Roth at the peak of his powers. This book stayed with me for days after I finished it.

INDIGNATION, is a coming of death story by Phillip Roth. Built around the idea that Little things have a suprisingly large consequences (the butterfly exponential perhaps?) the characters move along towards finality. Constantly Jewish in nature, the dialog lacks the slap of Portnoy's - oy, I kvetch too much (too much I kvetch?). Kosher butchering shepherds the often bloody story along . . .a hardworking New Jersey family, a good son, a good father, a saintly mother, the unsuitable shikse, a war, a repressive Midwestern (Winesburg Ohio make a cameo appearance). In a few pages a tangible world takes shape, what more should a novel offer?
Ideal to read as I did: in a late October Indian Summer on a park bench behind a university library in Ohio....

Roth's protagonist, Marcus Messner, is filled with enough of his own youthful and idealistic indignation to justify the book's title. But the title word could just as easily apply to Marcus's butcher father, to the Winesburg college dean and president and a number of other minor characters, as well as to the Chinese Communist hordes swarming down through North Korea in that frigid and often nearly forgotten conflict of the fifties, which forms an ominous and omnipresent background to the story. Indignation, which is a surprisingly slight book, nearly a novella, marks a return to the kind of stories that made Roth famous over forty-some years ago. Like Good-Bye Columbus, it looks at college life and all the excitement, mysteries and sexual frustrations that accompany it. Winesburg College is, of course, an obvious nod (or perhaps eye-rolling shaking of the head) to Sherwood Anderson's classic collection of interconnected stories, Winesburg, Ohio - a book which I first read in my own college days in the sixties. I was reading Anderson, in fact, around the same time I first discovered Philip Roth, in his then-bestselling and then-scandalous novel, Portnoy's Complaint. A novel which finally put the sin of Onan right out there in the open. I thought it was about time too, as I nodded and chuckled my way through Alex's adventures with milk bottles, a slab of liver, and, finally, the Monkey. In fact, I was naive and stupid enough to adopt that book as required reading in one of the first Lit classes I taught in 1970. And I actually got away with it. I have read many other Roth books since then. My favorite is one of Roth's earliest novels, Letting Go, which I have re-read several times and would highly recommend. More recently, The Human Stain is, I think, one of Roth's best realized works, and its film version, with Sir Anthony Hopkins, is equally good. (Which makes me remember Richard Benjamin and Ali McGraw in the classic film, Good-Bye Columbus. Benjamin also brought Alex Portnoy to life on screen, an effort which was less successful.) Indignation, with its showers of semen high into the air, stained socks and the unstable but beautiful "Olivia the Expert" does indeed mark a kind of restrained return to the Portnoy days, albeit under a shadow of war and imminent death. I read this book in just two sittings. It's funny, it's disturbing, and it's immediate, despite its setting of over fifty years ago. A real page-turner, entertaining and real. - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA

INDIGNATION is a fascinating novel, albeit difficult to read except in 20 page bursts. The reason is that the intense Marcus Messner, Roth's young protagonist and narrator, finds little joy, but much angst and guilt, in his life. He is the master of nothing. Everything is a challenge. His world is an ordeal. At one moment, Marcus is surprised to be told by his college Dean that he is shouting and pointing angrily. But throughout, Marcus seems on the verge such hysterical expression. This makes INDIGNATION a book to enjoy in small doses.

INDIGNATION is the story of Marcus, a studious young man and only child, who flees his overbearing father in Newark for a year at Winesburg College in rural Ohio. But when Marcus takes a step forward in his life--such as excelling in school, establishing greater independence from his parents, having new sexual experiences, and befriending the leaders in a fraternity--Roth connects that step to perilous undercurrents of guilt, principled naïveté, or treachery. In INDIGNATION, all the happy normal experiences of youth and college don't make Marcus stronger. Instead, they make him increasingly vulnerable.

The narrative skill shown in INDIGNATION is truly dazzling. Not only is there not a single word out of place. But Roth is also able to pull a surprising and profound subtext from each experience that Marcus relates. The effect is that you get every event in the novel twice: once in the seamless and interesting telling; then a second time in its surprising interpretation. Only in the very end of INDIGNATION does the meaning that Roth pulls from an experience seem obvious. (I thought we were going to learn that Marcus was doomed to recapitulate the tragic meshuge of his father's family.)

Of course, it's all a matter of taste. But I must say that Roth sometimes seems to overplay to make his points. Anyone remember the vomit scene in American Pastoral, which expressed revulsion? Well, INDIGNATION has a vomit scene as well. For an author who is able to find great depth in the most ordinary interactions, I wonder why these extreme physical expressions need to occur.

Regardless, this is another fine novel from a great American writer.

Philip Roth is one of those authors I would read no matter what. He is such an excellent stylist and passionate writer that the pages just seem to drip with energy. I relish his ability to generate confusion, excitement, disgust, interest and fascination in his work. That's not to say his work doesn't vary in quality but, in this little story, he hits all the markers I expect and creates a great experience.

Indignation tells the story of Marcus Messner, a boy who grew up in his parents' kosher butcher shop in Newark during World War II and the years following. It is now the early 1950's and, after a successful stint at a local college, he clashes with his ever-crazier father and heads to a college in a small town in Ohio.

Needless to say, things don't get any easier for Marcus at his new place. He has intense confrontations with his roommates, his "girlfriend," one of the deans of the school and his mother, among others. It is a struggle to tell whether Marcus is simply going crazy himself or whether he is an intense, studious boy being pushed to his limits.

Ultimately, what I like most about this novel is the way seemly small events have such a powerful impact on people and their lives. And how events that are ignored when they happen turn out to be the turning points. I won't give away the results of Marcus' story that Roth details in the brief coda that closes the novel. Needless to say, it isn't what you are expecting. Anyone looking for a short, intense read won't go wrong choosing this one.

This is a tired book. It casts only a dim and distorted light on 50's, a corny view, really, and isn't worth reading for that -- I find these comments about the "history" value in this book unconvincing. Old age and death has been his preoccupation in recent books, and it's as if he said to himself his readers might tire of old men so he wrote about a young one, but that's just a mask and he's dead, too. Literally -- a weak conceit.

This is a great change of pace from Roth's most recent books, i.e. writing about a young man growing as opposed to old men nearing the end. I actually cried at the end, and I didn't even cry when Bambi's mom was killed.

At his worst, Philip Roth is good. "Indignation" is Philip at his best. The human condition distilled, compressed into 230 pages. Very readable and thought provoking.

Indignation is a simple story with the usual complex undertone of the grand. It is not a monumental Roth work, but still a story so compelling that it could easily be read in one sitting. The reader familiar with Roth's work recognizes Newark again (one of the aspects of his work that I enjoy), from which an unsettled, searching young man leaves to find different issues of life, love, and death, that confound him to his limits. A most pleasant read.

