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bkish's review against another edition
3.0
It is a short book (90 pages on my Nook) so it should be a short review
This book I think is completely irrelevant for a reader who is not familiar with Philip roth the "personality" and the famous author who died in 2018 at age of 83.
I got this ebook from my library because I have read many of his novels beginning with the then infamous Portnoys Complaint.
Philip roth was a very unpleasant person I think and it shows here in this book by his best friend ben taylor also a writer also Jewish. However Ben Taylor does not want to create that impression of Philip roth. He wants people to see his good warm side and for people to understand that these men were good close friends for many years. Maybe because I too am Jewish and because I have seen more than a few jewish men with these same characteristics of huge ego and supreme confidence. The book holds some interesting aspects of Philip roth as he approached his stories and his characters and what interested him with regard to people. It is said here as we who know of Roth are aware that he had many women. Probably I think he never knew intimacy with any of his women never really was involved with them on an equal level.
there is no doubt tho that he was intelligent and he understood the overblown ego of men and what could delate a man
I appreciate that Benjamin Taylor penned this short rather gentle book about a man who was himself short and probably not gentle
Judy g
This book I think is completely irrelevant for a reader who is not familiar with Philip roth the "personality" and the famous author who died in 2018 at age of 83.
I got this ebook from my library because I have read many of his novels beginning with the then infamous Portnoys Complaint.
Philip roth was a very unpleasant person I think and it shows here in this book by his best friend ben taylor also a writer also Jewish. However Ben Taylor does not want to create that impression of Philip roth. He wants people to see his good warm side and for people to understand that these men were good close friends for many years. Maybe because I too am Jewish and because I have seen more than a few jewish men with these same characteristics of huge ego and supreme confidence. The book holds some interesting aspects of Philip roth as he approached his stories and his characters and what interested him with regard to people. It is said here as we who know of Roth are aware that he had many women. Probably I think he never knew intimacy with any of his women never really was involved with them on an equal level.
there is no doubt tho that he was intelligent and he understood the overblown ego of men and what could delate a man
I appreciate that Benjamin Taylor penned this short rather gentle book about a man who was himself short and probably not gentle
Judy g
brooklynbrianreads's review against another edition
5.0
We spent thousands of hours in each other's company. He was fully half my life. I cannot hope for another such friend. ... To talk daily with someone of such gifts had been a salvation.
Slender biography of Philip Roth by one of his closest friends. I have long regarded Roth to be one of the best chroniclers of the human condition - this book codified why I have felt so. Reading it felt like I was part of a dinner conversation between Roth, Taylor and a bunch of their other literary friends. I am going to jump back to Roth - start with Goodbye Columbus and see how much funnier my life will be!
Slender biography of Philip Roth by one of his closest friends. I have long regarded Roth to be one of the best chroniclers of the human condition - this book codified why I have felt so. Reading it felt like I was part of a dinner conversation between Roth, Taylor and a bunch of their other literary friends. I am going to jump back to Roth - start with Goodbye Columbus and see how much funnier my life will be!
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