Zuckerman's Heartbreaking Exit

Exit Ghost by Philip Roth

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well, at this point in his life, Nathan Zuckerman wouldn't care what any of us thought of his book, and he'd ask us why we cared about each other's opinions. But as we're all already here partaking in the type of social media activity he believes is killing literature, I'd say that you should read this book if you enjoyed The Ghost Writer, the excellent first Nathan Zuckerman book. This, the last in the series, is a sad meditation on aging, impotence (literal and figurative), relationships, and literature. You would lose some of the heavy weight of time, regret and loss if you didn't read The Ghost Writer first, but the others in between aren't necessary to get this one. As in other Zuckerman books, Roth plays with your perceptions and makes you aware of the writing process and the reader's relationship with the writer. The fact that all the characters speak in essentially the same voice is either lazy writing or a way to signal that you're reading something that is constructed to a far greater extent in the writer's head than he's letting on. I believe it's the latter, and it all makes for an unsettling, thoughtful read that I thoroughly enjoyed.



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