Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth REVIEW

[@angelicasoophia]

Reading this now and so far I am finding it very funny! I really like how the hilarity of the narrative really pulls you in and makes this a page turner.

[@jeepster4249]

I really liked “Portnoy’s Complaint”. I just laughed out loud rather than feeling disgusted. But at the same time, I felt that Roth is not only jesting but he shows us the dark side of human minds. I was also surprised that Roth is ostensibly making jokes on his Jewishness which even sounds like he severely criticizes how badly fake and pretentious Jewish Americans are. For example, one of my favorite writers, Paul Auster, does not show readers his Jewishness at all in his work. That’s why I was so much surprised when I read Philip Roth. Roth’s work is like a satire, I think. He is a satirist.

[@lyndao7356]

Exactly right! When I read it...50 years ago?!!! (Omg) I knew that it was true in a fictional way and funny in a ghastly way and it's been a comfort to know, especially these days, that truth and fiction and ghastly and funny can go so naturally together. I find myself appalled and consoled by the decreasing number of my remaining days on earth.

[@emrazum]

Really agree with Roth being a perfect narrativist, everything flows so well. Reading When she was good rn, cried like five time in the first 100 pages, he's amazing.

[@andrewbillek9209]

You are a pleasure to watch and to listen to.

[@georgepetroff867]

Good review. I have read over 20 of Roth’s novels and tend to suggest that a good place to start is one of his last four novels (Indignation, Nemisis, The Humbling, and Everyman - all written in his 70s), as they are short and are good examples of his writing style. My particular favourite Roth novels are Counterlife, Operation Shylock and Everyman.

[@potaconplays8634]

One of my favorite novels and might be my favorite from Roth. Highly encourage you to check out Sabbath's Theater, it goes even further and is even more dirtier and darker than PC. Terrific review and amazing video as always!

[@nithssh]

Your video quality has improved so much compared to the days in your college/uni. However, I liked the random angles and small room stuff way more, and would watch the videos just to see where you talked from this time. Anyways love you videos!

[@gregbogan7639]

Great review. I just finished reading Portnoys Complaint today. You're right... just enjoy it for the hilarity. His mom in the book was the greatest. Highly recommended of Roth 's books.

[@eddenoy321]

I read Portnoy's Complaint many years ago. It was hands down the funniest novel I ever read.Great style, insight, and comedy. The movie did not come close.

[@leventetakacs1641]

Great video:D It's funny cause I remember reading Portnoy not long after reading Gravity's Rainbow, and all I was thinking throughout was damn now I'll be desensitized to perversity forever:D

[@patriciafay-f9l]

I love Portnoy's complaint. It is very layered. Ventured to write a paper for a psychology class about it according to Freud - it is so fraught Definitely a re-read for me Also a great fan of A Confederacy of Dunces

[@AndalusianIrish]

According to the New York Times review of his ex-wife Claire Bloom's memoir '''Leaving a Doll's House,'' paints the author as a self-centered misogynist.' Bloom described him 'as a man filled with ''a deep and irrepressible rage'' toward women. Ms. Bloom says Mr. Roth forced her 18-year-old daughter by a previous marriage to move out of the house because he regarded the girl as a rival for her attention and because the girl's conversation ''bored'' him.' I know there are two sides to every story but that certainly doesn't portray him in such a great light. He was a talented writer but he wrote way too much about his male member IMHO. My favourite book is "Nemesis" because of the questions about theodicy.

[@1990calum]

I loved it. Very cool concept, discussing everything with a psychologist. Disjointed plotline, but awesome character study

[@MrJessewebb1976]

I’ve never read any Phillip Roth but have been given a copy of The Plot Against America, so am just about to start my first novel of his. Really enjoyed this review though, sounds like an interesting novel.

