Portnoy's Complaint: Amazon.ca: Philip Roth: Books

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

The 25th-anniversary edition of Roth's classic novel features a new afterword by the author.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

This is the first audio recording of this work, tying in with the 30th anniversary of the novel's publication. Author Roth both chose the reader, actor Ron Silver, and supervised the taping.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Customer Reviews

68 Reviews

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (68 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Portnoy Needs an Imodium, Nov 9 2001

By	JENNIFER R. BERG (Bend, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portnoy's Complaint (Paperback)

Enjoying caustic, in-your-face satire every now and again, I really gave this book a girlscout's try, but the thought of wading through yet one more chapter of this muck gave me severe indigestion. I have never suffered through such streaming diarreha of one's consciousness, and unlike most, I found the story (oh, was there a story?) to hold little to no humor or literary, spiritual, psychological or any other worthiness. What's the appeal here? My life is too short to have to scoop poop for 289 pages before finally being enlightened by Roth's take on the real meaning of bowel movements and other such bodily secretions. Somebody, give Portnoy a sock!

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dena's Complaint, Jun 13 2000

By	"belladena" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portnoy's Complaint (Paperback)

I haven't read such a disappointing book in my life (this year so far)! It started off interesting, funny, meaningful - I thought he'd go somewhere with it. Off the deep-end?

Absolutely NOTHING was accomplished with this novel and I don't feel I've gained anything from it. The main character, Alexander Portnoy, simply recounts a series of sexual encounters - with women, glass milk bottles, pieces of raw meat - the whole book just turned into a farce, needling in on the same obsession over and over. Does everyone with an overbearing mother sexually assault raw animal flesh?

If this is definitive Jewish-American literature, something is seriously wrong and a re-assessment should be in order. This garbage is going directly to my bird's cage. Better lining than literature.

Philip Roth has to be the greatest self-loathing Jewish man alive, or at least one lucky enough to make a career out of it.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars BORING,FLAT AND NOT AT ALL FUNNY, Aug 27 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Portnoy's Complaint (Paperback)

Roth's style remindes me of occasions where people speak out loud to themselves when they are angry with a situation.It was very tiring for me to read a book thats written enntirely in this style.the impression you get is that this guy is hitting his head with a hammer to get ideas to fill the pages of this book instead of visiting a psychiatric and talk about his childhood.all those details about Jew families,thousands of horrible lines about sex that are supposed to be funny....writting diaries not for publication would be better for this writer.it was his only book i read and i dont intent to read more

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars I HAVE A COMPLAINT!
When I finally decided to read Portnoy's Complaint, I was excited by the reviews I'd read. I thought I'd love it. Read more

Published on May 29 2004 by JR Pinto

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Too Many Complaints Here
Like Charles Dickens, I had great expectations for this book. Well let me clarify that, Charles Dickens was fairly dead before this book was written and had he been alive, he may... Read more

Published on April 15 2004 by M. Swinney

2.0 out of 5 stars Bamboozled by positive reviews
I read Portnoy's Complaint and was surprised by how bad it was. It's a long, reflective monolog, which is a difficult endeavor for any writer, especially when they're bad like... Read more

Published on April 10 2004 by Keith Whitener

3.0 out of 5 stars NO ONE IS SAFE FROM THE COMEDIC WIT OF PHILIP ROTH. .
This book threw me for a loop right from the get go. I had no idea this wasn't a novel in the conventional sense with chapters and multiple dialogues. Read more

Published on Jul 30 2003 by Daniel Vullo

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Writing
One reviewer here complains that "Roth's style remindes me of occasions where people speak out loud to themselves when they are angry with a situation" umm... Read more

Published on May 30 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars i too have a jewish mother, but do i whine?
I can't get over Philip Roth; he rants and he whines and he obsesses...and instead of being annoying it is hilarious! Read more

Published on April 22 2003 by anya218

5.0 out of 5 stars Hats off for Phillip Roth !!!
Definitely one of the best books I've ever read... a wonderful concoction of [] intellect, humour and brilliant writing. A Jewish man sits on a psychiatrist's chair and rants... Read more

Published on April 3 2003 by trunchbull

5.0 out of 5 stars Hysterical
I read this book years ago when I was a teenager. I just read it again at age 50. I laughed so hard I cried. Read more

Published on Mar 5 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Raging Id
This is one of my favorite books and for many reasons. Roth's writing, while seemingly over-the-top is actually a tightly controlled, rippingly savage attack on all sorts of... Read more

Published on Feb 4 2003 by Arnie Bernstein

3.0 out of 5 stars Still perversely funny, but...
This "classic" is more than a little bit dated, but it does feature some of the best stream-of-consciousness prose I've ever encountered. Read more

Published on Jan 19 2003 by David A. Bede

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Portnoy's Complaint (Paperback)

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