In Roth's book "Indignation" he portrays a college student trying to reach toward his adult life through his studies and his academic achievements. Marcus is a straight A student and started his college career at a little known local college in Newark, NJ. However, because of a change in the personality of his father, who starts to worry about what kind of trouble his son might get into if not within his father's sight all the time, Marcus finds he can no longer remain at home and go to school, as a result of his father's obsessive attitude.

Roth's portrayal is simply extraordinary as he tries to convey that some of the littlest transgressions can have lifetime consequences that may be completely destructive to the individual. He builds a character that has always done right, one of the best boys a parent could possibly want, yet inside, Marcus is indignant at the world around him, which wishes him to fit the mold that it tries to impose on him. He does not understand why being a straight A student; and to some degree a loner who has some trouble adapting to social situations, is not enough for the rest of the world. He cannot figure out whether it is a religious issue (Marcus is Jewish) or whether it is just a general persona that the world is trying to force upon him that seems to put him in conflict with many of the authority figures around him.

During his time at his second college, a small college in Ohio, to which he has transferred, he meets a girl with whom he is fascinated and infatuated, if not in love. But this girl has had problems all her life. She had problems with depression and did one time try to kill herself. She uses her weakness almost as a lure, to attract men and to hold them through her performance of sexual acts that for the time period, the early 1950's, is much more promiscuous than what would be expected. Yet this technique and her inner weakness allows her to attract men and hold them to her in a tenacious and passive manner. Ultimately, Marcus is expelled from his college because he has hired a proxy to attend church services, which he refuses to attend because of his confirmed position as an Atheist. Unfortunately, his proxy is found out and as a result he is expelled from the college. Because of the historical times, he is then drafted into the Army and sent to Korea to fight in the conflict. The result of his fighting is Roth's final twist, but interestingly, the entire story is a result of Marcus' recollections while he lies wounded and shot up with morphine.

This truly exceptional story by Roth portrays in graphic detail how what seems to be a small occurrence can indeed have life affecting consequences. One must always be vigilant and on guard or one can end up in a situation that is not only difficult, but potentially dangerous. Society tends to place people where it wants them, and not always in accordance with the thoughts and beliefs of the individual. Such is the case with Marcus in this excellent rendition by Roth. This book is recommended to all Roth readers and all readers who wish to understand that life is not just a series of random events, but in fact each event tends to shape the life of the person, for good or for bad, and people must try to think through all the ramifications of each action before taking steps that could result in an irreversible condition. The book is highly worth the reader's attention and should be enjoyed and integrated by all serious, thinking readers.

For those of us from the Silent Generation (1926-1945), this brief book will force us to remember our youth and that it was not the best of times. Phillip Roth has become our historian, especially with The Human Stain and The Dying Animal. There we are repressed and angry with an America that continues to have that dark underside that is desperately afraid that someone, somewhere may be happy and is determined to prevent it. He takes us back to college in the 1950's with panty raids and Korea and mindless college administrators who wanted to make certain we were all safe for society. This is not best work but it's Roth and he is always a joy to read.

Indignation Philip Roth goes from strength to strength. His most recent books have lost none of his inherent courage in tackling life's tricky issues. Both Everyman and Exit Ghost were studies in aging, but here in Indignation he effortlessly shifts gears back to youth, and gives us a rich and credible portrait of a troubled college student. This is a master story teller at work writing and examining the trials of both a father and a son against a backdrop of repression, fear and coming of age in the 1950's. Touching and very human drama that had me hooked from the very start. How nice the master can still surprise and engage us.

Short but powerful, funny yet deeply disturbing....Indignation by Phillip Roth is a well crafted paradox of a book. As the Korean War rages on the other side of the world, Marcus Messner of Newark, NJ leaves his insular, Jewish world to attend college on an idyllic liberal arts campus in Ohio.
A studious, hardworking, goal oriented young man, Marcus desires nothing more than to concentrate on his classwork. But, to his surprise and great dismay he encounters unanticipated conflicts which make him long for the pavements of New Jersey from whence he came.

Indignation contains plenty of truth about middle America in the middle part of the 20th century and presents it with humor and understanding. The unexpected ending jolts the reader in a remarkably skillful way and serves to completely redefine the significance of what came before.
This is a gem of a novel by a talented author. Highly recommended.

Far from the best book I've ever read. A quick read that has its moments.

The first thing to know about Philip Roth and this book, if you are trying to decide whether to read it, is that it is an exhilarating good read. In an age of what Michael Chabon (see the first essay in his book "Myths and Legends") has called "plotless" fiction, Roth writes stories with a firm architecture comprised of plot, voice, style, character, setting, atmosphere, rhythm, invention and vision. "Indignation" may be a concerto compared to the symphonic breadth of his earlier novel "American Pastoral," but it is a darn good concerto that delivers incredible insight into America at a certain point in history, and more than that, uncovers truths and ironies about history and the timeless human condition that are no small achievement.

All of this is told through the experience of Marcus Messner, who by age nineteen in 1951, has done no wrong. Raised in the Jewish working class neighborhood of Newark, NJ, he studies and works long hours doing the unpleasant tasks that have to be done in his father's butcher shop--that has been his entire life. As his father's overprotectiveness and fears that Marcus would be drafted and killed in Korea tip the scale of rational behavior, Marcus escapes by transferring from a downtown commuter college to a small liberal arts college in Ohio. There he experiences the intellectual freedom of his classes and sexuality; he also encounters the problems of noisy roommates and arrogant oppression of an administration that insists on mandatory chapel for all, even Jewish students, and smiles upon those who, unlike Marcus, embrace the Greek social system. Roth builds a suspenseful story on the ironies of what constitutes danger in the insular known world of the ivory tower spinning within the bigger, nebulous globe that promises the violent arena of war.

To reveal more will spoil the story, so I'll stop here, except to observe that I may be female, raised Episcopalian and a generation after Marcus, but I know what it is to enroll in a small insular college simply because it was as far away as I could afford to escape overprotective parents and to be shocked that a 4.0 meant nothing to administrators who thought good girls joined sororities and attended chapel while psychopaths did not, while the world outside of campus was exploding with war and social change. Roth gets it right.

At its core, Indignation is about how "one's most banal, incidental, even comical choices achieve the most disproportionate result." Marcus Messner, son of a kosher butcher and a student at a small, conservative college, is an outsider. Weighed down with an intense and paranoid personality, Marcus is wholly focused on getting all A's and avoiding death in the Korean War. His intensity and ideology result in dire consequences.

Like a short story, Indignation is written with laser beam precision. A substantial majority of the book is composed of lengthy, angry speeches that are almost (though not quite) absurdly eloquent. Just about every character gets one (and some get many) of these pitch-perfect speeches, which read so swiftly the book is over before it's barely begun. Indignation reads like a fast-paced script and a good one at that.

