Customer Reviews

The Anatomy Lesson

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of my favorite works by Roth. It has everything that you would expect to find in a great Roth book such as humor, amazing prose that just swallows you up, and brilliant insights. The book follows Nathan Zuckerman on his quest to relieve himself from excruciating neck and back pain that has pretty much left him lying on his back in his apartment. That's all the set-up Roth needed to send you off on a comical and psychological quest with Zuckerman to find out what is wrong with him and cure it. Is it an actual physical problem or is it caused by some psychological guilt over his scandalous novel that ostracized him from his family? This is my favorite book of the Zuckerman trilogy.

The Anatomy Lesson is everything you'd expect in a Nathan Zuckerman or Philip Roth novel. Though it doesn't top the exquisite beauty of Ghost Writer, it is an improvement over what I considered to be the lackluster Zuckerman Unbound.

Zuckerman's writer block has compounded and his life has grown exponentially more depraved since the last time we were with him. With the passing of his mother, Nathan Z. now feels guilty for the death of both of his parents. He hasn't spoken to his brother since the funeral. But worst of all, NZ is now bothered by a debilitating pain that has him confined to his New York loft. He self medicates with pills, grass, vodka, and c*nt. He's been to a dozen doctors and has received a dozen diagnoses. On top of all that he's going bald.

The written word alternates between introspective Zuckerman thinking about his life's problem and dealing with them in the aforementioned way. Eventually the idea comes into him to go back to school to become a doctor. He flies out to chicago where he takes on an alter ego and eventually ends up in the hospital after a drunken attempt at murder.

This book is not for everyone. Is it for you? Perhaps you've read some of Roth's work - Portnoy's Complaint, American Pastoral, etc - and you liked it enough to read more of the author's books. In that case, I suggest not only the Anatomy Lesson, but the entire Zuckerman BoundZuckerman Bound: A Trilogy and Epilogue 1979-1985: The Ghost Writer / Zuckerman Unbound / The Anatomy Lesson / The Prague Orgy (Library of America #175). This is a collection of four short novels plus a television script, for the price you would pay for about two novels. Roth has procured for his reader luxuriously bound Library of America editions. Certified Archival paper and ink, a sewn in binding and a flexible but sturdy cover.

If you haven't read any Roth before, I suggest you start elsewhere, because here Roth is writing about his own writing, and if you haven't read any of the books that he's writing about writing about, then some (though not all) of the subtlety will be lost. One of the two, or both of the novels I listed above would be better places to start.

I must say, I never got engrossed in the book. I never stop reading books, no matter how uninteresting, but I just couldn't get into it and struggled constantly to figure out what was happening. Seemed to be quite a bit of ranting and raving and non-stop monologues or one-sided conversations about random stuff. Just wasn't impressed, maybe the reader would be better off starting with the first of the Zuckerman series' and working their way down?

In THE ANATOMY LESSON, Nathan Zuckerman, the author of the notorious best-seller "Carnovksy" suffers from an incapacitating pain in the neck. "The muscle soreness he could manage, the tenderness, the tautness, the spasm, all of that he could take... but not this steadily burning thread of fire that went white-hot with the minutest bob or flick of the head."

Nathan has not written a good page of fiction since the death of his father three years before. Importantly his father considered "Carnovksy" to be thinly disguised ridicule of the Zuckerman family and their first-generation Jewish culture. And, on his deathbed, his father may have called Nathan a bastard. At least, that's what Henry, Nathan's competitive brother, and another family member offended by "Carnovksy", says he heard.

In TAL, Roth explores the connections between Nathan's pain and writer's block, his subject of conflict across generations, and his successful novel, which characters who are not family members describe as opening a fond "floodgate of memories" of Newark before World War II or as "one genial trick after another."

In doing so, Roth shows the self-medicating Nathan becoming enraged with Milton Appel, a distinguished magazine critic who shares Zuckerman's themes while claiming Nathan disparages Jews. Then, Roth shows Nathan unexpectedly recovering his hilarious and licentious Carnovksy-voice as he takes a trip to Chicago, where the Percodan-and-vodka-crazed Nathan presents himself as Milton Appel, a loathsome but brilliant pornographer.

In TAL, poor Nathan worries that he may have lost his subject, with the death of his parents and the disappearance of Jewish Newark. He worries that "the aim of the affliction mightn't be to provide a fresh subject, the anatomy's gift to the vanishing muse." In this pain-dominated world, writing, which Nathan once saw as a "field of gigantic capacities... to engulf and purify life" has become "ten talons clawing at twenty-six letters." Even so, THE ANATOMY LESSON is largely a wild and funny ride, with Nathan ultimately facing the true reach of his gifts.

Highly recommended.

This was my first Philip Roth book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I thought the descriptions of the pain that Zuckerman felt were brilliant.
One passage where he describes one of his women cooking him rice pudding because he shredded his stomach with painkillers sticks in my mind.
I loved being inside his head. I also found Zuckerman to be rebellious in a human way. I enjoyed the ride.

After a false start with The Human Stain, I am making my way through all the Zuckerman books, in order. I quite liked The Ghost Writer and Zuckerman Unbound. I like The Anatomy Lesson too, but just not as much. This is one of the Roth novels with too much kvetching in it.

Here's the paradox of Nathan Zuckerman: he is an author thrust into the spotlight with the publication of his bestselling novel, "Carnovsky." This novel is critical of Jewish-American culture. Now that Zuckerman is famous, he spends most of his time explaining that he IS NOT Carnovsky, and that he doesn't necessarily mean all the things that Carnovsky says. In other words, it's just a story. Here's the problem though: it isn't just a story - Zuckerman is obviously a stand-in for Roth and Carnovsky is obviously a stand-in for Portnoy's Complaint. So, how are we meant to interpret the author's claim to fiction - as sincere or ironic?

