Zuckerman Unbound [Hardcover]

Philip Roth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1981

A novel which features the literary novelist Nathan Zuckerman. Zuckerman, dogged by personal neuroses and ill-health, has to contend with a tough television celebrity, who accuses him of plagiarising his personal life, whilst watching his father's terminal illness move towards its sad conclusion.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Both these novels follow protagonist Nathan Zuckerman through different times in his life?Ghost Writer, dubbed a "glowing work of fiction" by LJ's reviewer (LJ 9/1/79), introduced the character in his youth, while 1981's Unbound offers him in his mid-30s. Roth's many fans will be happy to see these again.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"It was bold of Roth to write a novel about being famous...a comic stroll in a hall of mirrors." —Newsweek

"[Roth's] narrative hand is wonderfully sure, his comic timing worthy of the Ritz Brothers.... Not since Henry MIller has anyone learned to be as funny and compassionate and brutal and plaintive in the space of a paragraph." —Village Voice

"Zuckerman Unbound is masterful, sure in every touch, as clear and economical of line as a crystal vase." —The New York TImes Book Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 225 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux; 1st edition (April 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374299455
• ISBN-13: 978-0374299453
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,599 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

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Zuckerman zaniness, April 22, 2005

By 

Reader Col (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Zuckerman Unbound (Paperback)

In this installment of the Zuckerman story, we observe a writer who has reached the pinnacle of American celebrity recognition - a front cover on Life magazine. After publication of "Carnovsky" his polarizing, provocative, entirely sixties novel, he is now recognized in buses, deli's and on the street. He is the envy of millions, the target of others, and an object of desire among women. All he could have ever wanted, but here we see an ordinary man thrust reluctantly into the spotlight and deeply conflicted about his place there. His newfound wealth fits like an oversized suit, and he gets accosted by strangers on a regular basis.

Ultimately, this book is one of realization that despite his new status as a millionaire celebrity writer, he has lost his connection with his family and his past in Newark. While romanticizing Newark, or at least revealing it to the masses, and stoking the imagination of those who believe "Carnovsky" to be autobiographical and about his family, he has lost the respect of his father and brother.

Roth pokes fun at those who equate a fictional character with its author, causing us to resist the temptation to compare Nathan Zuckerman with Roth. That is too irresistible a conclusion, and probably too obvious. Roth appeals to the voyeur within us, while leaving us wondering about the lines between fact and fiction.

Another highly entertaining, funny and readable work by MR Roth.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The novelist as celebrity, January 5, 2005

By 

A.J. (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zuckerman Unbound (Paperback)

Many writers base their work on their own lives, but with Philip Roth the practice borders on narcissism. In "Zuckerman Unbound," which takes place in Manhattan in 1969, Nathan Zuckerman, a simulacrum of Roth himself, is an author who has just published a commercially and critically successful novel called "Carnovsky," which seems very similar to "Portnoy's Complaint." Hesitant to adjust to his new life as a millionaire, he continues to live like a schlub, riding the bus and eating in cheap delicatessens, even though his face has been on the cover of Life magazine and people recognize him in public.

Fame has its disadvantages; Zuckerman is besieged by letters and solicitations from fans, freaks, and creeps, especially the thug who keeps phoning him threatening to kidnap his mother for ransom. One day he meets a fellow Newark native named Alvin Pepler, a burly but obsequious and tirelessly garrulous man who is trying to write a book about his unlucky involvement in a quiz show scandal in the fifties and seeks Zuckerman's help in getting it published and advice about writing in general. The nonchalant but slightly amused manner in which Zuckerman reacts to the possibly psychopathic Pepler, who quickly becomes defensive after he asks for (and receives) criticism, is one of the novel's enjoyable subtleties.

Zuckerman's love life is an aching echo of his fictional Carnovsky's. His marital record is extremely shaky; he is twice divorced and currently separated from his wife Laura, a lawyer who defends draft dodgers evading Vietnam. His fame allows him an otherwise improbable consort--the voluptuous but aging Irish actress Caesara O'Shea, who is growing bored with all the attention she gets even while her star is slowly fading. "I feel like the out-of-focus signpost in a news photo of a head-on collision," he tells her, acknowledging the meagerness of his appearance juxtaposed with her radiance.

One important thing Zuckerman must face is the psychological effect of the notoriety of his erotic novel on his family, particularly when he and his younger brother Henry fly down to the retirement community in Florida where their parents now live to be at the bedside of their dying father. Zuckerman's mother worships him and thinks he can do no wrong; it is Henry who decides to slap him with guilt when they return home. Henry, after all, was the "good son," the sensible one who became a dentist, married a nice girl he didn't really love, and despite his clandestine extramarital affairs would never write a book like "Carnvosky" filled with sexual depravity and Jewish self-ridicule.

I suppose there was a time (say, in Charles Dickens's day) when novelists enjoyed the same kind of celebrity as movie stars do today, but this notion seems quaint by Zuckermanian standards. An author must write a "Carnovsky/Portnoy's Complaint" to be noticed because in this age a "Pride and Prejudice" or a "Wuthering Heights" doesn't have quite the same visual impact. "Zuckerman Unbound" reveals a Philip Roth who perhaps is wistful about a cultural consciousness which books play a more prominent role in shaping.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect Balance, March 18, 1999

By 

Mike Poole - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zuckerman Unbound (Paperback)

Nathan Zuckerman is an Everyman with Everyman's problems. Never mind that he is suddenly famous. Never mind that he is the author of a perverse volume known as Carnovsky (presumably similar to Roth's own Portnoy's Complaint). Never mind that he is psychologically oppressed by his Jewish parents and upbringing. These are all just fodder for his overactive mind to react to, trip over, and take refuge from. He could have been anybody. Roth's portrayal of Zuckerman is so accessible and so real that you understand him completely despite his unusual circumstances. The balance of sympathy, pathos, and humor lead you to never doubt that this is a basically good man suddenly overwhelmed by life. You may not agree with his actions, but you can't be certain that you would have reacted any differently. This novel is brisk, funny, enlightening, and moving. Thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining.