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lekakis's review
3.0
it's funny. It's obsessive and somewhat tiring at times. Deserves a second read. I like books that I can relate more, I had trouble relating. I laughed many times while I was reading it.
philip_bonanno's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Ah, we really all our the unreliable narrator of our own stories. Who’s to say what reality is and isn’t except an author telling us
pearloz's review against another edition
4.0
Great, gymnastic writing here, switching viewpoints, narrators, reversal of storylines, rewinding, standing-in, plus all that wordy dialogue. Love it!
nunuseli's review against another edition
2.0
Lo abandono. No puedo más. Lo abandono en la página 206. Mañana lo devuelvo a la biblioteca. Si no es que antes alguien me convence de lo contrario. La primera parte que narra como Henry Zuckerman se queda impotente por culpa de un efecto secundario de la medicación para el corazón (y claro, esto evidentemente representa el fin del mundo) me gustó mucho. Mucho. Me encantó el sentido del humor. Odiaba a los personajes, pero disfrutaba odiándolos. No esperaba menos de Philip Roth. Pero la segunda parte se me está haciendo extenuante con tanto dar vueltas al tema del sionismo. No es necesario tantas digresiones metidas con calzador en la narración, lo que tenemos que pillar ya lo hemos pillado. Ha quedado claro que todas las personas del mundo son unos cabeza cuadrados y que el único que posee la verdad absoluta es Nathan Zuckerman (es decir, Philip Roth), pero que está tan por encima del resto de los mortales que no se va a molestar en explicárnosla directamente porque esto sería perder el tiempo. La misantropía de Philip Roth me parece a la vez ridícula y entrañable.
Mañana lo devuelvo a la biblioteca. Y si está me llevaré 'Elegía', que es más corto y que en realidad es la traducción de 'Everyman'. Si no lo cogí en primer lugar fue porque creía que era el libro en que se había basado Isabel Coixet para rodar 'Elegy'. Y aunque la película me gustó (a pesar de tener a Penélope Cruz), no me apetecía leer una historia que ya conocía. A ver si hay más suerte, porque aún no me he rendido, aún tengo la esperanza de leer y disfrutar un libro de Roth antes que se termine el año. Como mínimo uno.
Mañana lo devuelvo a la biblioteca. Y si está me llevaré 'Elegía', que es más corto y que en realidad es la traducción de 'Everyman'. Si no lo cogí en primer lugar fue porque creía que era el libro en que se había basado Isabel Coixet para rodar 'Elegy'. Y aunque la película me gustó (a pesar de tener a Penélope Cruz), no me apetecía leer una historia que ya conocía. A ver si hay más suerte, porque aún no me he rendido, aún tengo la esperanza de leer y disfrutar un libro de Roth antes que se termine el año. Como mínimo uno.
pentalith5's review
4.0
There is a lot of shouting in this book. Dialog that is really more monologue, and quite mentally exhausting monologue at that. His characters seem to have trouble getting the point succinctly. I get it that Roth is trying to get us to think about Jewishness and identity and fiction and madness and male impotence and political activism ... and about ten billion other things. This is definitely a think tank of a book, and I love that. But it's so ironic that one of the character's horribly anti-semitic complaints is that Jews are boring, because it was just about then that the book itself started to get very boring. Or well, perhaps not boring but tedious.
The book was not without redeeming qualities though. It was twisty and very "meta fiction", as other reviewers have pointed out. I sympathize with characters who think themselves into a pickle. The writing itself is very fine indeed, but I think the book just lost it's punch somewhere along the way because it was about 50 pages longer than it needed to be.
The book was not without redeeming qualities though. It was twisty and very "meta fiction", as other reviewers have pointed out. I sympathize with characters who think themselves into a pickle. The writing itself is very fine indeed, but I think the book just lost it's punch somewhere along the way because it was about 50 pages longer than it needed to be.
wirawin_aria's review
challenging
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
midorilikessundays's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
mendelbot's review
5.0
Astounding in so many ways. Deeply personal. Hard to tell where Roth leaves off and Zuckerman takes over and where Zuckerman leaves off and ur-Zuckerman takes over. The novel is one of the best in tackling Jewish identity, though what that identity "is" Roth cleverly conceals. Jewishness in The Counterlife is a full spectrum of existence, from sectarian orthodox to the secular to the militant to the Jew in name only.
In many ways it's a novel about escape, how everyone wishes to somehow shed their current skin for something fresher, newer, shinier. Hence the book's obsession with philandering men. The dream of escape, of reinvention is the heart of this book, the counterlife to which it's main characters desire.
Can't recommend this highly enough, though I would say it's best to read the four previous Zuckerman books (don't worry, they're not too long) before plowing into this one.
In many ways it's a novel about escape, how everyone wishes to somehow shed their current skin for something fresher, newer, shinier. Hence the book's obsession with philandering men. The dream of escape, of reinvention is the heart of this book, the counterlife to which it's main characters desire.
Can't recommend this highly enough, though I would say it's best to read the four previous Zuckerman books (don't worry, they're not too long) before plowing into this one.
zhelana's review
1.0
I really... WTF was this book about? Even if it was an author changing things by chapter, why would he do that? Look, I'm an author, and plot holes the size of the ones this author had in his book would mortify me. There's gotta be some kind of a reason for things just suddenly changing, and the dead coming back to life. Otherwise your book just sucks.