Deception by Philip Roth

Philip Roth wrote the highly praised novels Goodbye, Columbus, Portnoy's Complaint, and The Human Stain. I liked the 1969 movie of Goodbye, Columbus with Ali McGraw and Richard Benjamin—remember when they were movie stars? And I also liked the 2003 movie of The Human Stain with Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins.

Deception is the first Roth book I've read, and i found this dry and boring.

The slim book is composed of snatches of conversations between a married American named Philip, living in London, and an Englishwoman, trapped in a loveless marriage. Their lives are revealed as they talk before and after making love. Author Fay Weldon called it "extraordinary, elegant, disturbing," but also added, "this literary navel-gazing is a risky occupation... what conceit to think we're interested."

The style intrigued me, and I thought I could get through it. The conversations are intelligent but uninteresting. They deal with sex, politics, relationships, and Jews. I can respect the writing, but his highly personalized descriptions of a strongly sexualized Jewish male and post-coital conversations about Jewish identity did not appeal to me.

Philip Roth is known for intensely autobiographical novels and his provocative explorations of Jewish and American identity. His list of awards (including National Book Award, PEN/Faulkner award, and the Pulitzer Prize) is too lengthy to list here.

This review is of no consequence to people who like Philip Roth, doesn't matter in the least I'm sure. It's a short book, and after a few chapters, I was skipping ahead, realizing I'm only trying to finish it. Not worth it.

A French film was made of this in 2021.

1997 / Paperback / 208 pages