Philip Roth... is awesome. discussion

Am currently reading Operation Shylock and would love to talk about it with others who have read it. I have the sense that I need to be taking notes (something I almost never do with novels) and thinking about all the issues of identity in this one. I had a similar feeling about the Shakespeare references in Sabbath's Theater. Even if I don't totally analyze it, I'm finding the book fascinating.

Are you still reading this? This is a Roth novel that I had trouble getting through, perhaps because I have such strong personal opinions about the Israel-Palestine conflict. I've been meaning to get back to it.

I finished it on New Year's. I wrote about it a bit on my blog: http://bethslistlove.wordpress.com/20...
It wasn't my favorite Roth, but I enjoyed the way it played with issues of identity.

This is maybe my favorite Roth novel. A fast and intense pace is established early on and just keeps building throughout. I think it's pretty even handed in terms of discussing Zionism, showing a multiplicity of views on the subject and using the confusion of "Philip Roth" as a beautiful metaphor for the kaleidoscopic nature of Israeli/Palestinian identity. Plus it's funny as hell.

I'm having trouble getting through this though I'm a huge Philip Roth fan. It's of course hilarious at the beginning but getting a little tired after the most ridiculous, most improbable things keep happening? Not sure what it is. (I'm about halfway through.) Interesting to see other Roth fans' tepid about it because I had read it was arguably his best.

To Matthew Schuerman:

In my opinion, this isn't one of Roth's best books. Philip Roth is a very adept writer, so it makes sense why you'll find fans who say eccentric things like "Operation Shylock is his best!" or "When She Was Good is his best!" Hell, one of my favorite Roth books is "Our Gang," which has largely been forgotten.

You're probably right though that a lot of people love "Shylock." I admire it for its incisive view on the conflict between Palestine and Israel. The book works better as a meditation on antisemitism and Roth's commitment to the Jewish people in Israel than it does as a meditation on Roth as a writer and a person. You'd think that the book's focus would be on his personal character, given that the plot is largely concerned with a doppelganger.

I'd encourage you to finish the book, just to see how the narrative develops. Still, you're right that "Shylock" is a bit of an anomaly. It's not entirely a character study, or a comedy, or a political thriller. It's something of an amalgam.