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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Non ho ancora capito se Roth fa per me o no. Ci ho messo una vita e mezza a finirlo ma posso dire che mi è piaciuto e mi ha lanciato un sacco di spunti di riflessione.
L'ho sicuramente preferito a pastorale americana
L'ho sicuramente preferito a pastorale americana
where do I begin:
I absolutely HATE a book that is a thinly veiled excuse to say the n word. unsurprisingly written by an old white man.
also why is every single young woman both sexualized AND called daughterly? gross. just. don’t read this.
I absolutely HATE a book that is a thinly veiled excuse to say the n word. unsurprisingly written by an old white man.
also why is every single young woman both sexualized AND called daughterly? gross. just. don’t read this.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There's a quote I heard once that always resonated with me:
"There's the person you think you are, there's the person they think you are, and then there's the person you actually are."
After reading this book, I find myself questioning the existence of the last of the three. Or, if it does exist, it exists as a dialogue between the previous two. There's who we present ourselves as, who we see ourselves reflected back to us as in others, and the truth exists somewhere in the struggle to reconcile the two.
This book, through its story of a man dying with a secret, is a fantastic contemplation on the meaning of identity. It makes one realize the we can never truly know another person, and that others can never truly know us. And this, in turn, implies that we are defined by our secrets. It presents identity as a performance, and privacy as truth.
A fantastic novel that conveys its deep suggestions subtly, through a well crafted, expertly told story of man's life, his decisions, his secrets, and his undoing.
"There's the person you think you are, there's the person they think you are, and then there's the person you actually are."
After reading this book, I find myself questioning the existence of the last of the three. Or, if it does exist, it exists as a dialogue between the previous two. There's who we present ourselves as, who we see ourselves reflected back to us as in others, and the truth exists somewhere in the struggle to reconcile the two.
This book, through its story of a man dying with a secret, is a fantastic contemplation on the meaning of identity. It makes one realize the we can never truly know another person, and that others can never truly know us. And this, in turn, implies that we are defined by our secrets. It presents identity as a performance, and privacy as truth.
A fantastic novel that conveys its deep suggestions subtly, through a well crafted, expertly told story of man's life, his decisions, his secrets, and his undoing.
our entire class hated it so much that we voted collectively to stop reading it. i love a good "unlikable character" but everything about this book seemed unlikable. it wasn't compelling. the misogyny outweighed the interest in the conversation about identity. offensive AND boring. that said, the prose is admittedly good.
This is one of Roth’s easiest books to get into and read. That doesn’t mean the protagonist is likable or that it’s something I would read for fun. It’s interesting to me due to the level of storytelling and the fact that it’s basically Roth’s reaction to political scandals of the mid to late 90s. Somehow the images he creates stay in mind for years. The same happened to me with American Pastoral, which I have yet to finish.
I assume, as this seems to be regarded as a modern classic, that I'm missing something. Anything here about race or sex dosen't fit into my experience of the world; a "black" man who is so pale he can pass for white getting angsty about how to label himself, a university professor in a relationship with an illiterate cleaning woman half his age... I couldn't make sense of the characters, their motivations, or the world they live in. But judging by the fawning reviews that's obviously my problem.
The book contends with "wokeness" and "cancel culture" before these terms entered the cultural zeitgeist, so rather prescient in that sense.