Not surprisingly, the movie rights to Indignation have already been acquired by Scott Rudin, who made the seven-figure deal immediately after reading Roth's novel. In a story reported by Variety, Rudin comments, "I've been a maniacal fan of Roth's for years and waited for the one I thought could really be a great movie. It has remarkable movie potential." I agree wholeheartedly.

(Three-and-a-half stars) Philip Roth's literary output in recent years has been nothing short of staggering. In his mid-70s now, Roth continues to write with the fierceness and moral outrage of a man half his age. His Americana cycle, concluding with the magnificent "Human Stain", has been followed by a series of shorter, less ambitious works ("The Plot Against America" notwithstanding). These shorter, death-haunted novels, have been hit or miss for me. "The Dying Animal"--hit. "Everyman"--miss. "Indignation" falls somewhere in between.

The plot, such as it exists, and the characters, such as they're depicted, take a back seat to Roth's narrative purpose--to show how simple acts have unintended (sometimes tragic) consequences. As a set-piece of 1950s conservativism, it's a good little book. As a literary experiment (I won't give away the "twist," though if you've read other reviews, you probably know it by now), it's an interesting outing. As a compelling novel ... well, I found it wanting. The promise of the terrific title ("Indignation" captures Roth's style and literary career perfectly) isn't realized by this slight, meandering tale of life on a small midwestern campus. The characters--including the narrator, Marcus Messner--show promise, but remain too flat to make much of an impact. The book's narrative strands are never tied together, nor do they shed much light on the theme. I can accept that as realistic and daring on Roth's part, but it's a bit irritating to look back on the book and realize that there was no real point in telling the stories of Olivia, Sonny, Elvyn, and Flusser--since they remain unresolved, insular, and have no real bearing on the novel's outcome. Sure, I get it--that's the whole point. But it didn't make me enjoy the novel any more.

Roth's writing flows seamlessly--indeed, flawlessly--which makes the novel an easy read. Still, for a book titled "Indignation," it seems a bit *too* easy, a bit *too* tame to be one of Roth's best.

At 75, when most of us would like to put our feet up, relax, reap the benefits of having lived a productive life, Philip Roth demonstrates that the true artist still has the power to teach, to move, to illuminate. In his latest exploration of American society writ large by giving an example in miniature, he provides a portrait of an era so crystal clear and yet so haunting. Certain elements of the plot require that the setting be during the Korean War, but there is a timeliness in this wonderful book. Particularly in these days of America at yet another war. It's a short book, but says so much with so few words.

Butchery and blood are recurring images in Philip Roth's scalding new novel which is probably his darkest comedy since Sabbath's Theater. The images are shocking yet appropriate since this little novel deals with a big subject: what someone once called "the meat-grinder of history." Many of Roth's familiar elements are here. The naive young Jewish hero meets up with an unstable gentile girl in the 1950's and farce ensues. But this is 1951 and the Korean War hovers over the story like a thundercloud. I wasn't very enthusiastic about Roth's last couple of novels which seemed rather flaccid to me. But this one has suspense, narrative drive and storytelling fury that recall his great "American" novels of 10 years ago, only in concentrated form. "Indignation" left me wrung out, like you hope a novel will do for you.

Marcus Messner announces on page 54 that he is dead (this is no great spoiler, believe me.) The dead narrator is a time-honored narrative strategy in film noir (see Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition) and the novels of Jim Thompson, especially Savage Night) and it's interesting to see how Roth uses it. Although there may be an alternative explanation for Marcus' state; check the chapter titles. As he tells his story we learn how he came to die. Practically driven out of his home by his loving but suddenly paranoid kosher butcher father, he flees to go to college in the same town as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio (Signet Classics). The smart but inexperienced boy finds himself way over his head. He is flummoxed by a beautiful girl he dates and is unable to tolerate either a flamboyant gay roommate or the strictly conservative college administration with its Christian affiliation. Instead of laughing it off and making the best of it, as apparently Roth in real life was able to at Bucknell, Marcus goes to war with his surroundings. His private mantra becomes the Chinese national anthem he learned in grade school with its refrain "indignation, arise!" And in a hideous irony it is the Chinese army that butchers Marcus on a hill in Korea some months later.

This is a remarkable book: a terrible tragedy with farce, a funny book where the laughs catch in your throat. It once again displays Roth's famous psychological toughness; no one is let off the hook here. And Roth plays fair; although he displays what is coming to be his obvious disdain for religion of all kinds, he shows Marcus playing a role in his own destruction through the kid's own intolerance and pride. Although the president of the college is a Republican political hack (as Roth sees it), the author lets him deliver the theme of the novel in a thunderous speech near the end of the book: you may try to hide from history: but like Jonah inside the whale, it will find you.

Butchery and blood are recurring images in Philip Roth's scalding new novel, probably his darkest comedy since Sabbath's Theater. The images are shocking yet appropriate since this little novel deals with a big subject: what someone once called "the meat-grinder of history." Many of Roth's familiar elements are here. The naive young Jewish hero meets up with an unstable gentile girl in the 1950's and sexual farce ensues. But this is 1951 and the Korean War hovers over the story like a thundercloud. I wasn't very enthusiastic about Roth's last couple of novels which seemed rather flaccid to me. But this one has suspense, narrative drive and storytelling fury that recall his great "American" novels of 10 years ago, only in concentrated form. "Indignation" left me wrung out, like you hope a novel will do for you.

Marcus Messner announces on page 54 that he is dead (this is no great spoiler, believe me.) This is a time-honored narrative strategy in film noir (see Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition) and the novels of Jim Thompson) and it's interesting to see how Roth uses it. Although there may be an alternative explanation for Marcus' state; check the chapter titles. As he tells his story we learn how he came to die. Practically driven out of his home by his loving but suddenly paranoid kosher butcher father, he flees to go to college in the same town as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio (Signet Classics). The smart but inexperienced boy finds himself way over his head. He is flummoxed by a beautiful girl he dates and is unable to tolerate either a flamboyant gay roommate or the strictly conservative college administration with its Christian affiliation. Instead of laughing it off and making the best of it, as apparently Roth in real life was able to at Bucknell, Marcus goes to war with his
surroundings. His private anthem becomes the Chinese national anthem he learned in grade school with its refrain "indignation, arise!" And in a hideous irony it is the Chinese army that butchers Marcus on a hill in Korea some months later.

This is a remarkable book: a terrible tragedy with farce, a funny book where the laughs catch in your throat. It once again displays Roth's famous psychological toughness; no one is let off the hook here. And Roth plays fair; although he displays what is coming to be his obvious disdain for religion of all kinds, he shows Marcus playing a role in his own self-destruction through the kid's own intolerance and pride. Although the president of the college is a Republican political hack (as Roth sees it), the author lets him deliver the theme of the novel in a thunderous speech near the end of the book. You may try to hide from history: but like Jonah inside the whale, it will find you.

