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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Distilled Roth - a fine vintage,
This review is from: Deception (Paperback)
"Happy Birthday" "Thanks." "It's Deception by Philip Roth. You'll love it" "Sure?" "Yes" "Why?" "Because it's Philip Roth, and it's clever, and it's humane, and it's about love and about trust and about sex." "Like Portnoy's Complaint and Sabbath's Theater?" "Well, no. You see it's written completely in dialogue" "Completely?" "With one or two stage directions, but otherwise completely in dialogue" "and what's it about?" "A writer called Philip" "Philip?" "Yes, Philip. Roth doesn't bother with Zuckerman here" "So, what does Philip do?" "He talks. Just talks. To his wife. To his mistress or mistresses." "Plural?" "Yes, plural." "So he talks." ... "Just talks?" "Yes. Although it's cleverly done. In some sections you don't know if it's Philip, or a woman talking at first. Your whole perception can be changed depending on how you read these scenes." "And you liked it?" "Of course. I loved it. It's up there with American Pastoral and Sabbath's Theater. But it's distilled Roth. There's nothing unnecessary."
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Far from vintage Roth,
By
This review is from: Deception (Paperback)
I'm a big Philip Roth fan. I love his lush prose, the endless sentences that wind their way around an idea and bring the reader effortlessly along. I love how he can recreate a time and place in meticulous detail. I love the sense of history he weaves into his work.
Having said all that, you'll find none of it in "Deception." I haven't read all Roth's work--was this a literary experiment? This book is far form lush, far too much effort to read. I quickly became tired of going back and rereading, trying to figure out who was speaking, who the characters were, even where events were taking place. It did get better after awhile, and the layers of deception revealed at the end were clever indeed. But ultimately I was disappointed. My next step is to get another of Roth's novels that I can really sink my teeth into.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A stylish feat of literary legerdemain,
By A Customer
This review is from: Deception (Paperback)
Philip Roth's Deception is a whirlwind of voyeuristic visits with two witty, articulate adults engaged in an adulterous affair. In this swift novel, Roth has performed a stylish piece of literary legerdemain: no word is written outside of quotation marks. The flowing rivulets of conversation between the couple give the reader such a strong sense of proximity one almost feels he or she is eavesdropping. It speaks to Roth's authorial prowess that, despite this lack of background and description outside the characters' conversations, the reader is seldom left uninformed (and, if the reader can't always keep up, Roth sweeps them along anyway!). This cinematic technique lends a strong sense of immediacy and vitality to the characters. Roth's ear for spoken language is keen: nothing sounds contrived. The lovers' bantering undulates around the theme of deception -- deceiving one's spouse, deceiving one's self. Ultimately, we wonder if Roth himself is deceiving us. Roth also gives us glimpses, through the couple's banterings, of his important themes, such as nationality, Anti-Semitism, and love. After this compelling novel, the first-time Roth reader is inspired to tackle his longer, more epic works, such as Portnoy's Complaint and Sabbath's Theater. Our brief visit with Roth's world entices us to come again
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