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Although this book could not have been written by anyone else, it's not his best work.
Unlike some artists who continue to produce well past their peak, Roth should keep writing for as long as his body and mind permit. Sometimes Roth lacks subtlety.Philip Roth is one of the most honored American writers in the past 50 years, and "Indignation" again shows why Roth has earned his reputation. As with everything that Roth produces, "Indignation" has layered meaning and can be read on several levels: as a potboiler, as a fictional account of the travails of a Jewish young man, or more broadly as an account of an outsider (and aren't we all outsiders, in one environment or another) attempting to adapt or remain true to one's beliefs. Roth is best in longer novel form, where he has even more space to allow his imagination and prose to roam. "Indignation" poses many interesting questions (it would make a great book for discussion in a book group), and answers some of them in an especially over-the-top ending.
"Indignation" is not Roth's all-time best, but it definitely is worthwhile reading. I felt the first half of the book was nearly perfect, but once events started unfolding in the second half, I felt that Roth took the scenes a little beyond what was necessary to convey his points. Besides the typical coming of age questions about how to act upon the body's desires (given 1950's mores), the main questions posed in "Indignation" revolve around whether and how the individual should modify his behavior to adapt to the people and society around him, in order to successfully navigate through that society and ultimately survive and thrive.Looking back at the book, I am amazed by how much ground Roth managed to cover in a little over 200 small pages. Philip Roth, as usual, draws upon his well-known personal history (growing up in the Jewish district of Newark, attending a secularized Christian college / university in the 1950s) in "Indignation" to create a short novel that is effectively a coming of age story from an outsider's perspective. Each scene contributes masterfully not only to the development of the story, but to the questions Roth is posing and answering.
Roth fans should relish this short book, and it could serve as a good introduction to Roth for those who have not read him before.
Everybody is Philip Roth, there is no room for other natural creatures with credibility. It is just a trick tragedy, during one of the happiest times America lived Caudwell, the homosexual Jewish student Flusser, the upper crust Sonny Cottler (who exuded an invulnerability that attracts and repels at once) and the and Albin Lentz, the ex governor of West Virginia, Plus a few more every single character is nothing a thinly veiled Philip Roth. "And how much of my past I can take.", the author asks using the dead Marcus Meissner voice.This reminds me of the "Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera.
Honestly, the plot, whatever happens to the characters is artificial and "deus-ex-machina". Some philosopher (Schopenhauer). Now I liked Indignation. said in a world where we know exactly the future, and when we are going to die, the life of humans is heavy and unbearable. It has eroticism, but the melancholic kind, when the sexual energies are are invading only our past. I liked Good bye Columbus, My Life as a Man.
As he confessed in the video interview from Amazon.com, the time when he was in the college in 1951-1953, during the Korean War, was not yet covered in any of his books. The book has a few characters, Marcus Meissner, his father, a Kosher butcher (Butcher is not enough to describe Meissner's family in the Winesburg College with compulsory Chapel attendance), his mother, his girl friend Olivia, the Dean of Men, Hawes D. The mystery of who left Olivia pregnant is not important, Speaking as a dead man, is important, as Roth analyzes the agony of living after death in an timeless heaven, which he demonstrated, it can only be a Hell. Fortunately, we never know what will happen tomorrow, therefore, the title of the book the "Unbearable Lightness of Being".Fortunately the senseless death of Marcus Meissner never happened in reality. I like Philip Roth. Now we have Indignation.
One is left only with past, and has no chances to repair or change anything.
This novel is a profound work of art that reminds us of fiction's power to make us think and feel. Several hours after finishing this novel, I am still shaken by its emotional impact. Highly recommended.
This is my second Roth book and it was even better than the The Humbling. Beautiful prose rivaling that of Ian McEwan.
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