What a great book to read this Autumn as college sports play against the backdrop of the Fall foliage and a war rages in the distance and few show real anger. Roth's "The Plot Against America," which begins in Newark in the late 30s and 40s, is among my favorite novels, so I quickly purchased this book, which starts out in Newark in the 1950's. The story flows so quickly that you can finish the novel in one day. Marcus Messner, the son of a butcher, a kosher butcher, a Jewish kosher butcher, is a good son and an "A" student. He does as he is told, he helps his parents in the shop as supermarkets take a greater share of the meat business, he visits the slaughterhouse, he gives customers their orders, he.. he.. he.. he does what is necessary. But like the lyrics of the Chinese National Anthem, which pop into his head, (which we heard all August at the Olympics), he "refuses to be a slave" to the mores of that time (can you recall or imagine panty raids, segregated housing, chapel requirements, restricted dating, rural Ohio Republicans, only Seniors can have cars) and his blood boils with in-dig-na-tion. What can I add to these other reviews? Not much. Except that the characters will stay with your for quite a while, and you will question whether Marcus was right or wrong in his indignation and his choices. And if you have extra time, you can ponder and ponder whether the story has deeper meanings with regard to war, marriage, McCarthyism, and fitting in.

I think this book will be read for decades, maybe longer. It's succinct and fiercely written.

The centerpiece clash between Marcus Messner and Dean Caudwell is a brilliant verbal boxing match that speaks to assimilation, organization, power, faith, ignorance and, yes, indignation. There's nothing extraneous here. The writing is taut and boiled-down to its essence. "Indignation" made me think about people's attitudes towards their own self-worth and how much a role that plays in their character - from would-be girlfriend Olivia to Messner's mother, from the dean to Sonny Colter.

This book is about entitlement in a very powerful way. It's about oppression by organization, whether it's frat boys or the college superstructure itself. It's about the people in the trenches (not giving anything away) doing the messy work of life. It's about societal norms and niceties--and everything, in the end, that's not so nice. Brilliantly conceived, well executed and power in every page. For the return on investment (in other words, this won't take you long to read) this is one of the best.

'Indignation' is the story of a studious Newark Jewish boy's early college days, his break from his over-protective father, and his fears of being drafted during the Korean War.

First of all, those who have not followed Roth closely over the years, may not know how much of this story is covering old ground. 'Indignation' includes about 50% new concepts (namely: some character development, and the ending which is actually alluded to 50 pages into the book but which I won't reveal here, along with the details of that ending which Roth lays bare on the last few pages.) This 50% is re-treaded onto 50% old Roth ideas; that is, very specific details about his college days and even almost verbatim quotes from his 1974's 'My Life as a Man' and from the 'Joe College' section of his 1988 semi-faux-biography 'The Facts.' There are also some quotes in 'Indignation' which go directly back to lines found in 'Portnoy's Complaint.'

These Rothian antecedents are important to keep in mind because given the fact that the setting and characterizations are essentially re-runs, and that the framing situation and new twist ending are the only new developments here in Roth's 'egg', one must decide if Roth has really done anything with the pieces from his past to justify stealing from himself. Did he expand upon what was written back in the 60's, 70's and 80's and taken from here, the way he has done so successfully over the years with his Zuckerman character, or has he just gotten lazy?

My answer: while Roth is still a good story teller, and is still often funny and a fine craftsman of prose sentences; nonetheless Roth's sentimental journey back to his college days adds nothing to what he borrowed from himself, and indicates that as a serious novelist he's really running out of creative energy.

To put it simply, 'Indignation' feels much more like an artificially extended short story than a real novel. In fact, calling it a novel is a bit of a contrivance of the publishers, who use a large font and a small number of lines per page, to stretch out to 240 pages (and charge $16 for) what would actually be more like 110 pages if it had been printed in the font size and page count of a more conventional novel's pagination. So for example, it is about half again as long as Thomas Mann's novella 'Death in Venice', and the same as Tolstoy's 'Hadji Murad.' (Would that it had more in common than length with those two works, which cover some of the same themes as 'Indignation' -- fear of death in the former case, and bravery and cowardice during war time in the latter -- with more subtlety, maturity, grace, artistry and depth.)

And while perhaps it's not fair to compare Roth to Tolstoy or Mann, it is fair to say that this short novel is still long enough to say a great deal that is new about it's main theme: that small, insignificant choices have unforeseeable and hugely disproportional results in our lives. But despite the undeniable initial impact of the final pages, it does not really pull that off, either.

'Indignation' is an entertaining read, because Roth is a very, very talented writer with many decades of experience, and who obviously takes great pride in designing his sentences. Many of the sentences here are little works of art. And most of the book is entertaining, if conventional, right to the end (even with the 'surprise' denouement which is touching but reverberates with irony a little too loudly.)

So if you have followed Roth, be prepared for much of the same stuff as he wrote before Zuckerman took center stage - as I mentioned above, it borrows a lot from `My Life As a Man' and Portnoy. Also, it resembles the more recent `The Plot Against America.' And unlike 'Exit Ghost', much of 'Indignation' is very funny. So if you refrain from expecting anything fundamentally new, original, and wonderful, then you might enjoy it on a long commute or flight. It might someday make a good movie.

But on the other hand if you think that within in this somewhat contrived bit of literary fluff is to be found great art, then you are cheating yourself, and you should turn instead to the short novels mentioned above by Tolstoy and Mann, or to Melville's `Bartleby the Scrivener', or to Hemmingway's war stories, or to many other much greater short novels. Time is precious.

'Indignation' is the story of a studious Jewish Newark boy's early college days, his break from his over-protective father, and his fears of being drafted during the Korean War.

First of all, those who have not followed Roth closely over the years, may not know how much of this story is covering old ground. 'Indignation' includes about 50% new concept (namely some character development and the ending, which is actually alluded to 50 pages into the book but which I won't reveal here, along with the details of that ending which Roth lays bare on the last few pages.) This 50% is re-treaded onto 50% old Roth ideas; that is, very specific details about his college days and even almost verbatim quotes from his 1974's 'My Life as a Man' and from the 'Joe College' section of his 1988 semi-faux-biography 'The Facts.' There are also some quotes in 'Indignation' which go directly back to lines found in 'Portnoy's Complaint.'

These Rothian antecedents are important to keep in mind because given the fact that the setting and characterizations are essentially re-runs, and that the framing situation and new twist ending are the only new developments here in Roth's 'egg', one must decide if Roth has really done anything with the pieces from his past to justify stealing from himself. Did he expand upon what was written back in the 60's, 70's and 80's and taken from here, the way he has done so successfully over the years with his Zuckerman character, or has he just gotten lazy?

My answer: while Roth's still a good story teller, still often funny, and is a fine craftsman of prose sentences, nonetheless as a serious novelist he's really running out of creative energy.

