# Philip Roth



## imdead-goaway (Dec 23, 2007)

Great writer.
Very easy for me to relate to.
(but maybe that's just me)


----------



## strangedaze (Dec 23, 2007)

Portnoy's Complain is one of my all-time favorite books. Best line: "I had it once in the bedroom, then later, at dinner, with the rest of my family on the end of a for."

Paraphrase, but you get the gist.


----------



## Edgewise (Dec 23, 2007)

"Portnoy's Complaint" is like a more refined Bukowski. Even if the writing sucked, I could like it for that alone.

EDIT: It sounds like I implied the writing in Portnoy's sucked.  It doesn't.


----------



## imdead-goaway (Dec 23, 2007)

I came across Portnoy when I was, I believe, thirteen.
Fell in love with that book.
I connected with that book in so many ways...
The being Jewish, the mother, the masturbation...

I can open that book to a random page
And just start reading.


----------



## Stewart (Dec 23, 2007)

I've not read Roth - other than _Everyman_ - but I've been extremely tempted to, especially after my pal's reviews. I've bought his first novel, _Letting Go_, with the intention of reading Roth in order.


----------



## strangedaze (Dec 23, 2007)

Me too - any page in that book is like fireworks. And he is like a more refined Bukowski. Apt comparison, though it kind've pains me to link Bukowski's staid style with Roth's crazy ass shit.


----------



## The Hack (Dec 24, 2007)

I have only read _The Plot Against America_.  It was good but not among my favorites.  I will likely read more of his work.


----------



## Dr. Malone (Dec 24, 2007)

More refined Bukowski...that sounds good.  What do you guys mean buy that?  Propper grammar and less alcohol induced stream of conscious?


----------



## Edgewise (Dec 24, 2007)

Malone said:


> More refined Bukowski...that sounds good. What do you guys mean buy that? Propper grammar and less alcohol induced stream of conscious?


 
The writing itself is less gritty and more fluid than Bukowski, and yet it deals with the same themes of sex and misanthropy (at least in "Portnoy's Complaint"...the only other book of his that I have read is "The Plot Against America".


----------



## Buddy Glass (Jan 2, 2008)

Writes very well and has - on occasion - conjured up some very good books but, nevertheless, I can't shed the feeling that he is, at least somewhat, overrated... like Updike, he's written too much about the same topics and thus exhausted them, I feel.


----------

