Customer Reviews

Zuckerman Unbound

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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.

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.

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.

Roth tells two overlapping stories in ZUCKERMAN UNBOUND. In the first, he shows author Nathan Zuckerman trying to adjust to wealth and fame after his novel, Carnovsky, becomes a huge best-seller and the idea of Zuckerman as a crazed onanist enters the public domain. To explore the intrusion of celebrity in the bookish Zuckerman's life, Roth creates the amazing character Alvin Pepler, a fan who stalks Zuckerman and shows, through an array of rants, how the fickle public can turn on those it worships. For good reason, Roth calls the last of his three chapters featuring Pepler, "Oswald, Ruby, Et Al."

Meanwhile, the second story captures the family experience and emotional aftermath as Nathan's aged and demanding father dies in Florida. In this case, Roth explores the effect of the father on Nathan and his brother Henry, who lacked the strength to resist their father and became an unhappily married dentist in New Jersey. With this material, Roth shows the twisted anger and cruelty of Henry, who, in a fraternal way, also reacts to Carnovsky and its message of licentious growth. IMHO, the chapter telling this story, "Look Homeward, Angel", offers some of Roth's best and most moving writing.

A fine novel and recommended. And, I look forward to THE ANATOMY LESSON.

Closer to three-and-a-half stars. "Zuckerman Unbound" is a solid addition to Roth's oeuvre; the story of Nathan Zuckerman's meteoric rise to fame following publication of "Carnovsky" (a novel reminiscent of "Portnoy's Complaint") is amusing, especially if one considers it at least partly based on Roth's own literary notoriety. The novel is not as uniformly great as its predecessor, "The Ghost Writer," yet it possesses a quiet charm all its own, alternately funny and heartbreaking. The novel's solemn (indeed, grim) ending illustrates the real-world impact of an author's vocation in fiction. There's much to enjoy about this book, whether or not one is a fan of Roth in general.

This book is basically a fictionalized version of Roth's life after he published the widely praised and popular book, Portnoy's Complaint. In Zuckerman Unbound, his alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, has just published a similar book. Zuckerman, like Roth, was completely unprepared for the celebrity and wealth he came into. He deals with the Jewish community's reaction to a book about a Jewish misanthrope, he gets death threats, his wife has left him and he can't go anywhere without being recognized -- and usually spat on.

It was interesting to me because I know that all of these things actually happened to Roth. I liked getting some perspective into how the publication of Portony's Complaint changed his life and his writing.

That said, it isn't the best of Roth's books and it felt more like something he felt he needed to write to make sense of what happened to him, as opposed to writing it for an audience. I would not recommend it to anyone who isn't already a Roth fan.

This was my first Philip Roth novel and I found it to be an entertaining, insightful, unexpectedly funny, and highly readable novel. Zuckerman is an author who has achieved sudden mainstream success with a critical and commercially acclaimed novel that achieves notoriety for its provocative content. He is reluctantly thrust into celebrity and finds himself ill-equipped to deal with his newfound wealth and fame. The semi-autobiographical (or at least perceived semi-autobiographical) nature of his novel impacts his family who must deal with the unflattering way they have been portrayed (or at least the way the world perceives they have been portrayed) in the novel.

Roth, whose own experiences mirror those of the fictional Zuckerman, uses this novel to explore the tendency for readers to equate a fictional character with its author. The line between fact and fiction is a blurry one indeed, even in the hands of an author as narcissistic as Roth appears to be.

I really enjoyed this short novel. It's brisk, perceptive, and thoroughly engaging.

This is Philip Roth's own bitter take on the price of fame. Woody Allen has Stardust Memories, Stephen King has Misery, and Philip Roth has Zuckerman Unbound. This novel finds Nathan Zuckerman at the end of the sixties, suddenly thrust into the limelight by the success of his new book. Now, he cannot even ride the bus without being harangued for his cheapness. But the people who don't like him are no match for Alvin Pepler, his number-one-fan. (Use your memories of the movie Quiz Show to appreciate this character). One of Roth's best.

I might as well cut to the chase, this is a great book. As with Ghost Writer, it was hard for me to read in one or two sittings. Roth packs a lot in a short period of time.

Of course, parts of the book are based on Roth's life but others are not. You could drive yourself nuts trying to figure it out. So, as with the Boyhood, Youth, Summertime series by Coetzee, I simply pretended it was all fiction. Roth makes this a little hard to do because Zuckerman's fourth novel, Carnovsky, makes him rich and famous as did Roth's fourth novel, Portnoy's Complaint. The notoriety of Carnovsky is very similar to that of Portnoy.

Roth perfectly captures a person's move from obscurity to celebrity and the paranoia that develops as well as the need to still be normal.

In the novel, there appears a crazy, brilliant character, Alvin Pepler, a man famous briefly for his appearance on a game show. Zuckerman's interactions with Pepler are funny, confusing and serve to synthesize aspects of Zuckerman's celebrity.

Very interestingly, Pepler shows Zuckerman the start of a book review he wants to submit to a newspaper. It waxes on about the danger of an author's books being too directly based on real life events rather than fiction. Of course, this is undoubtedly how Roth himself is criticized.

Roth is a very good writer and he takes a small slice of time and weaves a very mutlifaceted and interesting piece of work from it.

I enjoyed Zuckerman Unbound. I preferred it to The Ghost Writer though I definitely think you need to read The Ghost Writer prior to Zuckerman Unbound. I have recently started The Anatomy Lesson and would make the same comment. At least the early Zuckerman novels should be read in sequence.

Roth is a great writer but I have always found his output a bit uneven. Some of his books such as this one are instant classics and others such as this novels sequel, "The Anatomy Lesson" are nothing special.

This book looks at a bookish writer who has achieved overnight notoriety with a Novel on American Jews with lots of Sex in it. This of course is referring to Roth's own breakthrough novel "Portnoy's Complaint" (and if you haven't read that go out and get it now!). The writer in the novel is called Zukerman and this character pops up in other Roth novels sometimes as the main character and sometimes in a bit part. Roth claims he is not based on himself but there are obvious similarities as already noted. Roth examines Zukermans' troubled relationship with his family, his ex, his fame and his wealth. At the same time there is a marvelous character called Alvin Pepler, one of those neurotic manic fast talking neurotic jokers that pop up in Roth's novels and make him such a joy to read. Pepper wants Zukerman's help, Zukerman sees him as a joker and then a bit of a stalker - it all works gloriously well. There is a manic energy in this novel that moves it along nicely but there is a lot of meat here and it is very very funny.