Philip roth the ghost writer ebook

Series Nathan Zuckerman. Author Philip Roth. Publisher Random House. Release 08 June Subjects Fiction Literature. Search for a digital library with this title Search by city, ZIP code, or library name Learn more about precise location detection. View more libraries However, once again, it raises some absorbing questions, like 'what would it mean if Anne Frank had survived?

Frank, and Roth does discuss this, symbolises the persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust and, to an extent, Jewish persecution throughout the ages. No death, no symbol. Yet, by having Frank survive, Roth makes a point made by many scholars: she was just one girl and should not be allowed to stand for, to symbolise, the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Roth then takes this idea even further, because Nathan starts to fantasise about marrying Frank. He thinks: How could they [my family] accuse me of betraying my race, of fumbling my responsibility as a Jew if I marry this girl-symbol, the ultimate heroic Jewess! This is not, however, merely a novel of ideas. He is, I think people sometimes forget, a wonderful stylist.

The Ghost Writer is also one of his least controversial novels. After finishing the book I came to realise that this is my kind of Roth: the nostalgic, sentimental, quietly, but powerfully intelligent Roth.

Oct 05, Connie G rated it really liked it Shelves: literary-fiction , massachusetts. Nathan Zuckerman, a young short story writer hoping for a mentor, visits established writer E. Over a twenty-four hour period several conflicts arise showing the struggle between a writer's devotion to his craft, and the loyalty he feels toward his family and his cultural identity.

The older writer has devoted his whole life to his writing while ignoring his own happiness and the needs of his wife. Zuckerman has written a short story about a true event in his family's life involving a d Nathan Zuckerman, a young short story writer hoping for a mentor, visits established writer E. Zuckerman has written a short story about a true event in his family's life involving a dispute over money.

His father does not want it published because it shows Jews in a stereotypical unflattering light. His father and a family friend put pressure on Zuckerman not to publish. The third thread of conflict occurs in Zuckerman's imagination where he pretends that a visiting young woman writer is really Anne Frank who has survived the Nazi concentration camps.

The woman is conflicted whether she should reveal her identity to her aging father in Europe. If she was alive, it would reduce the literary importance of her diary. Author Philip Roth writes from the point of view of a Jewish writer.

The various parts of the story are beautifully woven together showing the conflicting demands a writer faces, especially when he puts real experiences in his fiction. The need for a father figure also runs under the surface. Roth's writing is intelligent, showing both the humorous and tragic parts of life. OK, so I read my Roth. Haven't read him since the 80s, when I picked up Portnoy's Complain. Or maybe it was Goodbye, Columbus.

One of those. Does it matter? This one was short not all Roths are , well-written I'm assuming all Roths are , and a "tweener" in that I could've 3-starred it as easily as 4-starred it but the 3. For one, not much happens. Young upstart writer Zuckerman shows up at home of famous older author Lonoff and falls for mysterious young groupie girl OK, so I read my Roth. Young upstart writer Zuckerman shows up at home of famous older author Lonoff and falls for mysterious young groupie girl who likes daddy-types.

One house. One night. One morning. And, from the frantic imagination of Z-man, one hell of a cameo by Anne Frank, setting up one of the funniest lines about overzealous Jewish parents you'll ever read. RIP, good Mr. This one was for you. Jan 02, Chrissie rated it it was ok Shelves: audible-uk , read , hf , religion , series , returned , relationships , usa , classics , arts.

This novel, the first in a series, is about and narrated by Nathan Zuckerman. Be that as it may, Zuckerman speaks of a time more than twenty years ago--when he was twenty-three and the year was He was then an aspiring author with four published short stories to his name. He has an idol, the elderly fellow author E. Lo This novel, the first in a series, is about and narrated by Nathan Zuckerman. When Zuckerman arrives, Lonoff, his wife and a beautiful young woman are there.

Zuckerman is immediately struck by an infatuation for the pretty girl. Zuckerman and Lonoff talk. Zuckerman stays for dinner and the invitation is extended over the night.

Is it correct for an author to write of members of their own family? Even if names are not stated, readers may guess. Does a Jewish author have an obligation to portray Jews in a favorable light? The theme is carried further—how should an author behave toward a spouse? I have my doubts! Why only two stars? Because I do not like the book. For me it is merely OK.

