now, i just need to find a set of nice second hand copies so i don't have to give the guy any money i guess
― thomp, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 15:23 (fourteen years ago)
'sok, I forgive you. I miss gooblar btw, there are a couple of enlightening roth threads elsewhere that he ably curated.
― Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 15:41 (fourteen years ago)
yeah i remember that one where he had ppl ask him abt roth, it was v useful. i took his recommendations
― just sayin, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 15:45 (fourteen years ago)
i was just looking at that thread. i might try and find some second hand on saturday. if not i will probably give up and start on joshua cohen's book.
― thomp, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 15:56 (fourteen years ago)
I rushed through the one-act-play scenes, but enjoyed this a lot (alongside The Humbling, Everyman, and Indignation).
― A double shot of Sesame Street (Eazy), Tuesday, 8 February 2011 22:21 (fourteen years ago)
The Humbling was crap.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 February 2011 22:25 (fourteen years ago)
Indignation was excellent.
― Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 22:29 (fourteen years ago)
I love Roth but haven't enjoyed his last couple of books.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 February 2011 22:34 (fourteen years ago)