Zuckerman Unbound
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"It was bold of Roth to write a novel about being famous...a comic stroll in a hall of mirrors." --"Newsweek"
"[Roth's] narrative hand is wonderfully sure, his comic timing worthy of the Ritz Brothers.... Not since Henry MIller has anyone learned to be as funny and compassionate and brutal and plaintive in the space of a paragraph." --"Village Voice"
"Zuckerman Unbound is masterful, sure in every touch, as clear and economical of line as a crystal vase." --"The New York TImes Book Review"
"[Roth's] narrative hand is wonderfully sure, his comic timing worthy of the Ritz Brothers.... Not since Henry MIller has anyone learned to be as funny and compassionate and brutal and plaintive in the space of a paragraph." --"Village Voice"
"Zuckerman Unbound is masterful, sure in every touch, as clear and economical of line as a crystal vase." --"The New York TImes Book Review"
Book Description
'He writes so well. His prose is both elegant and furious. It can be witty, tender and brutal in a single paragraph' Melvyn Bragg
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
How Alvin Pepler would have loved Amazon for the opportunities it gave him to post reviews (probably in dozens of different names) of Zuckerman's novel Carnovsky. He would have been able to call him the Proust of Newark and get away with it.
OK, this won't make much sense to anyone who hasn't read this comic masterpiece, but Zuckerman Unbound is great place to start if you want to find out why Roth is one of the world's greatest living writers. This short, accessible novel has everything: humour, uncompromising truth and humanity. Now I really do sound like Pepler...
OK, this won't make much sense to anyone who hasn't read this comic masterpiece, but Zuckerman Unbound is great place to start if you want to find out why Roth is one of the world's greatest living writers. This short, accessible novel has everything: humour, uncompromising truth and humanity. Now I really do sound like Pepler...
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
More Zuckerman zaniness
22 April 2005
Format:Paperback
In this installment of the Zuckerman story, we observe a writer who has reached the pinnacle of American celebrity recognition - a front cover on Life magazine. After publication of "Carnovsky" his polarizing, provocative, entirely sixties novel, he is now recognized in buses, deli's and on the street. He is the envy of millions, the target of others, and an object of desire among women. All he could have ever wanted, but here we see an ordinary man thrust reluctantly into the spotlight and deeply conflicted about his place there. His newfound wealth fits like an oversized suit, and he gets accosted by strangers on a regular basis.
Ultimately, this book is one of realization that despite his new status as a millionaire celebrity writer, he has lost his connection with his family and his past in Newark. While romanticizing Newark, or at least revealing it to the masses, and stoking the imagination of those who believe "Carnovsky" to be autobiographical and about his family, he has lost the respect of his father and brother.
Roth pokes fun at those who equate a fictional character with its author, causing us to resist the temptation to compare Nathan Zuckerman with Roth. That is too irresistible a conclusion, and probably too obvious. Roth appeals to the voyeur within us, while leaving us wondering about the lines between fact and fiction.
Another highly entertaining, funny and readable work by MR Roth.
Ultimately, this book is one of realization that despite his new status as a millionaire celebrity writer, he has lost his connection with his family and his past in Newark. While romanticizing Newark, or at least revealing it to the masses, and stoking the imagination of those who believe "Carnovsky" to be autobiographical and about his family, he has lost the respect of his father and brother.
Roth pokes fun at those who equate a fictional character with its author, causing us to resist the temptation to compare Nathan Zuckerman with Roth. That is too irresistible a conclusion, and probably too obvious. Roth appeals to the voyeur within us, while leaving us wondering about the lines between fact and fiction.
Another highly entertaining, funny and readable work by MR Roth.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
The novelist as celebrity
5 Jan 2005
Format:Paperback
Many writers base their work on their own lives, but with Philip Roth the practice borders on narcissism. In "Zuckerman Unbound," which takes place in Manhattan in 1969, Nathan Zuckerman, a simulacrum of Roth himself, is an author who has just published a commercially and critically successful novel called "Carnovsky," which seems very similar to "Portnoy's Complaint." Hesitant to adjust to his new life as a millionaire, he continues to live like a schlub, riding the bus and eating in cheap delicatessens, even though his face has been on the cover of Life magazine and people recognize him in public.
Fame has its disadvantages; Zuckerman is besieged by letters and solicitations from fans, freaks, and creeps, especially the thug who keeps phoning him threatening to kidnap his mother for ransom. One day he meets a fellow Newark native named Alvin Pepler, a burly but obsequious and tirelessly garrulous man who is trying to write a book about his unlucky involvement in a quiz show scandal in the fifties and seeks Zuckerman's help in getting it published and advice about writing in general. The nonchalant but slightly amused manner in which Zuckerman reacts to the possibly psychopathic Pepler, who quickly becomes defensive after he asks for (and receives) criticism, is one of the novel's enjoyable subtleties.
