Customer Reviews

Deception

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"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."

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.

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

This is a novel written entirely in dialog. With
that limitaiton, Roth has to strech the limits of
dialog to the maximum in order to do the other
work of story-telling. There's a temptation to
make the dialog artificially descriptive or
discursive. In other words, this could get really
dull really fast.

For instance: two characters are in a room in
which they have met for a clandestine love affair.
Here's the dialog. . .

"Close you eyes.. . . . Let's see how much
attention you've been paying. Describe this room."

Now a lesser writer might have used this a way to
convey a blunt description. Roth instead allows the
second character to talk about (her?) reactions to
the room itself and her memories of other rooms. In
the course of this ramble, we're dealt bits of detail
that add up to a fairly rich picture of the original
room, and one that, because it's grounded in emotional
reactions, we're not tempted to skim over and forget.

The dialog, being Roth's, also has an unmistakeably
New York Jewish flavor. It is perhaps the most
successful modern rendition of that ethnic-regional
accent. Here's an instance:


"God, you are your father's son, arent't you?"

"Whose should I be instead?"

There is a certain fine ear for logic and a
certain tone-deafness to the sound of relationships
that has to make the knowing observer think about
the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It's a special
kind ouf speech and for this fine-tuning of the
ear- and for Roth's shrewd observations about
novel-writing- this is required reading.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and the forthcoming novel bang-BANG from Kunati Books. ISBN 9781601640005

This was a really bad book by an incredible writer who was trying to do too much with too little. Some have argued that the story, told almost completely in dialogue form is a wonderful demonstration of stretching and using language to its fullest; all I came away with was a jumbled up mess and a feeling that much of my time was wasted. Since this is Philip Roth, one of the 4 or 5 best living writers on the planet, it's easy to be caught up in what he intends to accomplish and the way the title works on multiple levels all the way through the text. Unfortunately, this book is one of those duds that you hope you never have to see a gifted writer produce (Brazil by John Updike is another I can think of).

I really have no idea how people enjoyed this one. You're much better off reading anything, and I mean anything by Roth.

A writer, his writing room, a woman who's not his wife, a bed. Dialogs, words, intimacy. Dalliances between two people who haven't made each other eternal promises and yet so binded that you can't tell what is love, fascination, attraction or just habits.

And then lies. A writer is who builds worlds he can live in, without truly upset the quiet of his real life. A good wife who stays at home and waits for you while you're working. A charming, smart and attractive lover to make you feel alive.

A story to tell. A wonderful book. Lies.

I don't understand why so many people think Philip Roth is such an important writer, but I keep reading his books in an attempt to find out. In this spirit, I just finished _Deception_, which was recommended by a friend. But I didn't find the answer here. The dialogue in this all-dialogue novel is not at all convincing; the characters are not engaging in any way; and the "plot" (which is not revealed until the end, if indeed it is then) is too clever by half. If you're not already a Roth fan, don't bother; this is not the book that will make you one.

Deception is a smart, witty well written novel with a great twist at the end. This is a very unique all-dialogue novel that really works. I found the storyline not only intriguing but very compelling as well. Interested readers may also want to try reading VOX and FRIED CALAMARI, two other all dialogue novels that I found to be compelling and entertaining.

American Pastoral - wow! i wish that i could write like that.
The Human Stain - wow! again
and then i tried to read Deception and i couldn't finish it - it's like ok i understand that your jewish - i get the picture already!