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kbogdano80 's review for:
The Human Stain
by Philip Roth
This is the story of Coleman Silk, a revered and respected dean and professor at a small New England college. Two years before his retirement, Silk faces disgrace and ruin when he is accused of making racist comments in the classroom and then is found out to be having an affair with a woman half his age.
Through the eyes and narrative of Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's alter ego, the reader is given a piece by piece picture of Coleman Silk--his rage at the injustice done to him, his isolation from his former profession and colleagues, his relationship with his illiterate, much younger mistress, and the secret that he's harbored about himself and the lie that he's lived with for most of his life.
Set in 1998 against the backdrop of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, this novel is a probing look at successful, respected men brought down by their own actions/words/sexual proclivities, a scathing treatise on political correctness and small-college politics, a discourse on race and class. It is also a look at the hypocrisy and cruelty of human beings, their willingness and need to point fingers, to blame, to ruin reputations, to see and believe the worst of others. Through their actions and interference in the world human beings can't help but taint it, thus leaving behind what Roth calls "The Human Stain."
I think it has already been established that Philip Roth is one of the best writers still working today. He writes about things that matter, important things that have faced and are currently facing America. He's relevant and sharp and observant. Reading him is almost effortless, his prose is so strong and his sentences almost crackle with intensity and frantic energy, pulling you into his story, his world, demanding and gaining your attention.
However, despite these skills, I found this book uneven and not wholly effective. It was too long and tended to ramble a bit too much. The main story and the flashbacks into Coleman Silk's past and history were very interesting but were too spread out between long speeches and soliloquies. These tended to drag the story down and make reading a bit tedious. I found some of the characters, like Faunia Farely and Delphine Roux, multi-dimensional and fascinating but others were underdeveloped and one-dimensional and not very convincing.
Overall, a decent novel by a good writer dealing with important issues and themes. Not Roth's best but still a worthwhile read.
Through the eyes and narrative of Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's alter ego, the reader is given a piece by piece picture of Coleman Silk--his rage at the injustice done to him, his isolation from his former profession and colleagues, his relationship with his illiterate, much younger mistress, and the secret that he's harbored about himself and the lie that he's lived with for most of his life.
Set in 1998 against the backdrop of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, this novel is a probing look at successful, respected men brought down by their own actions/words/sexual proclivities, a scathing treatise on political correctness and small-college politics, a discourse on race and class. It is also a look at the hypocrisy and cruelty of human beings, their willingness and need to point fingers, to blame, to ruin reputations, to see and believe the worst of others. Through their actions and interference in the world human beings can't help but taint it, thus leaving behind what Roth calls "The Human Stain."
I think it has already been established that Philip Roth is one of the best writers still working today. He writes about things that matter, important things that have faced and are currently facing America. He's relevant and sharp and observant. Reading him is almost effortless, his prose is so strong and his sentences almost crackle with intensity and frantic energy, pulling you into his story, his world, demanding and gaining your attention.
However, despite these skills, I found this book uneven and not wholly effective. It was too long and tended to ramble a bit too much. The main story and the flashbacks into Coleman Silk's past and history were very interesting but were too spread out between long speeches and soliloquies. These tended to drag the story down and make reading a bit tedious. I found some of the characters, like Faunia Farely and Delphine Roux, multi-dimensional and fascinating but others were underdeveloped and one-dimensional and not very convincing.
Overall, a decent novel by a good writer dealing with important issues and themes. Not Roth's best but still a worthwhile read.