This book finds Zuckerman paralyzed by some unexplained ailment. He suffers sever neck pain and cannot move his head. He cannot write - all he can do is lie on his back, have sex, and complain. It's the complaining that got to me. It's reminiscent of the complaining in Portnoy and - let's face it - despite its popularity, Portnoy is one of Roth's worst books. Perhaps it's the spirit of Portnoy in the guise of Carnovsky that haunts this novel - dragging his chains and complaining for all eternity.

The protagonist Zuckermann is a Jewish author who is beset by chronic pain in his shoulder, neck, and spine. He can't write. He been to tons of doctors, and is losing his hair from the stress. Three times divorced, he has four women who come over, take care of him, and have sex with him. (The novel has explicit sexual details and sex jokes, but this is not the main focus. It is lacking a main focus.)

Then comes the story of Zuckermann's mother's death, and how terrible and stupid literary critics are. That Zuckermann is Jewish is also heavily emphasized. The 'self-hating Jew' stereotype is present in that Zuckerman hates his own pain and regrets certain life choices. The hated critic Appel is also Jewish. Zuckermann is not religious and does not attend synagogue.

Later Zuckermann decides to go the University of Chicago, become a doctor, and diagnose himself. His friend Bobby on the admission committee goes through a meltdown (long tangent). On the way over, Zuck starts pretending to be his arch-rival Appel with a life calling of running an extreme smut magazine. (Actually funny.) Eventually Zuck overdoses on pain meds, is hospitalized, and the book ends.

The author has good prose moments, but this is balanced by his love for semi-colons and his paragraph dialogue being inconsistently formatted in my edition of this novel (example, p55 vs p57). The run-on sentence enjoys a starring role in the novel, with pages 174-179 (and some others too) being occupied by a single paragraph. Instead of varying the story flow to keep reader interest, I found this sloppy editing.

Recommended if you enjoy angst, or are struggling with the meaning of pain, or are Jewish and like Jewish books, otherwise pass. If you were born in the 1960's or earlier, you are more likely to enjoy the cultural references. I did not enjoy the book because the author kept spinning off dozens of story tangents and was completely unfocused to the point where nothing was even resolved. I will not read Phillip Roth again.

The third of the Zuckerman novels was my favorite. I found it very, very funny.

Nathan Zuckerman, has pain and a major writer's block. Is the pain unexplainable or does his writing need it. The source is very unclear. He does spend a lot of time in his apartment, on his back, being serviced by one of his four girlfriends who are all very different.

His mother's death has caused guilt. His enormous success has caused guilt. He questions the value of being a writer and thinks about doing something more worthwhile like becoming a doctor.

There's a period of the book where he simply pretends to be a pornographer and publisher of Lickety Split magazine. That whole section is uproariously funny. His whole trip to Chicago is actually very funny.

Mix everything together with his guilt about his portrayal of Jews in his novels and Roth has created a very funny book.

Zuckerman reminded me a lot of Larry David in the TV show "Curb Your Enthusiasm".

I enjoyed The Anatomy Lesson very much but definitely suggest reading The Ghost Writer and Zuckerman Unbound first. the first two books provide a lot of context for this one.

This is the third novel in a trilogy Roth wrote (The Ghost Writer and Zukerman Unbound were the first two) and is a bit of a let down. Zukerman is ill and most of the novel flat on his back. Apart from the sections where his lady friends cheer him up by sitting on him (well it is a Roth novel!) most of the book is too introspective and repetitive. If you have read the first two then you might want to read this one but frankly there are many other better Roth novels.

Nathan Zuckerman again inhabits this work by Philip Roth, and is now forty years old. He has enjoyed success as a writer, has been married three times, has complicated and varied encounters with women, and most shockingly, has suffered under chronic pain in his body to such an extent that he cannot write, and can barely function. As a result, he immerses himself deeply into a life of Percodan, vodka and delusion. He is racked with pain about the death of both parents, particularly his mother, and feels the customary Jewish guilt that their deaths were somehow helped along by his writing. His brother will not speak to him. Others sweep in and out of his life. People avoid him for fear of ending up in his next book. The one constant is the pain in his body.

This novel is a great blend of pathos, dark humour and some honest and moving reflections on family. There are some wonderful passages where Nathan is going through his mother's things after her death, and recalling his childhood and his mother's tender and optimistic love for him.

I found Roth's descriptions of Nathan's impersonations or appropriations of his nemesis (Jewish book critic and commentator Milton Appels) a little long-winded but they were designed to offend and annoy, so they accomplished their purpose, with Roth's typically brilliant style uncompromised. We get great insights into the nature of Jewish "political correctness" and how that can stifle creativity and thought. Roth is hilarious when he demonstrates that Zuckerman has no real political agenda, even though the Jewish thinkers want him to. Perhaps this is reflective of Roth's experience after his early successes.

"Look, I obviously don't want to see the Jews destroyed. That wouldn't make too much sense. But I am not an authority on Israel. I'm an authority on Newark. Not even on Newark. On the Weequahic section of Newark. If the truth be known, not even on the whole of the Weequahic setion. I don't even go below Bergen Street." We get Roth's trademark originality and hilarity in large doses.

Not many writers can achieve the dual result of making a reader weep and laugh at the same time. Roth does, and his is a talent that few possess. Another great novel in a rich body of work.