Not What You Think

Spoiler Alert: I may inadvertently give away parts of the story in this review.
I did not like this book, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. It is too brash, too strong, overblown and overwrought. It covers an uninteresting person with an uninteresting life at a point it time that has almost no relevance to today. And one to whom unlikely and frankly impossible things happen. His father is impossibly paranoid, his girlfriend at college drifts in and out of his life in an unnatural way, his college dorm nemesis/admirer is in the same vein over the top.
In fact though, all of these surreal portrayals are intended to provide the clues to the real nature of this book.
I am a fan of Phillip Roth’s other, major works. But my initial impression was that poor old Phil has lost it here. It felt like a writer who was writing in the style of Phillip Roth, rather than Roth himself, whose writing is subtle and understated and demands the reader’s attention. Instead I found myself reading a book that is highly irritating and the opposite of subtle. If felt a bit like being hit over the head with a frying pan with Phillip Roth’s name embossed upon it. However, when part way through we learn that the protagonist is dead, I realized that there is something else going on here, not just a bad story by a great writer.
Finally, upon reaching the impossible end I found myself asking, “What just happened? What was Roth thinking by putting out this dreck,” when it all came clear. This is Phillip Roth’s “Waiting for Godot.”
Like that play, it is boring, irritating and difficult for the same reasons: life itself is monotonous, confusing, unsatisfactory and never realizes it’s promise and both authors have written works that make the audience experience those sensations, rather than writing something that explains them.
I’m glad that I read this book, but it was no picnic. At least it was short, if brutish. Again like life.

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