The Humbling (Unabridged) (Audio Download): Amazon.co.uk: Philip Roth, Dick Hill: Books

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Audio Download
Listening Length: 3 hours and 34 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Audible Release Date: 2 Nov 2009
Language: English
ASIN: B002SQDF60

Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of Philip Roth's startling new book. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his 60s, he has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance. His Falstaff and Peer Gynt and Vanya, all his great roles, "are melted into air, into thin air". When he goes on stage he feels like a lunatic and looks like an idiot. His confidence in his powers has drained away; he imagines people laughing at him; he can no longer pretend to be someone else. "Something fundamental has vanished." His wife has gone, his audience has left him, his agent can't persuade him to make a comeback.

Into this shattering account of inexplicable and terrifying self-evacuation bursts a counterplot of unusual erotic desire, a consolation for the bereft life so risky and aberrant that it points not toward comfort and gratification but to a yet darker and more shocking end. In this long day's journey into night, told with Roth's inimitable urgency, bravura, and gravity, all the ways that we persuade ourselves of our solidity, all our life's performances - talent, love, sex, hope, energy, reputation - are stripped off.

Following the dark meditations on mortality and endings in Everyman and Exit Ghost, and the bitterly ironic retrospective on youth and chance in Indignation, Roth has written another in his haunting group of late novels.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

Not so sure about this one Philip... 28 Oct 2009

By Paperback writer

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Now, don't get me wrong. I am a MASSIVE Roth fan, but I've now read this novella through twice and still feel the same way: It's a bit, well, disappointing.

Yes, the plot is typically Rothian - old man, young woman, sex, disappointment, death. Yes, there are some spectacular shots at erotica and yes, the pace of the narrative holds no prisoners, but it just feels like a first draft, kind of empty and rushed and therefore a little shallow. From a hundred other authors I daresay it would be an accomplishment, but not from Roth. To be totally fair, the speed of the narrative can easily trick you into thinking it's exciting, placing it in the "sizzling page-turner" genre, but Roth is much more than that.

Sorry Philip. When's the next one out?

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

Bare Boned Roth 11 Nov 2009

By The Outsider

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

For those of us who have read most, if not all, Philip Roth, the Humbling is not much more than a novella or three part short story about the humbling of 20th century men - first by self doubt and collapse of vitality, then by love, and finally by the tragic realisation that life and love are transitory. Roth chooses another reflection of himself - Simon Axler - an extrovert actor, not an introvert writer (who both live the lives of hermits!) - to be his protagonist. Women often skewer Roth as a sexist male, but he writes intimately from his own, male perspective as well as anyone.This book is guaranteed to offend the feminists, as Axler's nemesis is a younger lesbian who manipulates and uses him (and others) that he has known since birth.Much has been made of the sex scenes in the book, and they are particularly well written. Roth is obsessed by sex and death, and so is the story.

Though fluent and spare, the prose is involving. It's really a 70 page book and can be read in one sitting with ease. Roth has evolved a new style, part Hemingway and part old Roth, and there are few writers in English who can match him. Let the Nobel honour the unread Armenian and little known Cambodian poets - I'll take Roth, slim or fat, bare boned or brawny.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

For completists only 3 April 2011

By David Llewellyn

Format:Paperback

If you're a newcomer to Roth's work, avoid this book altogether. It does a disservice to an impressive and productive two decades of work from the man I consider to be America's greatest living author.

Roth enthusiasts may want to read it, if only to remind themselves this septugenarian is human after all, and does have off days, but brace yourselves. I found a few moments in this book embarrassing to read, and I'm 33, and far from prudish. Roth has tackled sex in a frank, and often explicit way before, but never this desperately. For the first time when reading one of his novels, I found myself thinking, "Enough, already!" It's an unfortunate misstep, coming between the excellent 'Indignation' and 'Nemesis'.

Like Ian McEwan's 'Amsterdam', I've filed this away under "Great Writers Struggling To Meet Deadlines With No Enthusiasm", because that's the only excuse I can think of that makes sense.

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3.2 out of 5 stars

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Of Little Interest

I found that I didn't have much sympathy for, or interest in, either of the two major characters in this book. Fortunately it is a short book. Read more

Published 15 months ago by John G. Millar

One book too many in too short a space of time?

This short novel has everything you'd expect from Philip Roth, sharp and concise prose, self-examination, intelligent observation, but somehow it just doesn't hit the heights I... Read more

Published 16 months ago by Victor Ward

"Pegeen does what she wants to do, she's done that all her life."

I find it really difficult to say anything much positive about this book. Axler has lost his magic and cannot find it in order to continue his career as an actor. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Eileen Shaw

what no graphic sex...oh there it is...ha ha

Sometimes I like reading Roth and sometimes I don,t.....there is nothing really new in this book...it is the sort of thing I would imagine he can spew out in an afternoon ... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Blue Naters

Life as a Dramatic Act

Philip Roth's The Humbling is a novella, indeed a very short one, which tells the story of Simon Axler an actor who has lost confidence in his ability to perform as an actor and it... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Herman Norford

'This life's a fluke from start to finish'

'He'd lost his magic. The impulse was spent. He'd never failed in the theatre, everything he had done had been strong and successful, and then the terrible thing happened and he... Read more

Published 21 months ago by purpleheart

Not Bad, But Not Roth

Philip Roth's latest novel starts in a very promising and typical 'Roth-ian' style. It tells the story of 60-something stage actor Simon Axler coming to terms with his latest slump... Read more

Published 22 months ago by Mr. H Chinaski

Starts well, but turns into a playboy reader's story. Not his best,...

Every Philip Roth release is a cause for celebration. For a while (until Indignation) I thought he was getting better and better with each novel. Read more

Published 23 months ago by I. Humphrey

Art imitating life imitating art

I'm an avid Roth fan and thought his last book, Indignation, was a real return to form. I'm not quite sure what to make of The Humbling. Read more

Published on 31 Mar 2010 by Barca 82

Very fine work....

Who says that a book must have more than 200 pages to qualify as a "good novel" when Philip Roth is able to tell a great story in less than 150 pages. Read more

Published on 24 Mar 2010 by Marina C. Watteck


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The Humbling (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

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