Goodbye, Columbus, and Five Short Stories (Hardcover)

First of all, the writing is first-rate modern American, a light but not overly breezy style, something like Bellow. Especially in the title story, the subtle humor is very effective, and he has a Salingerian gift for making the last sentence of a paragraph resonate. The themes, also, that continue throughout the stories are well-developed and intriguing; in 'Defender of the Faith,' he shows how a very convincing sociopath takes advantage of his Jewish identity and uses it as a weapon; in a story the title of which I can't remember, a young boy rebels against the oppressive Jewish instruction of his elders; then, later, in 'Eli the Fanatic,' Roth shows a man discovering solace in the stark rituals of traditional Judaism. The issue is examined from many angles. 'Epstein' is more suggestive of his later work and somehwat distasteful, very bleak, but a convincing portrait of an aging and frustrated Jewish man. 'You can't tell a man by the song he sings' is lighter and has little relation to the theme of Judaism, in case you were beginning to think Roth couldn't write about anything else.

The title story is easily the best; the rest are just accesories. While the romance which it depicts never really seems justified (what does she see in him to begin with?), the writing is superlative and the characters interesting, and the semitragic conclusion more moving than it really should be. In this story, Roth displays a delicacy which is foremost among the things he inexplicably loses later on; he seems to like these characters, even the spoiled and decadent family, and stops to linger on minor details with a real zest for description.

Reading these stories made me think I had judged Roth too quickly after reading only two of his books; I read another, and was disappointed again. Stick to this one.

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'Columbus' is nothing more than the simple story of a summertime love. A Jewish boy named Neil meets a girl, who belongs to an upper level in society, they fall in love, and, above everything, have to deal with their social difference. But the way Roth writer is so simply profound and beautiful, that it is impossible no to be touched by this little masterpiece.

The characters are so well developed, that the more one reads the more compelling the story becomes. Not failing to mention such a fresh sense of humor that makes this novella very funny. This same quality appears in the other five short stories gathered in this Vintage edition.

One may complain that Roth has not much creativity, writing about only one subject: the young Jewish man in the late 50's. But that is not really true. His stories are similar not because of the lack of imagination, but because the writer cares to focus his attention in this subject. And, although, it seems a limited issue at first, with his words it becomes easily universal, because above all the stories concern on the human condition.

Among the stories, it is possible to find one the finest Roth's short texts: 'Defender of the faith'. The surreality of the proximity of the war and the dispute between the two main characters somehow reminds the tour de force present in the movies made by Amos Gitai. The absurd of the situation, and the characters focusing on another --maybe smaller-- issue are funny, when we don't think of the imminent situation.

One doesn't have to look any further to find hints of the themes and characters that would be present in further works. The daughter in 'Epstein' is somehow a draft of the daughter who would appear much more developed in his novel 'American Pastoral'.

All in all, 'Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories' is a good introduction for those curious to get into Roth's universe, and, it is a fundamental reading for the ones who like his books.

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