[@TheBookchemist]

Plot Against America is great! Have fun :)

[@pattonjeffrey6]

You have been my inspiration for years now

[@kailichtverschlinger1612]

I read this right before summer and it comes to mind still after a few months. Roth is a masterful writer; he manages to create, just with one character's monologue, an explosion of the struggle and desire that exists, to some extent, in all of us. And by us I mean young men. A woman would be justified in saying that all men are disgusting after reading this book, if it is true that we all relate to that feeling of trying to beat shame out of our dicks, of wanting woman after woman, orgasm after orgasm, and sometimes not even knowing the difference, only to realize how despicable and disgusting we are, a feeling which has only one solution... But there are also great descriptions of childhood and of relationships, which can provide some insight when considering if and where exactly Portnoy went wrong. And on top of that there is some commentary on American society, pointing out how race and class divide us. I recently (re)watched Taxi Driver, and both seem to be two sides to one coin, morality and sexuality in a portrait of American masculinity, which was clearly toxic enough in the 60s and 70s, but I'm not sure if it's gotten better or worse...

[@travischarlebois4674]

I want that copy

[@crowdofdissidents155]

I laughed all the way through A Confederacy of Dunces the first time I read it, but I didn't find Portnoy's Complaint or Infinite Jest funny. Thanks for the review. Can't wait to read more of Roth.

[@kaitlyngret]

Thank GOD you thought it was dirty, too. I was worried I was just being a prude and a guilty Catholic lolololol. I haven’t finished it yet so I’ll be right back; bye.

[@DuaneJasper]

Great book, great double entendre, just a complete uncensored unloading of a person's mind

[@Raulgermont]

Roth is THE MASTER.

[@user-mf1rz9mn3l]

Hilarious book! I love it ❤️

[@ilnazhad]

Hello, I am glad i found your page. are you iranian? so am i. excited to follow u from now on. honestly it was extremely cool finding u.

[@TheBookchemist]

Thank you Elle! I'm Italian :)

[@warlockofwordsreturnsrb4358]

And if you think Portnoy's is the dirtiest book you've ever read, next try the work of Picasso's mate Guillaume Apollinaire, Les Onze Mille Verges, aka The Debauched Hospodar, which will blow your ever lovin' mind. Also the guy who once stole the Mona Lisa.

[@Vic-mc6tb]

Much like American Psycho, this book gets a bad wrap as a vehicle to promote and glorify misogyny, when in fact, both are cautionary tales about the emptiness of excess.

[@leannemartin7266]

No. You really don't have to read it sooner or later. I am 61, and when I was an undergraduate English major, it was expected that we read Bellow, Roth, Mailer and Updike, but a lot of women really read as little as we could get away with. There is enough misogyny in the Canon that we don't really need to read books which are devoted to despising us. I have read a few books by each of these authors, and I don't regret reading them. I read enough to understand why they are thought highly of. But I did not read most of their novels. I also have not read Lolita. I have tried to read Barry Hannah and just stopped. There are, of course, others. I just don't have to read those books no matter how brilliant they are. And I would never encourage anyone else to, much less say they have to. I was so annoyed at Hanya Yanagihara encouraging everyone to read Lolita and then admitting she had never read past page 100. No, I don't have to read those books. I don't have to introduce more vivid images into my mind of men's hatred of women. I already love some male writers who hate me. But I chose to read those authors when it was worth it to me to carry that burden. I chose. I, and many other women, survived graduate school without having to read much Bellow and Roth. And we did just fine.

[@mariogaleano9365]

Sure, but u can skip them and you'll be fine. Just like you can skip out on a delicious dessert after dinner. You'd be missing out, though.

[@leannemartin7266]

@@mariogaleano9365 no. Not a delicious dessert if you feel demeaned by reading it. Seriously, get a clue before you tell a woman what she should do when she has brought up the issue of sexism.

[@warlockofwordsreturnsrb4358]

Here's some thoughts on the field of sexual writing, or as he called it 'frank' writing from, surprisingly, H.P. Lovecraft, speaking to a correspondent: "One thing about frank writing - remember that the authors and admirers of it don't expect anybody to read it all the time. It's only a fraction of the whole aesthetic field, and I can't yet understand why Victorians continue to single it out and make such a cursed hullaballoo over it!... As for me I don't give a good god damn one way or the other. I own Boccaccio -- and READ Poe, Dunsany, and Arthur Machen. What t' hell! Be good. Yr obt Servt, Grandpa Lo." HP Lovecraft to Maurice Moe. 1930.

[@UltimaGravitas]

Hahaha...just wait 'till you read Sabbath's Theater.

[@luiz.carvalho]

Your "moral" analysis of the book was unnecessary

[@graybow2255]

Overrated.