To put it simply, 'Indignation' feels much more like an artificially extended short story than a real novel. In fact, calling it a novel is a bit of a contrivance of the publishers, who use a large font and a small number of lines per page, to stretch out to 240 pages (and charge $16 for) what would actually be more like 110 pages if it had been printed in the font size and page count of a more conventional novel's pagination. So for example, it is about half again as long as Thomas Mann's novella 'Death in Venice', and the same as Tolstoy's 'Hadji Murad.' (Would that it had more in common than length with those two works, which cover some of the same themes as 'Indignation' -- fear of death in the former case, and bravery and cowardice during war time in the latter -- with more maturity, grace, artistry and depth.)

And while perhaps it's not fair to compare Roth to Tolstoy or Mann, it is fair to say that this short novel is still long enough to say a great deal that is new about it's main theme: that small, insignificant choices have unforeseeable and hugely disproportional results in our lives. But it does not really pull that off, either.

'Indignation' is an entertaining read, because Roth is a very, very talented writer with many decades of experience, and who obviously takes great pride in designing his sentences. Many of the sentences here are little works of art. And most of the book is entertaining, if conventional, right to the end (even with the 'surprise' denouement.)

So if you have followed Roth, be prepared for much of the same stuff as he wrote before Zuckerman took center stage - as I mentioned above, it borrows a lot from `My Life As a Man' and Portnoy. Also, it resembles the more recent `The Plot Against America.' And unlike 'Exit Ghost', much of 'Indignation' is very funny. So if you refrain from expecting anything fundamentally new, original, and wonderful, then you might enjoy it on a long commute or flight. It might make a good movie.

But on the other hand if you think that within in this somewhat contrived bit of literary fluff is to be found great art, then you are cheating yourself, and you should turn instead to the short novels mentioned above by Tolstoy and Mann, or to Melville's `Bartleby the Scrivener', or to Hemmingway's war stories, or to many other much greater short novels. Time is precious.

Philip Roth's Indignation is an exploration of the conflict between social pressure to conform and individual restlessness. Roth chooses to set the novel in the early 1950s. But his reflections on the seething indignation that can gradually build when the individual feels hemmed in by standards of social propriety easily speak to our current situation. It's to Roth's credit that he also underscores the personal confusion that the restless individual can experience even as he bucks the system. Typically, Roth chooses to express this in the sexual confusion experienced by both his protagonist Marcus and Marcus' "girlfriend" Olivia.

The central theme of the novel is explicitly voiced about mid-book, when Marcus, paraphrasing from one of Bertrand Russell's essays, observes that fear leads to cruelty. In one way or another, most of the people in the novel are examples of this algorithm: Marcus' father, who falls into a perpetual paranoia; Olivia, who resorts to bottle and razor blades; Dean Caudwell, who clings to tradition; Marcus' closeted roommate, who shields himself behind a reckless bohemianism. All of them are frightened, and all of them fall into destructive behavior--as, indeed, does the entire nation when it allows its paranoid fear of communism to lead to the Korean conflict, which serves as the novel's backdrop. (Once again, all this should sound familiar today.)

But ultimately the novel isn't one of Roth's best. The overall message is fantastic, but the writing tends to be limp and at times--such as the seemingly interminable (pp. 82-111) and too didactic exchange between Marcus and Dean Caudwell--is almost unbearable. There are some good moments. Roth remains a master at voices, and two of the minor characters in this novel, Marcus' mother and college president Albin Lentz, are unforgettable. Moreover, the final short chapter is poignant, Roth at his best. But overall, the novel was hard to get through, and the main character, Marcus, never quite comes alive.

One feature I personally found fun, which says nothing about the novel's literary merit, was Roth's description of the college town in which the novel is set. I happen to live in Lewisburg, PA, the town that hosts the university that Roth attended. Veiled references to the town are scattered throughout the book, and it was a hoot finding them.

Where would we be without that amazing American treasure, Philip Roth? This is not his best novel. One can even make a case that it's one of his weakest, but even a second tier Roth book is engaging from the first sentence to the last. Although the novel is set in the 1950s and is about a 19 year old, it is written with the awareness of a 75 year old, looking back at seminal (literally) events in his life. A persistent theme of Roth has been how awkward early love and sexual relations continue to permeate our lives and consciousness years after. Such is the case with Markie Messner, son of a New Jersey Kosher Butcher who leaves the East Coast for a college education at Winesburg. Put another way, he leaves his Jewish world and enters middle America. Of course there is a shiska involved--in the person of Olivia Hutton, a gorgeous classmate with serious psychological problems. A lot of this book operates on a metaphorical or allegorical level, and the narrator offers a unique perspective on all of life's events. It doesn't have the depth of "The Human Stain," "The Dying Animal," or "Exit Ghost," Roth's most recent works. but there are shades of early Roth here--especially "Portnoy's Complaint" and "Goodbye Columbus." There's lots of good writing here as usual with Roth, but his account of Markie Messner's first sexual experience and his description of it to his college roommate on pages 53 to 62 is alone worth the price of the book and captures exactly how sex was experienced by a lot of 19 year olds in 1951. It's hilarious.

I was amazed at two things about this book. One that Roth has once again created a jewel of a short book with so many themes tightly woven so intricately into this little package. From a coming of age story through the perils of illness and the apparent finality of our ultimate demise, Roth has created a thing of beauty and something to ponder and reflect upon. Hurrah, that we have this brilliant and masterful writer among us. Reading Roth is like sipping the finest wine, savoring the most delectable dessert. Every sentence is filled with marvelous phrasing and trademark sentence construction that makes life wondrous. And this has been happening for me with Roth since Goodbye Columbus and on through the Human Stain and Sabbath's Theater and the Kepesh and Zuckerman novels through to the last three novellas. The other amazing thing is that reviewers like the Atlantic can say negative things about a novel so wondrous as this.

I started this book late on a Sunday afternoon after checking the Kindle store, and finished it after dinner that evening. As other reviewers have noted, this book is rather short and can be read in 3-4 hours easily.

While I would not describe the story as a page turner, I found it compelling and was determined to finish the book the same day.

This is a coming of age story at the time of the Korean War, but with some unusual twists that I don't want to give away. There is no serious in depth development of characters--the book is way too short for that--but there are character sketches and vignettes of the period that provide sufficient background and believability.

The main character is an eighteen year old boy who has learned from his working class father that "you do what you have to do", but then breaks away when his father becomes overly protective and leaves the local college in Newark, NJ for a small college in Ohio that he chose based on the color picture gracing its brochure. Once at the college, he professes that all he wants to do is keep getting the straight A's that he has always gotten in school, become a lawyer, and do well in ROTC so that when he graduates he will go into the Army as an officer. He hopes to be assigned to Intelligence far from the front lines where the casualties are gruesome and numerous.

Without giving away the twists, once at school he deviates from the straight and narrow path that he has always followed, and ultimately decides not to follow his father's central lesson that "you do what you have to do." The consequences are devastating.

