Sunday, July 30, 2006

Everyman by Philip Roth

After mowing my lawn this morning I decided it was time to go somewhere very cool and not move for a while so I read Everyman by Philip Roth. One of the mandates of the committee is that we not compare the current submission to previous works by that author but....

I go back and forth with this author, for example I really liked Philip Roth's last book The Plot Against America but I often think his books are a bit slow and weighty. "Plot" was inventive and had a great flow to it. This new novel opens with the burial of a Jewish serial monogamist and shifts back and forth through time reviewing his life. I had difficulty with this novel because I just didn't care that much for or about the protagonist. There was very little that was likeable or admirable about this man and way too much time was spent on his many sexual relationships and not enough on the aspects of dying. This novel has been done before in more interesting ways by this author.

By the way, I went to see Higher Power at the Fringe Festival last night and it was amazing. The actors/actress were great and the story was riviting. This is a outstanding goup of new talent.

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