A middle-aged writer recalls his younger self. At 23, Nathan Zuckerman has had four stories published and a small, flattering Saturday Reviewread full description
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Dec 12, 2008
Ryan
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I forgot how thrilling Roth can be. His books contain such a subtle, building power that hits about two-thirds the way through. (In particular I remember the eureka! moment with The Human Stain when its ideological weight revealed itself.)
I don't want to get too much into the story, as the less a reader knows going in the better. Let's just say it's about young Nathan Zuckerman making a pilgrimage to the farmhouse of his idol, a man names Lonoff. The novel is really about what must More...
I don't want to get too much into the story, as the less a reader knows going in the better. Let's just say it's about young Nathan Zuckerman making a pilgrimage to the farmhouse of his idol, a man names Lonoff. The novel is really about what must More...
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Jan 04, 2008
Daniel
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I wasn't sure where this book was going to go when I started it, and now that I'm done, I'm quite certain that I don't know where it's been.
Who is the "ghost writer"? Is it the young man, Nathan Zuckerman, who's own work is still so new that it hasn't it's own body? Is it the old author, E.I. Lonoff, who isn't the embodiment of the writer that Zuckerman was expecting; who freely admits that all he does is "turn sentences around." Is it the girl, who Nathan imagine More...
Who is the "ghost writer"? Is it the young man, Nathan Zuckerman, who's own work is still so new that it hasn't it's own body? Is it the old author, E.I. Lonoff, who isn't the embodiment of the writer that Zuckerman was expecting; who freely admits that all he does is "turn sentences around." Is it the girl, who Nathan imagine More...
Dec 17, 2009
Sarah
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"The Ghost Writer" when stripped bare is the same type of story as "The Lesson of the Master" where a young brilliant writer meets the older established "master" who inspired him to write in the first place. In the process of being disillusioned with his role model, he grows as a person and finds love.
What makes "The Ghost Writer" different is Philip Roth's unique mixture of autobiography and alternative history. This novella introduces Roth's More...
What makes "The Ghost Writer" different is Philip Roth's unique mixture of autobiography and alternative history. This novella introduces Roth's More...
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Jul 27, 2011
This novella of Roth's gets off to a rather bland and slow start-unexpected as it is quite short and you would think Roth would want to get the story in motion before it ends. However, Roth takes his time to lay out Zuckerman and his Jewish angst and guilt fairly well so that quick connections can be made as the plot picks up speed. Roth tells the story of Zuckerman, a young, promising writer raised in New Jersey yet not necessarily raised Jewish in New Jersey who must now confront a communit
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Jul 04, 2011
Vegantrav
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A few weeks ago, I was listening to a podcast, Slate's Culture Gabfest, and The Ghost Writer was discussed and highly praised, with one of the hosts acclaiming it as Roth's best work, so I decided to read it to see if it really were all that great.
Well, it wasn't the greatest work of fiction I've ever read, but I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Roth spins several subplots, and each is as intriguing, if not more so, than the main plot, or perhaps that is what makes the More...
Well, it wasn't the greatest work of fiction I've ever read, but I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Roth spins several subplots, and each is as intriguing, if not more so, than the main plot, or perhaps that is what makes the More...
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May 30, 2011
Fred
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Philip Roth’s The Ghost Writer was first published in two parts in The New Yorker in 1979. Later that year it was published in book form by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. It was the first book of his Zuckerman Bound Trilogy, which he completed in 1985. The Ghost Writer first introduced us to Roth’s alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, as a twenty-three year old writer at the start of his career. Nathan has had four short stories published and has been profiled in a magazine as an up-and-coming writer. He
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Apr 10, 2011
Alex
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The book I read for quarter 3 was The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth. He introduces Nathan Zuckerman in the 1950s, as a writer who was obsessed with the Great Books. Without revealing too much, Nathan Zuckerman is a young American writer who's just published three successful novelettes. He sends his last work to his father, a member of the New-York Jewish community and must face his disappointment in front of the written description of family events that could provoke anti-semitism among Nathan's r
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Jan 06, 2011
Josh
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 27, 2010
Andrew
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Roth is a master of the novel. His Zuckerman is so sure of himself, and at the same time so tormented, that the book's tone strikes this marvelously strange balance between confidence and horror, chutzpah and shandah. I remember reading a comment by Frank Kermode, about Roth's "Sabbath's Theater," that described Roth as "hilariously serious," and I think that is an amptly apt description of Roth's exuberantly comic genius. What else is one to do with Roth's "Life is E
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Dec 29, 2009
Marylisa
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Nov 07, 2007
Erin
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I wanted to meet Zuckerman. The beginning of the book is good. I feel Zuckerman's excitement and nervousness in getting to meet his favorite author. I also have wondered a great deal about how authors deal with their parents reading about their most deviant thoughts and desires. Roth lets us know how his parents reacted. The end of the story stops being about our character and is about a girl who claims to be Ann Frank. I didn't know the book would take this turn and was dissappointed.
