A review by thbevilacqua
The Counterlife by Philip Roth

5.0

While I don't feel like this book is talked about as much, or held in as high regard, as Roth's other work (particularly among the other Zuckerman books), I thought The Counterlife was a very interesting and well-written piece of fiction. Much of the book is concerned with Jewish identity and identity in general, continuing in the same line as the preceding Zuckerman novels. However, this novel has a decidedly "meta" quality to it, as Roth is also examining the nature of writing and fiction and looking at the ways fiction is drawn from everyday life and how the two (life and fiction) are wrapped up together. Roth addresses these topics in a much more direct way in The Counterlife, but that does not mean in a heavy handed way. These concerns are given a greater prominence and engaged with in more interesting ways both from a formal perspective as well as thematically. I would definitely recommend reading this book.