Patrimony: A True Story
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Book Description
A simple, moving, generous work - Independent
Product Description
Herman Roth is eighty-six years old, a widower and retired insurance manager, suffering from a brain tumour and fighting death. In a remarkable act of memory, elegy and appreciation, Philip Roth creates his most irrepressible and irresistible hero yet - his father.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Patrimony" is the precursor of the group of books Philip Roth wrote in the Nineties and which won major awards . "Patrimony" won him the National Book Critics Circle Award . This book is an autobiographical work about the last stages of the life of his father , Herman Roth .
The book is sweet and soft . The book is not only about the illness period that Philip's father went through ; it is also about an ongoing relationship between a father and his son . It is very romantic and it almost speaks of a different era in the history of the world . It is an era in which a son takes care of his parents , just like a mother taking care of her children , as Herman himself says at one stage of the book .
What attracts me to Philip Roth is his sincerity , honesty , and openness . He seems to regard the book as his confessional and the reader as his confidante . He spills on his secrets and private thoughts to the unassuming reader . He is compassionate , brotherly , and advising , not only to his father but also to his reader , and not only in this book but in most of his books . He takes one by the hand through the labyrinth of life's secrets , ironies , and absurdities .
The language in most of this book is rich , crispy , and hard-edged , with bumps and surprises .
Finally , in this book , Roth preaches some beautiful values : the values of determination , relentlessness , perseverance , and love of life . I recommend the book most to Philip Roth's aficionados, but even people who haven't read books by Roth would as readily love it and cherish it .
The book is sweet and soft . The book is not only about the illness period that Philip's father went through ; it is also about an ongoing relationship between a father and his son . It is very romantic and it almost speaks of a different era in the history of the world . It is an era in which a son takes care of his parents , just like a mother taking care of her children , as Herman himself says at one stage of the book .
What attracts me to Philip Roth is his sincerity , honesty , and openness . He seems to regard the book as his confessional and the reader as his confidante . He spills on his secrets and private thoughts to the unassuming reader . He is compassionate , brotherly , and advising , not only to his father but also to his reader , and not only in this book but in most of his books . He takes one by the hand through the labyrinth of life's secrets , ironies , and absurdities .
The language in most of this book is rich , crispy , and hard-edged , with bumps and surprises .
Finally , in this book , Roth preaches some beautiful values : the values of determination , relentlessness , perseverance , and love of life . I recommend the book most to Philip Roth's aficionados, but even people who haven't read books by Roth would as readily love it and cherish it .
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel was called "A True Story" by Mr Roth. Indeed, many parts in "Patrimony" have a personal tone. The author talks about his mother's sudden death in a restaurant in 1981 and about the sad and painful last year of his father's life. Herman Roth was diagnosed with a massive brain tumour so that little by little he became more and more disabled and needed constant attention. It is impressive to see the author's devotion and attention to his ageing father, all the more since his condition required an almost constant care. One also feels the father's shame and embarrassment as his physical condition worsens.
Mr Roth manages to create an irrepressible and irresistible hero, his father.
Mr Roth manages to create an irrepressible and irresistible hero, his father.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Herman Roth was a remarkable man as well as being fortunate to have had, in his son Philip, a biographer in the family. In these memoirs Roth Junior gets the chance to demonstrate that the success of his books does not depend on his fecund imagination alone: he is simply a wonderful writer.
Never can his literary craftsmanship have been put to better use than in the chronicle of his father's life and in particular his last years.
There is no better example of how well this father and son function together than in their reaction to Walter Herrmann, an acquaintance of the father whose tales of his holocaust survival take even the worldly Roths by surprise. But such set-piece delights are found throughout.
Towards the end, and despite the bleakness of it all (death basically), Roth never allows emotion to dominate the narrative: instead, he stays true to the story throughout and so spares none of the technical aspects of his father's dwindling health making for some blackly comic scenes at times.
This is unquestionably a masterpiece.
Never can his literary craftsmanship have been put to better use than in the chronicle of his father's life and in particular his last years.
There is no better example of how well this father and son function together than in their reaction to Walter Herrmann, an acquaintance of the father whose tales of his holocaust survival take even the worldly Roths by surprise. But such set-piece delights are found throughout.
Towards the end, and despite the bleakness of it all (death basically), Roth never allows emotion to dominate the narrative: instead, he stays true to the story throughout and so spares none of the technical aspects of his father's dwindling health making for some blackly comic scenes at times.
This is unquestionably a masterpiece.
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