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Feb 09, 2009
Richard
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This seems to be a time to get myself up to date with names that I've always admired but for some reason haven't read extensively. I'd read the later Zuckerman books (The Human Stain, etc.), but outside of that, not a whole lot of Roth. And since Cormac ain't putting out for me, I thought I'd satiate some reading urges by digging into some of million-and-six books of Roth's that I hadn't yet gotten into.
So here, the Zuckerman saga begins...
I've heard interviews with Rot More...
So here, the Zuckerman saga begins...
I've heard interviews with Rot More...
Jan 03, 2012
Mike
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The Ghost Writer veered between reminding me of truly inspired art - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea being the most obvious example, but also the brilliant Boondocks episode "Return of the King" - and the frustratingly tedious archetype that John Kennedy O'Toole got me so familiarized with: Wifey McNag. Nemesis and Indignation, to my recollection, also suffered from the dialogue Roth gives his women. I hope I'm not alone in this assessment.
The theme of The Ghost Writer, as an a More...
The theme of The Ghost Writer, as an a More...
Sep 29, 2010
Caitlin
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This is my first exposure to Roth and I really loved it. It is a unique story about a young writer struggling with the confict of interest between his art and his family. He is Jewish and his parents expect him to honor their family and heritage. They are still recovering from the Haulocaust, a terrible situation that he was just not a part of so he is not as anxious about it. The family feel that he betrayed him by the publication of his first novel. He escapes to the secluded home of a famous
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Oct 23, 2009
Ryan
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I've been wanting to read Roth for a while now, after seeing my dad blow through about 14 of them in the past year, but it took me a while to get to one. Then, once I decided to read some Roth, where do you start? Out of 29 books, a Zuckerman book, a Roth book, a Kepesh book, or just one of his goodies that can stand alone? So I went with the first Zuckerman of the series of 7.
...And now that I'm done with it I really don't know what to say about it... His style kind of reminds me o More...
...And now that I'm done with it I really don't know what to say about it... His style kind of reminds me o More...
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Aug 05, 2009
Alex
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It's a quick read, not even 200 pages, but along with it's sequel it's probably the most potent of the four Zuckerman Bound books. An amusing meditation on the consequences of art on the artist, certainly one of the wisest of the few Roth books I've read. He's really not preoccupied here with being funny or getting a rise out of his reader (which I do think he's trying to do with a lot of his work). There's a sobriety and maturity and wisdom here that, unfortunately for the rest of the series, s
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Jun 17, 2009
Jason
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(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
All right, I admit it -- I'm not the biggest fan of postmodernism, for a whole host of reasons that are sometimes related to each other, sometimes not: because of the movement's insistence, for example, that the only "true" artists are ones with advanced college degrees; because More...
All right, I admit it -- I'm not the biggest fan of postmodernism, for a whole host of reasons that are sometimes related to each other, sometimes not: because of the movement's insistence, for example, that the only "true" artists are ones with advanced college degrees; because More...
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Jan 11, 2010
Stephen
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There are a number of living writers of fiction whom I admire, but Philip Roth has to be the king. For me, reading this guy's flowing, unornamented prose is like imbibing very fine wine. A couple years ago I read The Human Stain and was so impressed that I followed up immediately with two other titles in quick succession – and then felt as if I'd chugged down something that should have been savored by the thimbleful. So I took a break from him.
The Ghost Writer, an earlier work, has t More...
The Ghost Writer, an earlier work, has t More...
Sep 14, 2010
Steve
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"There is obviously no simple way to be great." (p. 58, re: Felix Abravanel, a.k.a. Saul Bellow.) Much of the book is an unconscious debate between Abravanel's lifestyle (jet-setting, supermodel-dating, effortless masterpiece-production) and the asceticism of Lonoff ("if you change the brand of soap it takes him six months to accept it," his wife Hope complains). "Classically, down througth the ages, the artist has always considered himself beyond the mores of the commun
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Nov 15, 2010
Kami
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Mar 14, 2011
Nick
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My buddy Benjamin Nelson recommended this book and I acquired a copy, through certain methods. I read this on a trip to Montreal in June 2009. Previous to this the only Roth I'd read was Portnoy's Complaint.
I could have done without the narrator's kvetching. about how hard he was working to become a good writer. Oh noes, an 8 hour day at the typewriter. We should all have such problems. But the characterization was top-notch and very entertaining, a real maelstrom of neurosis. Heh, as More...
I could have done without the narrator's kvetching. about how hard he was working to become a good writer. Oh noes, an 8 hour day at the typewriter. We should all have such problems. But the characterization was top-notch and very entertaining, a real maelstrom of neurosis. Heh, as More...
