Patrimony : A True Story (Paperback)

by Philip Roth (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
With the honesty of a skilled biographer and the sensitivity of a caring son, Roth chronicles the life of his father, Herman, in this gripping work which won a 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award. Roth holds little back in describing his father as a man of rare intensity and fierce independence who, for better or worse, stood by his principles and held others to his own rigorous standards. Writes Roth, "His obsessive stubbornness--his stubborn obsessiveness--had very nearly driven my mother to a breakdown in her final years." Frank throughout, Roth calls his father "a pitiless realist, but I wasn't his offspring for nothing, and I could be pretty realistic, too."

From Publishers Weekly
Alter ego Nathan Zuckerman doesn't appear in these pages, andneither is there any sleight of hand blurring the line betweenliterature and life. Instead, here is Roth (NBCC Award-winning TheCounterlife ) at his most humane as he pens a kaddish to his recentlydeceased father, Herman. A vigorous 86-year-old, Roth pere wakes upone morning and half his face is paralyzed; soon he is deaf in one earand the verdict is a benign brain tumor. Surgery is ruled out for theoctogenarian, and the author is a helpless, horrified witness to hisfather's humiliating demise, "utterly isolated within a body that hadbecome a terrifying escape-proof enclosure, the holding pen in aslaughterhouse." In a fast-paced, cogent memoir, Roth, whose filialdevotion and awe are tempered with clear-eyed observational powers,ranges far afield and discusses the anti-Semitism of the insurancefirm that employed Herman Roth for 40 years; Herman's perfectionismand his latter-day disregard for his wife whom he neverthelesselevated to quasi-sainthood after death; Herman's abandonment of hisphylacteries in a locker at the local YMHA; the author's quintuplebypass surgery weeks before his father's death; and Herman'sincontinence and the ample size of his genitals. BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (June 3, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679752935
• ISBN-13: 978-0679752936
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #282,769 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A devoted son tells of the last year of his father's life , October 11, 2004

By	Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

In this work we see a kinder and more humane Philip Roth than we see in his fictions. His devotion to his father through the father's illness and loss of his own powers is moving. In the course of it Roth himself suffers a near fatal heart attack. With Roth there is always a special intensity and often beauty in the writing. This is one of his best books. It portrays a painful and difficult human reality that most come to know at one time or another, with dedication and real art.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an exceptionally fine book., July 13, 1997

By A Customer

Patrimony is a non-fiction account of the last years of Philip Roth's father, Herman, covering as well the family history which was so important to Herman. Not only is Roth a fine stylist, but the sensitivity of this account transcends even the exceptional style. By turns tragic, sardonic, humerous and moving, this book is a window into the values of late twentieth-century America, both good and bad

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for those who are taking care of an aging parent, July 5, 2005

By	Monica Krieger Faria "picky reader" (Richmond, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With such clarity, love, and understanding of both sides, Philip Roth writes an autobiographical account of his relationship with his father, who is 86 years old at the time the book begins. Philip Roth is to be commended for showing not only the duality in taking on such a role, but also how roles reverse...This is a must read for those who are in the role reversal, and coming to terms with a parent!