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A review by eccocosaleggo
Indignation by Philip Roth
4.0
This is my third Roth's novel, and so far he has never disappointed me.
It is 1951, the second year of Korean war. Marcus is the son of a kosher butcher, the first of his family to go to college. Even if he has always proved to be a responsible boy, his father goes mad because he is always worried that his son is doing something that will ruin his life forever like gambling or going to whorehouses. Even if he gets straight A's and works as a waiter on the weekends to pay his studies, he is criticized by the dean of the college because he is not social enough, because he has changed room twice, and because he does not believe in any god. Marcus is indignated, what can he do if his first rommate listened to music while he was trying to sleep, and if the second one insulted the girl he fell for? It is not his fault, it is american bigotry's fault. He is a responsible, mature, and hard-working boy who has always done his duty, and now he is being attacked because he does not believe in God and he can't stand the fact that he is obliged to go to church every week. He can't simply stand injustices. So he gets expelled for paying another guy to go to church in his place. Then he must go to fight in Korea, his worst fear, where he tragically dies.
The writing is amazing as always, but strangely not as cynic. Marcus is the narrator, he relives his life before dying in Korea, when he is under morphine, I found this trick impressing, even if it is not the most original. The characters are all really vivid.
I think this novel is going to stay with me for a while. So short but so intense. How someone who does everything in the right way can in reality do everything in the wrong way? How can someone so respectful and with such good grades be expelled because he does not want to go to church and bend his beliefs to the school's beliefs? How can someone die because of this bigotry? How can someone die because he stands up against these kinds of manipulative systems?
It is 1951, the second year of Korean war. Marcus is the son of a kosher butcher, the first of his family to go to college. Even if he has always proved to be a responsible boy, his father goes mad because he is always worried that his son is doing something that will ruin his life forever like gambling or going to whorehouses. Even if he gets straight A's and works as a waiter on the weekends to pay his studies, he is criticized by the dean of the college because he is not social enough, because he has changed room twice, and because he does not believe in any god. Marcus is indignated, what can he do if his first rommate listened to music while he was trying to sleep, and if the second one insulted the girl he fell for? It is not his fault, it is american bigotry's fault. He is a responsible, mature, and hard-working boy who has always done his duty, and now he is being attacked because he does not believe in God and he can't stand the fact that he is obliged to go to church every week. He can't simply stand injustices. So he gets expelled for paying another guy to go to church in his place. Then he must go to fight in Korea, his worst fear, where he tragically dies.
The writing is amazing as always, but strangely not as cynic. Marcus is the narrator, he relives his life before dying in Korea, when he is under morphine, I found this trick impressing, even if it is not the most original. The characters are all really vivid.
I think this novel is going to stay with me for a while. So short but so intense. How someone who does everything in the right way can in reality do everything in the wrong way? How can someone so respectful and with such good grades be expelled because he does not want to go to church and bend his beliefs to the school's beliefs? How can someone die because of this bigotry? How can someone die because he stands up against these kinds of manipulative systems?