This book is a nice "snapshot" of a period in American history as well as a disturbing look at how the innocent follies of youth can have disproportionate consequences. I enjoyed reading this book, and came away with my own sense of "indignation" at what occurred.

This is not Roth's best work, but it is definitely worth reading. It provides entertainment and some serious food for thought .

Philip Roth is one of the strongest contemporary writers of fiction and has released his latest novel, "Indignation." It is a confused, weak, and bleating work that is unfortunately consistent with his last few efforts rather than with the excellence of his earlier work. While much of his work deals explicitly or implicitly with political themes, he loses his creative power when it appears that he is personally struggling with some political point rather than trying to write a novel. For example, "The Plot Against America," was initially a wildly praised and awarded book, but now receives middling comment from following reviewers after the "obvious" connection to the war on terror metaphor seems to have faded away. Read simply as a novel, "The Plot" is rather weak.

And so is "Indignation." The book has no irony, perspective, or distance but rather is just what the title implies, an emotional, value-laden reaction. It is closer to what one might read in a New York Times column where the author seeks to expresss her political outrage in a more artistic form. Thus instead of writing another piece with historical reference and statistical counting, the angry columnist produces a piece of fiction to express the emotion.

Interestingly, Mr. Roth introduces a life-after-death concept I don't believe I've encountered before: When you die, only your memory remains so that eternity is spent in contemplation of your past. Roth thus subsititutes one supernatural concept - memory - for another supernatural concept - God - and offers this bauble for atheists consideration and perhaps consolation. However, he does not employ this interesting idea to useful effect in the novel. It might bear further elaboration in yet another book.

Nominally, the plot of "Indignation" follows the brief life of a Jewish atheist teenager growing up in Newark, New Jersey during the Korean War. Marcus Messner is turning from boy to man with a protective father facing his own mortality concerns and the loss of his beloved son. Marcus does not want to continue the family business of kosher butchering and has set his sights on the law. Marcus also worries about girls, getting drafted, and his family. In other words, Marcus is normal and living a normal life, but is filled with indignation at the traps and bonds of normal life as if all around him are barriers to his fulfillment.

Mr. Roth often places his novels firmly within the bounds and bonds of normal life, but usually manages to provide an ironic, energetic, and often crazed perspective and pace. (See "Zuckerman Bound" for a great illustration.) Here, Mr. Roth is the one who seems trapped in normal life unable to respond with anything remotely approaching wit, imagination, zest, humor, insight, or wisdom. Just indignation. That's not art. It's bad politics.

With "Indignation" and unlike most of the work Mr. Roth has produced to earn his great reputation, what you see is what you get. Nothing more than what is plainly on the page.

This is a disappointment. But, it seems to be the way Mr. Roth is writing the past few years (with the exception of "Exit Ghost," perhaps).

If you've not read Mr. Roth before "Indignation," please consider also "Goodbye, Columbus," "Portnoy's Complaint," the Zuckerman collection in "Zuckerman Bound," "The Dying Animal," or "American Pastoral" among others. Mr. Roth is a great writer.

Philip Roth's "Indignation" is set in the early fifties and is told in flashback by Marcus Messner, a nineteen-year old straight arrow from Newark, New Jersey. Marcus, an only child, enjoys a special status as the only one in his family to excel academically and strive to attain a college education. Like the protagonist in "Everyman," some of Marcus's fondest memories are of the hours that he worked at his father's side in their store. This experience helped Marcus develop into a conscientious, responsible, and diligent young man.

Unfortunately, Marcus's relationship with his father deteriorates beyond repair when Mr. Messner develops a strange paranoia, characterized by unfounded suspicions that his son is spending time in pool halls and putting himself in harm's way. As Marcus becomes independent, his father clings to him even more and becomes "crazed with worry." Even after he enters college, Marcus is subject to surveillance, and finally in disgust, this obedient and conventional Jewish student applies and is accepted to a mostly gentile college in central Ohio.

"Indignation" is the story of Marcus's belated rebellion against organized religion, rigid authority figures, the social and sexual mores of his times, and the prejudice that he endures as one of the few Jews on campus. Marcus gradually grows bitter and quarrels with his obnoxious roommates, gets involved with an emotionally unstable but lovely young woman, and aggressively defies the dean of students. For all of this self-destructive behavior, Marcus pays a very steep price.

Roth, as usual, crafts each sentence with meticulous care and evokes sympathy even for those characters who prove to be their own worst enemies. As is his wont, Roth includes some scatological passages and quite a few scenes of black humor. Overall, this is an often poignant look at a time when young people were starting to awaken from a deep slumber that would eventually culminate in the sexual experimentation, political dissent, and social upheaval of the sixties. In addition, the author decries the high price that our country paid when we became embroiled in the Korean War--a conflict that would eventually claim over thirty-three thousand American lives. Roth demonstrates, as he has so often, that bad things happen to good people.

Without going into the story--it is just a great book---being Roth's age and going to school just about the same time as the protagonist in this novel, I identify very much with his experience---with his desires and fears--I can see and feel the characters as being very real--

It is a very interesting short book, and as one of the reviewers mentioned---I do wish there was more. I hated
it to end.

It was just a joy to read

It's 1951, the Korean War rages thousands of miles away and Marcus Messner, son of a Newark Kosher butcher contemplates college. An A student, a perfect son, he starts at the local college, but soon his father begins acting strangely, watching over Marcus' every action, worrying for his son's safety.

To escape this overbearing, protective parental behavior Marcus escapes and transfers to Winesburg College in Ohio. It's a small liberal arts school, originally religiously founded and now tradition bound. Here Marcus finds anti-Semitism, hypocrisy, narrow mindedness from the lowest freshman to the esteemed Dean of Men. Then Marcus meet 'shiksa' goddess, Olivia Hutton, a vulnerable, unstable young woman.

So far we are in typical Rothian territory with his usual themes- the Jew as outsider, the obsession with death. Why I ask myself is Roth, forty plus years after Portnoy's Complaint still struggling with these themes? I find myself feeling cheated by Roth, yet still I read on and soon discover Roth has taken me in a mere 225 pages on a very dark journey.

Marcus' friendship with Olivia sets off a seemingly superficial chain of events which will have dire consequences for Marcus. I will say no more because shocking events will unfold which should not be mentioned in this review. To do so would ruin the brilliance of this novel for others. Suffice it to say the seemingly usual Rothian territory will explode in your face. I found this book profoundly disturbing.

In this short, tragic, and insightful novel, Marcus Messner, the "perfect" son of a Newark kosher butcher, steps into the adult world at age nineteen, finding it puzzling, stimulating, hostile, and even overwhelming. Set during the height of the Korean War, in 1951, Marcus has been forced to transfer to a small Christian college in Winesburg, Ohio, because his father has smothered him with obsessive concerns for his safety.

