- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (4 May 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224078690
- ISBN-13: 978-0224078696
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.4 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 302,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Everyman
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More About the Author
Product Description
Sunday Express
fascinating family saga which reveals a corner of American
Culture
Culture
Tim Martin, Independent on Sunday
"Every sentence and every paragraph works with the coiled precision of the watch mechanisms that the narrators father repairs"
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First Sentence
AROUND THE GRAVE in the rundown cemetery were a few of his former advertising colleagues from New York, who recalled his energy and originality and told his daughter, Nancy, what a pleasure it had been to work with him. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
AROUND THE GRAVE in the rundown cemetery were a few of his former advertising colleagues from New York, who recalled his energy and originality and told his daughter, Nancy, what a pleasure it had been to work with him. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I don't like all of Roths work. Operation Shylock and The Counterlife for example are too unremitting and repetitive in their searing examination of Jewish identity. However I am a big fan of most of his other works of which I've read about 10.
This book garners previously familiar themes with Death lurking in the background like a sinister new character . Reminded me of The Anatomy lesson with a terminal condition in place of a benign one.
It is economically told, juxtaposing humour and pathos and rips along with familiar Roth energy and honesty.
The review below prompted this response as I disagree 100% with its conclusions
This book garners previously familiar themes with Death lurking in the background like a sinister new character . Reminded me of The Anatomy lesson with a terminal condition in place of a benign one.
It is economically told, juxtaposing humour and pathos and rips along with familiar Roth energy and honesty.
The review below prompted this response as I disagree 100% with its conclusions
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this short, intense novel Roth introduces us to his unique interpretation of the medieval morality play with the same name. Instead of having "everyman" being led by Death to confront God's judgement, Roth's nameless protagonist addresses the reader from his freshly dug grave. Is he asking for acceptance for the bad that outweighed the good or merely indulging in justifying his life and actions?
We meet "him" as the subject during the brief funeral ceremony attended by a handful of "friends" and family. His sons stand aside, clearly not overly affected by his death. The reader gets a sketch of the man from his brother's eulogy and the words of his ex-wife and daughter. All three speak of a long-ago past, his youthful self as a brother in their beloved parents' house, of a happy time with his wife or as a young father. That was when life was innocent and wholesome - before death. The mourners have hardly turned away when the story shifts to the recounting the protagonist's life.
While Roth maintains a certain distance by writing in the third person, the following retrospective is very intimate and personal to his character. His meandering mind follows the different stages of his life, lingering with specifics and dialogs on some episodes, while brushing aside others that are deemed less important. In life, Roth's Everyman was certainly not your ordinary guy from down the street: he was a successful advertising director, wealthy and accepted by his peers. Abandoning his Jewish faith early on, he concentrated on the materialistic and hedonistic side of life. His three ex-wives were left primarily over his desire for sexual pursuits. Starting in middle age, heart problems became a concern and death lingered in the background. Still, thanks to modern medicine and his finances, he could afford the increasingly necessary heart procedures that brought him into his seventies. As he reflects on his deteriorating body, his unfulfilling leisure in retirement, his nostalgia for the safety and harmony of his parents' life almost overwhelms him as does his admiration for the man he once was. "The force that was mine! ...Once upon a time I was a full human being." The only person standing by him with care and loving in his old age is his daughter. Why is not clear, given that she suffered as much from the departure of her father as the sons did. They never forgave him for abandoning their mother and their reaction is met on his side by hatred and disrespect.
Roth has created a brilliant portrait of a rather unpleasant character. Does Everyman have much in common with the author? This was my first exposure to his themes and preoccupations. Roth's language economy is exquisite and skill in creating atmosphere and characters is at its best. The novel reads extremely well, despite some of the misgivings one might have with the description of "Everyman". [Friederike Knabe]
We meet "him" as the subject during the brief funeral ceremony attended by a handful of "friends" and family. His sons stand aside, clearly not overly affected by his death. The reader gets a sketch of the man from his brother's eulogy and the words of his ex-wife and daughter. All three speak of a long-ago past, his youthful self as a brother in their beloved parents' house, of a happy time with his wife or as a young father. That was when life was innocent and wholesome - before death. The mourners have hardly turned away when the story shifts to the recounting the protagonist's life.
While Roth maintains a certain distance by writing in the third person, the following retrospective is very intimate and personal to his character. His meandering mind follows the different stages of his life, lingering with specifics and dialogs on some episodes, while brushing aside others that are deemed less important. In life, Roth's Everyman was certainly not your ordinary guy from down the street: he was a successful advertising director, wealthy and accepted by his peers. Abandoning his Jewish faith early on, he concentrated on the materialistic and hedonistic side of life. His three ex-wives were left primarily over his desire for sexual pursuits. Starting in middle age, heart problems became a concern and death lingered in the background. Still, thanks to modern medicine and his finances, he could afford the increasingly necessary heart procedures that brought him into his seventies. As he reflects on his deteriorating body, his unfulfilling leisure in retirement, his nostalgia for the safety and harmony of his parents' life almost overwhelms him as does his admiration for the man he once was. "The force that was mine! ...Once upon a time I was a full human being." The only person standing by him with care and loving in his old age is his daughter. Why is not clear, given that she suffered as much from the departure of her father as the sons did. They never forgave him for abandoning their mother and their reaction is met on his side by hatred and disrespect.
