- Hardcover: 274 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd; 1st UK edition (17 April 1969)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0965017923
- ISBN-13: 978-0224616522
- ASIN: 0224616528
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 108,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Portnoy's Complaint
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Product Description
Review
`If it doesn't make you laugh, you may have lost your sense of humour' --The Week
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Jewish Renaissance
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm a complete newcomer to Philip Roth and picked this up on impulse in a second-hand bookshop (sorry amazon!). I loved it from start to finish and would recommend it to anyone, young, old, male or female, but with a few caveats. Firstly if you are coming new to it as I did, you might be surprised by the, shall we say frank-ness of the writing. I'm no prude but I was cringing as much as laughing during some of the more extreme passages. That a book written 40 years ago still has the power to shock is something - that its still worth reading and not just a passing fad is something else. Also, if you are at all familar with the tv show Curb Your Enthusiasm, it may be difficult not to read the whole book aloud in Larry David's voice inside your head; its very very Larry, and I suspect might have been a partial inspiration for his character on that show. Which is to say that it says a lot about being a modern Jewish male, with all the glories and hang-ups that (apparently) brings. Above all it manages to be enthralling without being remotely plot-driven and profound without being pretentious or heavy. Well done Mr Roth!
48 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Alexander portnoy details his life to the reader with wit and brilliance every step of the way. From his diatribes against his overbearing Jewish parents and growing up in the closed-mideness of Newark; to details of his grimmest and most filthy sexual encounters and fantasies. Portnoy's Complaint is a fantastically funny book about one mans urge to fulfill himself against all odds that heave been put in place against him due to an Oedipus complex and a need to be on the moral highground. Anyone who has read Philip Roth before will enjpoy this book, anyone who hasn't will find this a good starting point.
My only criticism lies in the sometimes long-winded descriptions of various stages of his adolescence and life - while although these are often funny,; they give the book a sluggish quality it otherwise would not possess.
On the whole, however, a good read and very, very funny.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was the second book by Roth that I have read, after Everyman, and by comparison I found it much less insightful to the human (male) condition. From the cover notes I was also expecting it to be funnier. There are some hilarious moments but it is certainly not a comedy. Maybe it is the focus on what a "good Jewish boy" should do that made it more difficult for me to identify with the main character. The agonising battle against guilt and his biology (sexual drive) can perhaps only truly make sense from a Jewish perspective of expectation. That said the style, of one book-long monologue, does help build an increasing tension and revelation. In the end it cleverly exposes the life of self-justification and essentially selfish, shallow existence, even if the apparent shackles are broken and every indulgence gratified. This is probably a book that would resonate with a 30-year old wondering where to go in life, but not so much a 50-year old wondering what it all meant.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) on Kindle copy
The book itself I remember as being hilarious when I read it years ago and I am hoping for the same experience again. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sue Chepstow
This book is ideal only for toilet paper
I have only given this book one star as it is not possible to rate a book with no stars. Nearly each and every one of the 273 pages - I estimated it at about 97. Read more
Published 2 months ago by wendy jones
Truthful, a confession without any censorship
So you start reading it and all of a sudden you understand that Portnoy is actually complaining to you, nothing official about it, no hidden meaning. Read more
Published 4 months ago by steelo
a dull read
This book is a tedious trail. It moves so slowly and does not get anywhere. It is quite a challenge to finish it. No problem to put it down and forget about it. Read more
Published 8 months ago by dmen
A Filthy Masterpiece
One of the most controversial American novels of the post-war period, Philip Roth's brilliant 'Portnoy's Complaint', chronicles the story of Alexander Portnoy, a self-deprecating... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. D Burin
still bewildered after all these years
read this book when it first came out and when i reached the last page i laughed out loud and re-read it .my copy was loaned out and never seen again. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Henry Walsh
portnoys complaint
I got this book because its reviews were so good, but I soon found out that it's one of those books whose popularity can be clearly linked to the time of its writing. Read more
Published on 27 May 2010 by Hazel Ellis-saxon
Portnoy's Complaint
Quick and efficient purchasing....Great bargain price.....Hilarious book - a classic from a master writer
Published on 9 Dec 2009 by G. M. Donald
Engaging study into teenage angst unresolved in a grown man
This is the second Roth novel I've read and as such I knew roughly what to expect.
Roth is a great writer and Portnoy's Complaint is a fairly formless account of teenage... Read more
Roth is a great writer and Portnoy's Complaint is a fairly formless account of teenage... Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2009 by Talc Demon
RETURN READ
I first read Portnoy's Complaint 40 years ago and found it quite funny however it is one of those books that you need to revisit as you mature. Read more
Published on 3 April 2009 by Mr. M. A. Wilson
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