The questions raised are interesting, but it could have been told in a better way. He imagines the beautiful young woman to be view spoiler [Anne Frank. She has survived the holocaust hide spoiler ]! This is too bizarre for me. Zuckerman tell us of the events more than twenty years after they occur, and yet he fails to comment upon what he has in the interim leaned.

Roth has forfeited an opportunity of making clear his views. His sexual drive is purely physical, without an emotional connection. I personally do not enjoy reading about dysfunctional family relationships. There is my final complaint. Malcolm Hillgartner narrates the audiobook. Had he paused at the appropriate places, had he emphasized important words, it would have been easier to understand the confusing parts.

Words are clearly spoken, so the narration I am willing to give three stars. For me, he reads a bit too fast, but this can be easily adjusted. I have tried enough books by Roth. He is clearly not for me. Sep 04, Balu rated it really liked it. But, unfortunately, because it wasn't, I will give it a 4 star rating: 4.

My 3rd Philip Roth book. Since it was my goal to read 3 books from Philip Roth, I am now done. Just kidding. I recommend 'The Ghost Writer' to everyone that likes Roth. Sep 30, Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing Shelves: pulitzer-fiction , pulitzer-runnerups , novels , americanth-c , americanst-c , fiction. Nathan Zuckerman reminded me of Herzog a bit.

This first book of the Zuckerman Bound series was funny and witty and quite ingenious with the first person narrative and the frequent flights of narrative fantasy. I fear that delving too much into the other characters would spoil the pleasure for a potential reader so let me just say that Roth here turns simple overnight story with four characters into a Calvino-esque reflection on the distance between the writer and his written subject.

A quick bu Nathan Zuckerman reminded me of Herzog a bit. A quick but very rewarding read. Apr 01, Amanda Byrne rated it it was ok. I have a feeling Roth is one of those authors you read to make yourself feel smarter and end up questioning the number of IQ points you have. For someone who's received as many awards and accolades as he has, I found this book to be, well, boring. Boy meets his idol, sees girl, wants girl. End of story.

Big woo. Maybe I missed something here, on the greater role the story plays in regards to society or some such nonsense, which is what makes me think my intelligence may not be up to the task of f I have a feeling Roth is one of those authors you read to make yourself feel smarter and end up questioning the number of IQ points you have.

Maybe I missed something here, on the greater role the story plays in regards to society or some such nonsense, which is what makes me think my intelligence may not be up to the task of figuring out what the hell was so great about this book. I tried reading The Human Stain some time ago.

Dirty old man uses Viagra to get it on with a younger woman who doesn't know any better. I guess I'll have to say unfortunately, Mr. Roth, you are not for me. And I did so want to feel smarter for having read your work. View all 3 comments. Lonoff, who lives in an isolated farmhouse in the Berkshire Mountains of New England with his wife Hope. Zuckerman pays a visit and finds himself the object of flattering attention and conversation from the Babel-esque Lonoff. The novella takes place over the day and a half Zuckerman spends at the house, with several flashbacks.

Zuckerman feels that Gentiles reading it will come away with a very different impression than Jews, namely that Jews are greedy kikes. He enlists an old family friend and pillar of the community, Judge Leopold Wapter, to write Zuckerman and try to persuade him not to publish the story.

Zuckerman is furious with his father and resents what he and Judge Wapter are trying to do. He concocts an elaborate fantasy that Amy Bellette is Anne Frank, who actually survived Belsen and came to America to live incognito, and that he will marry her. Zuckerman will be able to introduce Amy to his family and trump anything they might say. The first two chapters which constitute approximately the first three-fourths of the novel verged on perfection for me.

Abravanel is said to be modeled on Saul Bellow. And he was right. We might have charged the stage to eat him up alive if he had been any more sly and enchanting and wise. Does Amy really believe this? But as Zuckerman and Amy are sitting downstairs waiting to leave the farmhouse, Hope decides she is going to depart the marriage and let Amy have Lonoff.

