Menu
Maybe someday
48
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
51/100Critics
44/100Scholars
Author:
Benjamin Taylor
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Date:
May 19, 2020
A meditation on friendship and loss and a portrait of Philip Roth from his closest friend.
What The Reviewers Say
In eight lyrical chapters Taylor moves back and forth in time, presenting a series of vignettes and remembered conversations that offer an unvarnished view of a brilliant, driven man who was controversial almost from the start of his career, largely for his portrayal of his fellow Jews and women.
Roth died in 2018, leaving 31 books behind; like other Roth lovers, I will always want more. Benjamin Taylor's new memoir temporarily eases the loss by giving us more of Roth's voice in conversation: brilliant, profane, and so very funny .... Taylor summons up anecdotes and clear-eyed assessments of what made Roth tick. There's an appealing quality of randomness to this slim memoir that makes it feel like we're tagging along with the two friends.
Taylor resurrects Roth largely through quotation; long swathes of conversation make up most of the book.
... openly the work of an idolator.
