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Portnoy's Complaint

By Philip Roth

(123)

| Paperback | 9780099399018

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Book Description

Portnoy's Complaint n. [after Alexander Portnoy (1933-)] A disorder in which strongly-felt ethical and altruistic impulses are perpetually warring with extreme sexual longings, often of a perverse nature. Spievogel says: "Acts of exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishism, auto-eroticism and oral coContinue

4 Reviews

Smart, funny, outrageous, and totally irreverent concerning parents and religion, and sex, of course. For 1969, at least. And even though there have been reams of material written since about these subjects, this book doesn't feel dated. However Roth wasn't the only one tackling such subjects at tha ... (continue)

Smart, funny, outrageous, and totally irreverent concerning parents and religion, and sex, of course. For 1969, at least. And even though there have been reams of material written since about these subjects, this book doesn't feel dated. However Roth wasn't the only one tackling such subjects at that time, although he was probably the funniest. In the early sixties, in conservative catholic Ireland, John McGahern braved the wrath of the entire country when he dared to state some nasty truths about the brutality of parents, the hypocrisy of religion and the sexual obsessions of teenage boys in such books as 'The Barracks' and 'The Dark', both banned for several decades. Somehow, Portnoy's over protected childhood in Newark seems quite acceptable compared to McGahern's.

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Top of the pile said on Apr 25, 2012 about the eBook edition | Add your feedback

Starts with a boom but then becomes sort of boring
Must have been revolutionary when it came out but now it feels kind of trite

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Palbi said on Jul 19, 2011 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

Witty, sarcastic, humorous Roth!

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Lia said on Jan 20, 2009 | 1 feedback

I love Roth, but this is not one of my favorites. Pretty tedious, really, with only a few genuinely interesting moments. I guess I see why this was a big deal in the early seventies, but it doesn't really hold up well.

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Albion said on May 29, 2007 | 1 feedback