Roth has created a brilliant portrait of a rather unpleasant character. Does Everyman have much in common with the author? This was my first exposure to his themes and preoccupations. Roth's language economy is exquisite and skill in creating atmosphere and characters is at its best. The novel reads extremely well, despite some of the misgivings one might have with the description of "Everyman". [Friederike Knabe]
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Every new Roth work prompts the same questions: how can he possibly maintain the standard which has marked the period dubbed by the Sunday Times his "late flowering"? And, has it continued?
Whatever may be the answer to the first question, those privileged enough to read "Everyman" will have no trouble answering the second in the affirmative. This prodigious literary heavyweight remains on fire, and now he uses the power of his prose to probe the undeniability of death, and, again, proves himself capable of taking the breath away with the sheer reach of his observations, most of which are voiced by his un-named, dying hero.
In the person of his latest fictional creation those returning to Roth will find familiar themes: New Jersey upbringing; an uncomplicated and revered older brother; some (porno)graphic scenes of past sexual adventures and, most strikingly, in the evocation of the lore of the family jewellery business, there is a shade of the colour which the Levov glove factory so memorably gifted "American Pastoral".
It is difficult to complete this triumphant novella and then to maintain quite the same attitude towards the normal daily chores of going to work, raising a family and, well, living, such are the insights offered. In earlier works, his reporting of the marital and extra-marital state and the pains and prizes of parenthood has been so unerring we cannot doubt the truth of those insights much as we might want to try.
This is Roth's "Seize the Day", only better. We know what that novella ushered in for Bellow. Let's hope the same follows soon for Roth
Whatever may be the answer to the first question, those privileged enough to read "Everyman" will have no trouble answering the second in the affirmative. This prodigious literary heavyweight remains on fire, and now he uses the power of his prose to probe the undeniability of death, and, again, proves himself capable of taking the breath away with the sheer reach of his observations, most of which are voiced by his un-named, dying hero.
In the person of his latest fictional creation those returning to Roth will find familiar themes: New Jersey upbringing; an uncomplicated and revered older brother; some (porno)graphic scenes of past sexual adventures and, most strikingly, in the evocation of the lore of the family jewellery business, there is a shade of the colour which the Levov glove factory so memorably gifted "American Pastoral".
It is difficult to complete this triumphant novella and then to maintain quite the same attitude towards the normal daily chores of going to work, raising a family and, well, living, such are the insights offered. In earlier works, his reporting of the marital and extra-marital state and the pains and prizes of parenthood has been so unerring we cannot doubt the truth of those insights much as we might want to try.
This is Roth's "Seize the Day", only better. We know what that novella ushered in for Bellow. Let's hope the same follows soon for Roth
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Unremittingly Bleak
Philip Roth is a prolific and much acclaimed author but I had never read anything by him before and regrettably I selected Everyman to be my first. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Kiwifunlad
Have I told you about my op??
"Beautifully written, nauseously self obsessed, full of operatically whining self pity, a study in delusion from start to finish, this was a hideous book about a man who didn't... Read more
Published 21 months ago by A. C. Young
At least he tried
I won't spend a lot of time on summary as you have many reviews here that can to that.
I liked one thing about this book. It deals with death and illness. Read more
I liked one thing about this book. It deals with death and illness. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Diana L. Ross
"Old age isn't a battle. Old age is a massacre."
There are no surprises, plot-wise, in this novel by Philip Roth-the main character is already dead at the outset of the novel, his funeral in progress. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2010 by Mary Whipple
Insulting to every man
This book starts with the death of the (deliberately unnamed) protagonist, and then traces his life, concentrating particularly on his illnesses, his mistakes and, towards the end... Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by H. Ashford
Born to live......
Everyman is a book about dying in as much as we are all born to die or, as Roth puts it, "we are born to live but we die instead". Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2010 by Mick Read
Meaning of life? - depressing!
Roth always disappoints me slightly - his writing is stunning and I know I should like him (in the way I love Auster, Updike, Bellow) but somehow he leaves me a bit cold. Read more
Published on 3 Feb 2010 by BHA till I die
he must be missing the parties by now
The other reviewers must have read a different book from the one I read.
This effort is no more than a summary of a life, with a few illustrative incidents here and... Read more
This effort is no more than a summary of a life, with a few illustrative incidents here and... Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2009 by A. C. Dickens
A meditation on life, senescence and death
Paul Roth's Everyman is a meditation on life, senescence and death. One long unremitting litany of pain and regret, the story begins at the funeral of a successful commercial... Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2008 by Trevor Coote
Accomplished and steeped in truth
I read this right after reading the latest Martin Amis novel, and it was like a fresh of breath air after emerging from a dusty and dimly-lit library. Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2008 by Nigel in England
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