To say that Marcus finds life on the Winesburg campus jarring is an understatement. The idyllic nature of campus life pictured in the brochure is quickly shattered, when a roommate drives Marcus to smash a Beethoven record that he has been playing loudly at all hours. After changing dormitory rooms, Marcus, a virgin, musters up the courage to ask out a quiet fellow student, only to be completely flummoxed by her sexual prowess. A meeting with the dean of students, regarding Marcus' frequent room changes, degrades into Marcus lecturing the dean on the merits of Russell's "Why I am not a Christian," as an argument to avoid mandatory chapel attendance. Marcus' pursuit of his studies, of his perfect life, all of a sudden takes a back seat to all of the difficulties that have entered his life.

The author captures so well the psychology of perfectionism, the drive to be always right, and the toll that it takes when it is discovered that being perfect is scarcely acknowledged, that being superior is a fragile psychological position, that intellectual rigor does not drive the world, and that it is hard to place women into a "perfect" slot, to say the least. And in this case, the rude awakening exerts its forces quickly and dramatically.

Perhaps the reader could hope for more, especially concerning Marcus' almost girlfriend. Yet, the author does succinctly and efficiently portray the complexities that await those who are or have been convinced that life will proceed without encumbrances. Interestingly, Marcus would have done well to fully appreciate his mother's newfound resolve to stick with his father despite his deteriorating behavior. Maybe a lesson delivered much too late.

Parts are profound, but the charm is the detailed descriptions of killing
kosher. The portraits of his mother, the Dean and his college peers are
clear and well worded nigh unto tasty morsels for the Roth munchers. I keep
skipping ahead for samples of what is to come; Roth has that effect. Then
I settle in and savor his sentences, his stories, his character drawings.
Brave of Roth to try this new approach. More, more!

Having read The Ghost Writer, and being introduced to Nathan Zuckerman, possibly one of the most interesting characters in modern fiction, and American Pastoral, I know what a powerful Roth book can do. He messes with your senses, and changes the way that you look at literature, history, and sexuality. With most of his books, this is the case. At his worst they are still written with Roth's traditional narrative style, and interesting things to ponder. This is what Roth's new book, Indignation, would have to be thought of as.
When I picked up Indignation, I was excited with its bright dust jacket, and title being arranged in an indignate manner of it own. As i began to read though, I found myself not being able to put it down. It is compulsively readable, even more so when you learn of the shocker around page 50. I read it in one sitting, but as I looked back on the book, I felt underwhelmed. The narrator, Marcus Messner, wants to get from his overbearing father, so he goes to Winesburg College where a series of choices will lead to his imminent downfall. It is hard to talk about the book without reavealing to much. As I look back now, Messner leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and I do not care for the character much at all, especially compared to other Roth characters that have changed my life in ways.
In retrospect, I do not feel that Indignation will be remembered as one of Roth's best books, nor should it, but it is readable, and will keep you interested, and sometimes that is just enough to get us by.

This is a book that at times has a lot of power, but also at times can leave one feeling not very satisfied. Roth is capable of brilliant writing, but can also be inconsistent. There's a dichotomy, perhaps an inherent dichotomy, to his work. The story centers on Marcus Messner, a kosher butcher's son from Newark. For reasons that never were quite as clear as they should have been, he goes off to Winesburg College in Ohio in the early 1950's. He wants to get away from an overprotective father who is worried that Marcus will be drafted and killed in Korea. But why Winesburg? Marcus is put in a dorm room with other Jewish students--he had thought (erroneously) that perhaps roommates were assigned randomly, and as he says, "part of the adventure of going to college in far-off Ohio was the chance it offered to live among non-Jews and see what it was like."

Winesburg in the early 1950's is not a hotbed of diversity, and for the students, attendance at chapel is mandatory. Marcus wants to fit in in some ways, but in other ways has no interest in fitting in at all. He rejects fraternity life (there's one Jewish fraternity, and unusually for that time, a nondiscriminatory fraternity, open to all: the other fraternities are not open to Jews), and Marcus also will not participate in the mandatory chapel. He's not happy with his first set of roommates, rooms for a while with a Protestant, then lives by himself. The overall problem seems to be that Marcus isn't really sure what he wants for himself. He's very bright, but his relationships with others, including a troubled young woman, are unsettled. It's not a happy story.

I think I prefer Roth when he's in a more ebullient frame of mind. My favorite novel by him is The Great American Novel, which I reread with pleasure every couple of years. Roth in a somber mood can also be compelling. When I was in school about 5 years after this novel takes place, we, like Winesburg College, had mandatory chapel. I had a classmate, Peter ("Bonzo") Wallace, who a couple of years later died in a hiking accident in Greece. Pete was Jewish, and would attend chapel, but unlike the rest of us, would never bow his head in prayer. We'd have our heads bowed in prayer whether we were religious or not, and we'd cast envious glances at Pete, who would sit up straight, eyes to the front (we'd also sometimes be able to see the headmaster napping). Pete was not a compromiser in this regard, but other than sitting up in chapel, there was never any suggestion of any difference--he fit in, but was not compromising any principles to do so. At Winesburg, Marcus appears as an outsider, never really fitting in anywhere, and unlike Pete. I'm also reminded in ways of Jerzy Kosinski's superb novel The Painted Bird, about a boy/young man who was always an outsider. So Indignation has power, but it's also unsettling.

Philip Roth has raised a high bar for himself in terms of artistic achievement. Just in the last 25 years alone he has written some masterpieces of modern American fiction. The Counter Life, Sabbath's Theater, American Pastoral, I Married a Communist, The Human Stain, all belong in the pantheon of great American novels. Unfortunately, his last three novels have fallen well below the high level of artistic accomplishment which most Roth readers expect. Everyman, Exit Ghost, and now Indignation are slim books, both in size, execution, and end product. In overall emotional quality and tone, Indigation is the best of the three. There is a certain draw Roth is able to create, making the novel seem necessary and important. Yet all three seem rushed, compressed: the mere footnotes of a novel. The major problem is of depth and girth. Roth is churning these out every year, and the margins are purposefully oversized (perhaps to make the reader feel he or she is getting their $15 worth) and consequently in that small space the prose power is diminished. Roth is confining himself, and the outcome is flat. For his loyal readers, Roth brings a great deal of expectation to his works. Unfortunately and sadly, Indignation meets them only about half way -- and for a writer as good as Roth, this isn't enough.

As a student at a small Presbyterian liberal arts college in the '50s, I could definitely relate to this wonderful little book. It is an easy read you can finish in a few hours. The characters came to life for me, the settings were realistic, the actions believable. Now in my late 60s, I loved Roth's ruminations and fulminations--which are so similar to my own. Perhaps I am blessed to have this be the first Roth book I have ever read, but I simply do not believe or agree with those who didn't like it all that much. I will be thinking about it for some time to come. Read it, folks!

