The Counterlife
by Philip Rothpublished
August 6th 1996
(first published 1987)
by Vintage
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binding
Paperback, 336 pages
literary awards
National Book Critics Circle Award (1987)
isbn
0679749047
(isbn13: 9780679749042)
description
The saga of Henry and Nathan Zuckerman continues, 13 years after novelist Nathan Zuckerman first appeared in Roth's 1974 effort, My Life as a Man. In ...more
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Read in November, 2008
Lo abandono. No puedo más. Lo abandono en la página 206. Mañana lo devuelvo a la biblioteca. Si no es que antes alguien me convence de lo contrario. La primera parte que narra como Henry Zuckerman se queda impotente por culpa de un efecto secundario de la medicación para el corazón (y claro, esto evidentemente representa el fin del mundo) me gustó mucho. Mucho. Me encantó el sentido del humor. Odiaba a los personajes, pero disfrutaba odiándolos. No esperaba menos de Philip Roth. Pero la ...more
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Read in August, 2008
"You can go around kissing all the walls in the world, and all the crosses, and the femurs and tibias of all the holy blessed martyrs ever butchered by the infidel, and back in your office be the son of a bitch to the staff and at home a perfect prick to your family."
Who else could write about Kierkegaard and Eliot's "Burbank with a Baedaker, Bleisten With a Cigar" without straying from comic fiction into dull literary criticism? This is so much more adventurous than the...more
Who else could write about Kierkegaard and Eliot's "Burbank with a Baedaker, Bleisten With a Cigar" without straying from comic fiction into dull literary criticism? This is so much more adventurous than the...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommended to James by:
Hannahrecommends it for: writers; people who've read the previous Zuckerman books
This book will spin your head. It's emotional; it borders on the surreal; it's puzzling and exciting, at times very fast-paced. It's so amazing in its scope that I don't think I can do it justice in my review. If you want to see what people mean when they talk about Roth and his excursions into the hypothetical (not that I know if people actually are talking about such things, but they should be), look no further.
This book is outlandish and full of surprises. It's so ...more
This book is outlandish and full of surprises. It's so ...more
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Read in February, 2008
Another great Zuckerman, probably the best so far. Basically putting all other fiction on hold while I finish this series. In this one, Nathan Zuckerman (Roth's fictional alter ego) creates a series of mythologies or "counterlives" using fictionalized narratives of "real" characters to explore aspects of his own life and experiences. Typical Roth in that he's always exploring the symbiotic relationship between life and art, and can do so in a complex and particularly inter...more
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The end of the second era, our hero learns to stop worrying and love the Postmodern Bomb. If one follows the line of reasoning that Zuckerman died at the end of “The Anatomy Lesson” (six subsequent novels aside), then “The Counterlife” can serve as a sort of journey to the underworld for literary anti-heroes, with the broken fourth wall forcing the secular-Jewish Zuckerman to a finally communion with god (a technique borrowed from Chuck Jone’s “Duck Amuk” and later paid homage in G...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
those who haven't heard of Roth
During grad school, one of my American courses was just devoted to the contemporary American writer Philip Roth. Partially, I enrolled in the course because I needed the credit, but also because I was chagrined to realize that there was a major contemporary I had not even HEARD of. Basically, Roth is important in the tradition of American Jewish authors along with Saul Bellow and Bernard Malamud. So, if you want to appear maybe a little prententious and well-read, you should check him out. O...more
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Read in April, 2007
Philip Roth is a great writer, clever, entertaining... etc. I just did not think that The Counterlife was interesting or terribly worth while. I became annoyed more often than impressed or deeply moved. It is another of those more recent books which becomes a wholly new thing by the end. This device is used well so the read eventually does pay off but the rest of it simply isn't stimulating or satisfying, neither intellectually nor emotionally.
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Read in May, 2007
Holy meta. The most self-referential thing I've ever read. Maybe a little too clever for its own good, but damn, it's masterful.
Characters die and come back, there are different narrators and different perspectives. And there's even a letter from one of the characters to the author. Which would be Zuckerman, not Roth. But, of course, Zuckerman is Roth. Or is he?
Characters die and come back, there are different narrators and different perspectives. And there's even a letter from one of the characters to the author. Which would be Zuckerman, not Roth. But, of course, Zuckerman is Roth. Or is he?
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Read in February, 2008
I really enjoyed the first several chapters. I was intrigued by all the switching around of circumstances and not knowing what was "real". My problem was with the last chapter. After you know what is going on and what the "true" circumstances are, the last chapter seems pointless and superfluous. And ridiculously meta. I think it went too far in that regard.
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
writers, Jews, smart, loyal people
It took me some time to read through the middle 100 or so pages. I was so confused as to who died. Its quite a self-reflexive intellectual pursuit of the narrator's pysche by the author, the main character aka narrator as well as the secondary characters whose pov of the man are deeply fascinating and life-like. The last 2 chapters explained it all brilliantly.
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Masterful...but then I'd probably say that about a grocery list written by this writer. One of my favorites. As with Updike, the prose is powerful enough in and of itself, but the plot here, as with almost any other Roth novel (and I've read 'em all, a true groupie...)is wonderful. Hope anyone who hasn't yet delved into his work will give it a try.
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Roth/his protagonist is a prick in writing this book. That being said, I recognized the characters from my friends and family. Phrases like "she put the oy back in goy, and I put the id back in yid" have led to my phrase: "We put the fun back in dysfunction." This book will have you rolling your eyes and guffawing intermittently.
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Read in January, 1997
I picked this up 15 years ago but it took me a while to read it (the confusing three beginnings weren't well suited to reading on my daily tube journey).
When I did finally read it I became an immense Roth fan. Genius insight into people and their seedier underbellies. Superior to his more celebrated recent work.
When I did finally read it I became an immense Roth fan. Genius insight into people and their seedier underbellies. Superior to his more celebrated recent work.
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recommends it for:
anyone who likes to twist their head
Roth is the most morbidly beautiful, disgustingly honest writer I've ever picked up. The shock value of Kosinski, Welsh, Palaniuk, but less fanciful, more vivid, more haunting. I haven't read anything else by him yet, he's not a quick read, nor is it always fun, but damn does he manipulate language.
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Me encantó esa forma de romper el contrato con la realidad, si es que se puede llamar así. Eso de mostrar todas las posibilidades de una historia, su hechura, su ficcionalidad, pero sin el recurso fácil de poner a un narrador-escritor hablando de cómo escribe y esas cosas.
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Everyone
I think this is my favorite Philip Roth book so far (I've read about half of his novels). I wouldn't say that there was anything that made me laugh aloud but there were more than a few times that I grinning to myself during this one.
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
An avid reader...
Challenging material, but well worth the struggle....it was again an insight into fiction writing and the Middle-Aged Jewish male perspective.
I'm looking forward to reading more Roth classics.
I'm looking forward to reading more Roth classics.
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Read in January, 2007
My introduction to Roth was through this fun, if sometimes confusing and wacky, episode in the ongoing adventures of Nathan Zuckerman (Roth's favorite narrative alter-ego).
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I didn't really "get" this book. I think I'll reread it after I read the Zuckerman Bound series - at least I'll have more context for the characters involved.
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What the brothers in this novel have in common with most of Auter's leading men is a relation to another that is more like an alter-ego/rival than another man.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.90 (425 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.92 (407 ratings) number of reviews: 33
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quote
"Pensando na morte de seu irmão - e no ataque mortal do pai - me peguei comparando aquele sorriso seu com um curativo sobre uma ferida.
(p.75)"
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