Lonoff repeatedly urges Hope to stay. Then Amy drives away, and Hope walks off into the snow with Lonoff following. Who is the Ghost Writer? Is Lonoff the ghost, removed from the real world, isolated in the woods of the Berkshires? One of the things the novel is about is what it means to be a Jew in America.

I had begun with Exit Ghost , which was quite good. It contained references to Lonoff and Amy Bellette. I probably knew too much going into this story, though it's because of what I knew beforehand that I read it in the first place.

If you're someone who's interested in the way writers think, you should enjoy it. Example: the narrator's lament about his imagination being lacking, that he could never invent a scene like the one he's just overheard, is both playful and serious.

It was also fun to speculate on whom Roth might be basing his fictional 'big' literary figures. The narrator, talking to his I probably knew too much going into this story, though it's because of what I knew beforehand that I read it in the first place. The narrator, talking to his literary hero, makes a case for linking these fictional literary figures with a real writer, Isaac Babel.

As I was reading the book, there was more than once that I made a connection from Roth to Auster -- at least in this book, there are themes that Auster whom I've read quite a bit of employs as well, including the use of 'real' people with fictional ones, and for some of the same reasons. The only Roth I read prior to this was Goodbye, Columbus and while I'm guessing that the reception of that novella led to much of this book, I know reading it didn't inspire me to read more by him.

This novel did. Jul 01, robin friedman rated it it was amazing. The Ghost Writer I had been reading the late Philip Roth's -- novels and exhausted those readily available in the local library. I paid an all-too-rare visit to the only walk-in used book store in my neighborhood, now, sadly, also gone. The book store didn't have the Roth novel I hoped to find, but I bought an inexpensive used hardback copy of this book, "The Ghost Writer" instead.

It was a lucky find. I had just read Roth's novel, "Exit Ghost" , written 28 years after "T The Ghost Writer I had been reading the late Philip Roth's -- novels and exhausted those readily available in the local library. The latter book was a sequel to the former and uses some of the same primary characters, Nathan Zuckerman and Amy Bellette, both of whom have become old, ill, and feeble. Memories of the short story writer E. Lonoff a fictitious person of Roth's imagination , a major character in the "Ghost Writer" also play a prominent part in the latter novel.

Set in , in a remote country home in western Massachusetts, "The Ghost Writer" describes a visit by the ambitious, fledgling year old writer, Nathan Zuckerman, to the home of a 56 year old reclusive writer of short stories, E.

Lonoff, and his wife of 35 years, Hope. The young Zuckerman, in awe of the elder writer, had sent him four short stories to review. Lonoff, favorably impressed, invites the young man to dinner. When a severe snowstorm develops, Lonoff invites Zuckerman to spend the night. The fourth primary character for this short book of an evening and morning is Amy Bellette, a beautifully mysterious young woman slightly older than Zuckerman who is a guest at the Lonoff home working on his manuscripts.

Bellette came to the United States from England some years earlier at Lonoff's invitation, but her past is left obscure. Zuckerman idolizes Lonoff, himself a Jewish immigrant, for his years of devotion to the art of writing and for the terseness, seriousness, and sharpness of his short stories which invariably feature young, wandering, and lost Jewish individuals as their primary characters. Zuckerman was raised in a modest Jewish home and community in Newark, New Jersey.

Although he had been close to his family, his father and the community have taken offense at one of Zuckerman's short stories which they believe cast the Zuckermans and their community in Newark in a bad light. If she were, it might change his life.

A figure of fun to the New York literati, a maddeningly single-minded isolate to his wife, teacher-father-savior to Amy, Lonoff embodies for an enchanted Nathan the ideal of artistic integrity and independence. Hope sees Amy as does Amy herself as Lonoff's last chance to break out of his self-imposed constraints, and she bitterly offers to leave him to the younger woman, a chance that, like one of his own heroes, Lonoff resolutely continues to deny himself. Nathan, although in a state of youthful exultation over his early successes, is still troubled by the conflict between two kinds of conscience: tribal and family loyalties, on the one hand, and the demands of fiction, as he sees them, on the other.

A startling imaginative leap to the beginnings of a kind of wisdom about the unreckoned consequences of art. Media The Ghost Writer. Save Not today. Format ebook. Series Nathan Zuckerman. Author Philip Roth.