Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
A book with all of what I love about Philip Roth - dark humour, awareness of the limitations of how much we can know other people, engagingly odd characters.
Scene by scene the book held my interest, however across the span of the book it just did not hold together. The initial setup involving the author doesn’t resolve to anything in the end, while the overarching story of the daughter just peters out to nothing as well. It ultimately feels like clever and interesting character development wrapped into an unfinished and poorly planned novel. A shame as I’ve enjoyed other Roth books much more to date and had great hopes in this Pulitzer Prize winner.
Scene by scene the book held my interest, however across the span of the book it just did not hold together. The initial setup involving the author doesn’t resolve to anything in the end, while the overarching story of the daughter just peters out to nothing as well. It ultimately feels like clever and interesting character development wrapped into an unfinished and poorly planned novel. A shame as I’ve enjoyed other Roth books much more to date and had great hopes in this Pulitzer Prize winner.
“He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.”
I'm not really sure I get the hype, but Philip Roth is at turns witty and profound. The Swede is emblematic of the type of sixties America that was rocked by the Counterculture, oblivious to and arguably unwilling to understand how their middle-class life was unintentionally hinged upon the subjugation of the third world. It portrays these era of parents as well-meaning and wholly unable to cope with the increasingly globalized condition of their existences.
While this was a good book, I didn't find it that thought-provoking, and I don't see it's message as being incredibly strong.
While this was a good book, I didn't find it that thought-provoking, and I don't see it's message as being incredibly strong.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
In una parola? Pesante. Sia per quanto riguarda la scrittura, sia la storia. Non necessariamente in negativo. In realtà non c’è trama. C’è un evento in una famiglia perbene che sconvolge tutto…il libro è tutta una riflessione (con l’aiuto di aneddoti e flashback) che gira intorno a quell’evento!
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I both read and listened to this (different parts of the book)
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
看到有人说菲利普罗斯的风格是陀思妥耶夫斯基式的，真·当头一棒。
罗斯有着出神入化的叙事技巧，每读几十页就有一个180度的大转弯。不管他往哪个方向写，我都会读得津津有味，等读到可以确认下来罗斯想表述的方向后，他又不断往里头加调味料，简直是一场盛宴。
书中有大段大段的内容写手套如何制作，跟《白鲸》描写鲸鱼的内部构造一样，能感受到那些长篇大论都是作者耗时无数的研究整理，这种百科全书式的描写就两个字——奢侈。跟现代作家3个月写出来的流水线作品相比真的是神一般的创作。
罗斯有着出神入化的叙事技巧，每读几十页就有一个180度的大转弯。不管他往哪个方向写，我都会读得津津有味，等读到可以确认下来罗斯想表述的方向后，他又不断往里头加调味料，简直是一场盛宴。
书中有大段大段的内容写手套如何制作，跟《白鲸》描写鲸鱼的内部构造一样，能感受到那些长篇大论都是作者耗时无数的研究整理，这种百科全书式的描写就两个字——奢侈。跟现代作家3个月写出来的流水线作品相比真的是神一般的创作。