Zuckerman's love life is an aching echo of his fictional Carnovsky's. His marital record is extremely shaky; he is twice divorced and currently separated from his wife Laura, a lawyer who defends draft dodgers evading Vietnam. His fame allows him an otherwise improbable consort--the voluptuous but aging Irish actress Caesara O'Shea, who is growing bored with all the attention she gets even while her star is slowly fading. "I feel like the out-of-focus signpost in a news photo of a head-on collision," he tells her, acknowledging the meagerness of his appearance juxtaposed with her radiance.
One important thing Zuckerman must face is the psychological effect of the notoriety of his erotic novel on his family, particularly when he and his younger brother Henry fly down to the retirement community in Florida where their parents now live to be at the bedside of their dying father. Zuckerman's mother worships him and thinks he can do no wrong; it is Henry who decides to slap him with guilt when they return home. Henry, after all, was the "good son," the sensible one who became a dentist, married a nice girl he didn't really love, and despite his clandestine extramarital affairs would never write a book like "Carnvosky" filled with sexual depravity and Jewish self-ridicule.
I suppose there was a time (say, in Charles Dickens's day) when novelists enjoyed the same kind of celebrity as movie stars do today, but this notion seems quaint by Zuckermanian standards. An author must write a "Carnovsky/Portnoy's Complaint" to be noticed because in this age a "Pride and Prejudice" or a "Wuthering Heights" doesn't have quite the same visual impact. "Zuckerman Unbound" reveals a Philip Roth who perhaps is wistful about a cultural consciousness which books play a more prominent role in shaping.
Fame has its disadvantages; Zuckerman is besieged by letters and solicitations from fans, freaks, and creeps, especially the thug who keeps phoning him threatening to kidnap his mother for ransom. One day he meets a fellow Newark native named Alvin Pepler, a burly but obsequious and tirelessly garrulous man who is trying to write a book about his unlucky involvement in a quiz show scandal in the fifties and seeks Zuckerman's help in getting it published and advice about writing in general. The nonchalant but slightly amused manner in which Zuckerman reacts to the possibly psychopathic Pepler, who quickly becomes defensive after he asks for (and receives) criticism, is one of the novel's enjoyable subtleties.
Zuckerman's love life is an aching echo of his fictional Carnovsky's. His marital record is extremely shaky; he is twice divorced and currently separated from his wife Laura, a lawyer who defends draft dodgers evading Vietnam. His fame allows him an otherwise improbable consort--the voluptuous but aging Irish actress Caesara O'Shea, who is growing bored with all the attention she gets even while her star is slowly fading. "I feel like the out-of-focus signpost in a news photo of a head-on collision," he tells her, acknowledging the meagerness of his appearance juxtaposed with her radiance.
One important thing Zuckerman must face is the psychological effect of the notoriety of his erotic novel on his family, particularly when he and his younger brother Henry fly down to the retirement community in Florida where their parents now live to be at the bedside of their dying father. Zuckerman's mother worships him and thinks he can do no wrong; it is Henry who decides to slap him with guilt when they return home. Henry, after all, was the "good son," the sensible one who became a dentist, married a nice girl he didn't really love, and despite his clandestine extramarital affairs would never write a book like "Carnvosky" filled with sexual depravity and Jewish self-ridicule.
I suppose there was a time (say, in Charles Dickens's day) when novelists enjoyed the same kind of celebrity as movie stars do today, but this notion seems quaint by Zuckermanian standards. An author must write a "Carnovsky/Portnoy's Complaint" to be noticed because in this age a "Pride and Prejudice" or a "Wuthering Heights" doesn't have quite the same visual impact. "Zuckerman Unbound" reveals a Philip Roth who perhaps is wistful about a cultural consciousness which books play a more prominent role in shaping.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A Perfect Balance
18 Mar 1999
Format:Paperback
Nathan Zuckerman is an Everyman with Everyman's problems. Never mind that he is suddenly famous. Never mind that he is the author of a perverse volume known as Carnovsky (presumably similar to Roth's own Portnoy's Complaint). Never mind that he is psychologically oppressed by his Jewish parents and upbringing. These are all just fodder for his overactive mind to react to, trip over, and take refuge from. He could have been anybody. Roth's portrayal of Zuckerman is so accessible and so real that you understand him completely despite his unusual circumstances. The balance of sympathy, pathos, and humor lead you to never doubt that this is a basically good man suddenly overwhelmed by life. You may not agree with his actions, but you can't be certain that you would have reacted any differently. This novel is brisk, funny, enlightening, and moving. Thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining.
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