About this title: Philip Roth's 1969 novel--brilliant, bawdy, shocking, and hilarious--tapped into the so-called "sexual revolution" of the late 1960s in its eagerness to break taboos. Its confessional frankness and irreverent take on family life changed American literature forever. Structured in the form of a long session with his psychoanalyst, the book explores lawyer Alexander Portnoy's failures as a man and a lover. Portnoy?s troubles can be traced to the repressive, hypocritical, and anti-Semitic culture in which he was raised--and more specifically, in his mind, to his comically overbearing Jewish ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. B000LCD7YI Good condition book club edition by Random House, clean pages, some edge wear rubs, dust jacket has a couple small tears, corners crisp, a good book! Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam
Date Published: 1970
Description: Good. No Jacket. Corners Bumped, Spine Creased, Covers Soiled, Chipping On Bottom Edge Back Cover, Sticker Back Cover, Interior Unmarked, Good Reading Copy. read more
Edition: Second printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, New York
Date Published: 1969
Description: Fine in good dust jacket. Pages, boards and spine in excellent condition; dust jacket shows wear including rips, chips, and corner cut off the flap. 274 p. 22 cm. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 1969-01-01
Description: Fair. Hardcover, no dust jacket. Cover shows mild wear and spine slope. Very light soiling. Front endpaper has previous owner's name, few other markings. Pages are very lightly sunned to edges. Text block is shaken, back hinge and binding are weakened. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 1969
Description: Good. ---309 pgs. Interior-Nice overall condition. The paperback cover has light signs of use. -Publish Place: New York-Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Date Published: 1969
Description: A good reading copy only. Dust Jacket may have chips and close tears. Book has tanning or browning due to normal aging process. Book of the Month Club Edition. -, Hard Cover, Good / Good. read more
"This is my first Philip Roth book. I'm a lover of great literature, and yet it took me to age 31 to dive into the canon of the man many consider to be the greatest living American author. Some call him the greatest Jewish author ever. He's probably neither of these, but the fact that he's in these conversations makes it odd that I've avoided him to this point.
It wasn't entirely accidental. I've always known about Roth -- known about his style and subject matter, tracked his hits and misses, read his reviews -- but a certain apprehension always stayed my hand when I picked up one of his works at the book store. I always had some kind of fear that I'd either absolutely hate it, or like it way too much. Either way I sensed Roth would hit close to home, and that's not always something I enjoy in my literature.
Well, lesson learned. I was right to be afraid, but his talent outweighs the discomfort he causes. Portnoy's Complaint is as much a triumph as the generations of critics before me claimed it to be. And the fact that so much of it rang true on a personal level, that so much of it made me squirm when I was supposed to be laughing...it turns out maybe I do enjoy certain kinds of books when they show me a mirror.
I wouldn't expect any non-Jew to have the same type of experience with Roth's work as I did, but I'd still recommend it to anyone. Literature this great is universal, even if different people will read it different ways."
"Portnoy: 'What else is wrong with her, while we're at it? She moves her lips when she reads. Petty? You think so? Ever sit across the dinner table from a woman with whom you are supposedly having an affair--a twenty-nine-year-old person--and watch her lips move while she looks down the movie page for a picture the two of you can see? I know what's playing before she even tells me--from reading the lips! And the books I bring her, she carries them around from job to job in her tote bag--to read? No! So as to impress some fairy photographer, to impress passers-by in the street, strangers, with her many-sided character! Look at that girl with that smashing ass--carrying a book! With real words in it!
So I bought her the Modern Library Dos Passos, a book with a hard cover ... The purpose? To save the stupid shikse; to rid her of her race's ignorance; to make this daughter of the heartless oppressor a student of suffering and oppression; to teach her to be compassionate, to bleed a little for the world's sorrows. Get it now? the perfect couple: she puts the id back in Yid, I put the oy back in goy.'"
"Books are all different. Some talk about violence, sex, religion and other things. Magic, magical lands, talking animals and things along that line are also written about. But should these books be banned? No, what they should do is put age ratings on each book, like they do with movies. This way books are always available.
There are books that should be kept away from little kids. That's why one rating should be for the ages 7-13. The books with this rating wouldn't include sex or profanity. They could include violence, but not a lot. One book they could read is On My Honor. The book about a boy who lies and has to live with the consequences. Books like Harry Potter aren't bad. They are good books, it shouldn't matter if there is magic, or magical lands it only imagination.
When you get older drugs, sex, and violence isn't easy to avoid. Teenagers 14-18 should be able to read books containing these things. They already know what it is, or are going to learn about. Go Ask Alice is a diary and talks about all of that. Why hide things from your kids when they know or will eventually know.
18 is the age when you're legally an adult. At that age you should be allowed to read what ever you want. Books that are really graphic, and, broader line porn should be for adults only. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty is one of those books. People should be able to wait read things like that. Some teenagers really shouldn't be exposed to that kind of stuff.
Banning books is not a good idea. The author wrote the book so people could be informed or entertained. Those rights shouldn't be taken away. Rating books is what should be done. 7-13 year olds shouldn't be reading about sex and drugs. That kind if stuff is okay for teenager 14-18 to read. Then when you're finally 18 you can read whatever you want."
"Roth is coming farther into his own voice here, and exploring his ideas, skimmed in other books, in a more, uh, penetrating fashion. Funny, embarassing, but sickeningly relatable. I'd go as far as to say it's a must read in Modern American Literature."
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