Sep 15, 2011
Matt
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The more I read Philip Roth, the easier it is for me to understand how he's considered one of the greatest living writers, if not the greatest. His descriptions are so effortlessly effective that you may as well be watching a movie for all the work you need to do in visualizing them clearly. The plot here is remarkable too, deceptively simple (an up-and-coming writer spends the night at the home of his idol) but so full of parallels and subtle ideas that you find yourself analyzing the book desp
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Feb 11, 2009
Poupeh
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I have so far read three books by Roth, this, the American Pastoral, and Everyman.
He is not among my most favorite ones (his texts feel really in control even when his characters are not, and are not fluid or mischievous enough for me, if that makes any sense!) but still it is really interesting to see how he, who is so evidently American and Jewish in his writings, writes of themes that can so easily be placed in an Iranian Muslim family, of course with differences, but i mean the simila More...
He is not among my most favorite ones (his texts feel really in control even when his characters are not, and are not fluid or mischievous enough for me, if that makes any sense!) but still it is really interesting to see how he, who is so evidently American and Jewish in his writings, writes of themes that can so easily be placed in an Iranian Muslim family, of course with differences, but i mean the simila More...
Jun 12, 2011
Shaz
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I never read Roth before although I have had a copy of "The Human Stain" for ages now. That book came highly recommended from all quarters but the first few pages very too dry for my taste and I couldn’t commit myself to that book because it seemed to require a high level of patience with unwieldy dialogues.
Compared to that, "The Ghost Writer" is short and crisp, reads more like three short novellas and can be read within a day.
This novel introduces More...
Compared to that, "The Ghost Writer" is short and crisp, reads more like three short novellas and can be read within a day.
This novel introduces More...
Dec 10, 2009
Mike
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In this peculiar little novel from 1979, Roth introduces Nathan Zuckerman, here a 23 year old budding short story writer. The four chapters present essentially four distinct narratives, though the central story is Nathan's pilgrimage-like visit to his literary hero, E.I. Lonoff, at his rural New England home.
Nathan is intimidated and speechless upon meeting Lonoff, though his "maestro" is a bit self-effacing and downplays his chosen life to some extent. They talk literature More...
Nathan is intimidated and speechless upon meeting Lonoff, though his "maestro" is a bit self-effacing and downplays his chosen life to some extent. They talk literature More...
Sep 16, 2011
Rachel
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At first I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. It had too little actually happening, and too much of the high-brow literature world of the 1950s for me to feel much of any connection to the characters. However, as it slowly unfolded I admit it sucked me in. Roth’s portrayals of the complex realities of Jewish identity in America and New Jersey (which I can relate to) are fascinating and thought provoking. The conflicts about art, culture, history, parents, truth, and self-perception that take place
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Jan 17, 2012
Louis
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I enjoyed the ending of this one. It's frustrating learning and relearning his autobiography through his books and counterbooks, every book, that somehow refers to him and his life. Revisiting anxiety of influence, I wonder how Roth squares in all this. He seemed ushered forth already fledged from a nurtured jewish glow of self-esteem and praise, talks of kafka and james as old brothers, that he seems to have slipped the worst of it. I can't shake the feeling that after his early period, his boo
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Dec 04, 2011
Dennis
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This is the first book by Roth that I have read and I like his writing style. I find it comfortable and accessible.
This is a small story about a young writer visiting his literary idol and getting a glimpse into the real life of a great writer; particularly the alienating aspects of it. I think the blurb on the back of this book describes it best when it says, "The Ghost Writer is about the tensions between literature and life, artistic truthfulness and conventional decency - an More...
This is a small story about a young writer visiting his literary idol and getting a glimpse into the real life of a great writer; particularly the alienating aspects of it. I think the blurb on the back of this book describes it best when it says, "The Ghost Writer is about the tensions between literature and life, artistic truthfulness and conventional decency - an More...
Dec 23, 2008
My search for a new text for the next incarnation of my Holocaust Lit course led me to this early-ish Roth text. Like all of Roth's work, it kicks ass at the level of the indicvidual sentence. And I love it as a reflection on the relation between American Jews and the Holocaust. I'm less sure about its presentation of Anne Frank--it seems (a) not ambivalent enough and (b) a bit too truncated, as if it doesn't really firt in the book. So I'm not sure if it will work for my purposes, but it's a
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Aug 01, 2011
Kara
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Based on Steve's recommendation on the Slate Culture Gabfest, I checked out this story. At first it was a little dry, but I got into it and was really surprised. It was a thoughtful and engaging story. I felt like I had a true portrait of all the characters even though you were only with them for a short time. They seemed so real and human. The ideas were presented with stories of the characters, but they were so revealing that you as the reader feel like you've done all the work in analyzi
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