Zuckerman Bound - A Trilogy and Epilogue [Import] [Paperback]

Philip Roth (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (August 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140115412
• ISBN-13: 978-0140115413
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,642,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In the 1990s Philip Roth won America's four major literary awards in succession: the National Book Critics Circle Award for Patrimony (1991), the PEN/Faulkner Award for Operation Shylock (1993), the National Book Award for Sabbath's Theater (1995), and the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for American Pastoral (1997). He won the Ambassador Book Award of the English-Speaking Union for I Married a Communist (1998); in the same year he received the National Medal of Arts at the White House. Previously he won the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Counterlife (1986) and the National Book Award for his first book, Goodbye, Columbus (1959). In 2000 he published The Human Stain, concluding a trilogy that depicts the ideological ethos of postwar America. For The Human Stain Roth received his second PEN/Faulkner Award as well as Britain's W. H. Smith Award for the Best Book of the Year. In 2001 he received the highest award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Gold Medal in Fiction, given every six years "for the entire work of the recipient." In 2005 The Plot Against America received the Society of American Historians Award for "the outstanding historical novel on an American theme for 2003--2004." In 2007 Roth received the PEN/Faulkner Award for Everyman.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific, July 11, 2000

By 

Tom Gillis (Kensington, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zuckerman Bound : A Trilogy and Epilogue (Hardcover)

When I was a teenager (around 1970 or so), I read a couple of P Roth novels (Portnoy's Complaint and Goodbye Columbus, I think). They didn't make a huge impression (unlike, e.g., Tolkein's Lord of the Rings), except that I remember them as enjoyable. Roth was then off my radar for almost 30 years.

At some point, I bought his "trilogy & epilogue" from a remainder table ($2.98, according to the sticker still affixed), and eventually got to it. Here's all you need to kmow about my recommendation: halfway through this book, I was trolling through Amazon, trying to decide which Roth book to pick up next. Why I dropped him in 1970, I don't know -- it must have been the ... oh, never mind.

I found "Zuckerman Unbound" and "The Anatomy Lesson" to be the strongest of the 4 components (any can be read alone, but they're best read in sequence). I found "Prague Orgy" to be a little bizarre, and never saw how it fit in. I guess that's the only reason for the 4 rather than 5 stars.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite three stars ( from a MAJOR Philip Roth fan), October 20, 2004

By 

cloudydawn (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zuckerman Bound : The Ghost Writer, Zuckerman Unbound, the Anatomy Lesson, Epilogue : The Prague Orgy (Paperback)

I have read eight other books by Roth, and would give them all four or five stars each. I kept each one, because I always keep books I loved.

"ZB" is the only Roth book I gave away after finishing. I just did not care for this trilogy and epilogue. If you have never read anything by Roth, do not start here -- you will get the wrong impression of this author. Read "Portnoy's Complaint," and "Goodbye Columbus" if you've never read anything by Roth. If you've already read "PC" and "GC," then I can also wholeheartedly recommend "The Professor of Desire," "Operation Shylock," "The Facts" (non-fiction), "When She Was Good," "The Counterlife," and "Deception."