If there's an issue for me with this Roth tomb, it has to do with it's length. I wanted more ... more of Messner, more of Olivia ... more of Mom and Pop and more of that last day in the life of our protagonist. What Indignation did for me was force me to order the few Roth novels I haven't read yet ... I'm not sure what some of the reviewer issues have been (Christopher Hitchens must've been drinking when he wrote his review), but Indignation is classic Roth ... and if anything negative, maybe just not enough.

Philip Roth has raised a high bar for himself in terms of artistic achievement. Just in the last 25 years alone he has written some masterpieces of modern American fiction. The Counter Life, Sabbath's Theater, American Pastoral, I Married a Communist, The Human Stain, all belong in the pantheon of great American novels. Unfortunately, his last three novels have fallen well below the high level of artistic accomplishment which most Roth readers expect. Everyman, Exit Ghost, and now Indignation are slim books, both in size, execution, and end product. All three seem rushed, compressed: the mere footnotes of a novel. The major problem is of depth and girth. Roth is churning these out every year, and the margins are purposefully oversized (perhaps to make the reader feel he or she is getting their $15 worth) and consequently in that small space the prose power is diminished. Roth is confining himself, and the outcome is flat. For his loyal readers, Roth brings a great deal of expectation to his works. Unfortunately and sadly, Indignation doesn't meet them.

A nice little coming of age tale with moral underpinnings and excellent 1950's verisimilitude. A few laugh-out-loud lines added to my enjoyment of this novel, which was easily read in one sitting.

I normally follow the Amazon guidelines regarding not commenting on other people's reviews, but I feel I must explain to potential readers how my review on "Indignation" differs. It seems to me the other reviewers are involved in a war of words as to whether the author Philip Roth is better than he used to be... not as good as he used to be... or... simply... it's Roth... so it has to be good. I feel such reviews are a disservice to potential readers. I have no history with Mr. Roth... so I am simply reviewing this short... endearing... quirky... coming of age for a son... and crumbling of a Father... book on its own merits.

On June 25, 1950 the Korean War began, and simultaneously, Newark, New Jersey teenager, Marcus Messner entered Robert Treat College in downtown Newark. Marcus was the son of the owner of a Kosher butcher shop. Marcus's entire childhood revolved around his Father's work. He delivered meat to customers on his bike, and as he aged he was taught how to cut meat, clean chickens, and be educated in the proper "killing" techniques that satisfied Jewish laws of Kosher. The splattering, spraying, and staining of blood was as common to Marcus on a daily basis as the sun rising and setting. In addition to working at the Kosher butcher shop Marcus got straight A's in school and adapted his limited athletic ability to the needs of his team and was a member of the high school and Robert Treat College team. He openly stated: "AND I LOVED MY FATHER, AND HE ME, MORE THAN EVER BEFORE IN OUR LIVES."

With the advent of the Korean War, Marcus's Father was overcome by a complete change of personality. All of a sudden Mr. Messner had to know where Marcus was every second of the day. A sentence... a thought... or a conversation... could not pass between the two without the Father warning him about death or dying. Perhaps one of the reasons was that two of his cousins were killed during World War II. It got so bad that when Marcus went out at night his Father would double lock every door in the house and not let him in. This led to Marcus transferring from Robert Treat College to Winesburg, "a small liberal arts and engineering college in the farm country of north central Ohio." Marcus had to either leave town or "kill" his Father. At Winesburg, Marcus's eyes and heart were engulfed with love immediately, upon seeing a girl above and beyond his wildest dreams... Olivia Hutton. Marcus's hopes and fears revolved around winning Olivia's love... not getting kicked out of school... which would lead to being sent to Korea... where he would assuredly be killed... and staying as far away as possible... from his increasingly demented Father.

Marcus takes Olivia out on their first date... and what a first date it becomes. Despite being in college, Marcus was still a virgin. His most lofty goal on the first date... would be a kiss. After dinner he pulls over on the side of the road and decides to roll the dice and leans in for a kiss. This kiss quickly becomes oral sex, and Marcus who dared to dream of getting to "first-base"... surprised himself by getting to "third-base" standing up. Initially Marcus is thrilled with his unexpected "extra-base-hit", but then wonders what type of girl Olivia really was... and how had she gotten so experienced. He quickly learns that Olivia has many cracks beneath her shining veneer. Marcus summarizes: "DEFENDING HER HONOR, I HAD BEEN PUNCHED IN THE FACE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, AND SHE DIDN'T KNOW IT. I WAS MOVING INTO NEIL HALL BECAUSE OF HER, AND SHE DIDN'T KNOW THAT EITHER. I WAS IN LOVE WITH HER, AND SHE DIDN'T KNOW THAT - I HAD ONLY JUST FOUND OUT MYSELF. (ANOTHER THEME: ONLY JUST FINDING THINGS OUT.) I HAD FALLEN IN LOVE WITH AN EX-TEENAGE DRUNK AND INMATE OF A PSYCHIATRIC SANITARIUM WHO'D FAILED A SUICIDE WITH A RAZOR BLADE, A DAUGHTER OF DIVORCED PARENTS, AND A "GENTILE" TO BOOT."

Marcus has trouble fitting in at Winesburg and went through roommates like Sherman went through Atlanta. He shuns fraternities, and gets into a heated exchange with the Dean. After he throws up in the Dean's office as an onset of an appendicitis attack... he winds up in the hospital where all his "worlds" and fears collide. His Mother... the specter of his Father... Olivia... fear of being expelled... fear of being sent to Korea... fear of death.

This is a well written "off-beat" short story. It is not only just two-hundred-thirty-three pages long, but the book is the size of a small journal ledger.

In my view, Philip Roth, despite his marked skill crafting gorgeous sentences, has suffered as a novelist in recent years owing to the absence of any vision of real depth illuminating his narratives. Increasingly, he's drawn portraits of kvetching, aged men protesting their loss of potency and inevitable mortality. If his drawings of such are meant to be satirical, there's nothing within his novels to so orient well-disposed readers. The repetitive and limited outlook of his series of tiresome, aged central characters was inadvertently captured, for my money, in an insightful New Yorker cartoon several years back which showed a gravestone featuring the inscription, "Why me?"

In his newest work, "Indignation," Roth turns instead to the trials facing a young college student of the mid-Twentieth century, just a decade before the liberation of impulse attendent upon the end of "tyrannical" strictures and parietal rules regulating student conduct. The theme of the novel, if I read it rightly, centers on the "terrible, the incomprehensible way one's most banal, incidental, even comical choices achieve the most disproportionate result." Unfortunately, this insight, coming from the authorial voice, is awfully stale, having been more suitably expressed as long ago as the days of the undergraduate Hamlet in that fevered adolescent's observation that our choices are ours, but their consequences not necessarily of our own devising. But let the charge of banality pass, and following the advice of Henry James, let's give Roth his donee and see what he does with it. What he does with it, I'm afraid, is not very much. His central character, Marcus Messner, it is true, with a winning, precocious intellectuality combined with a mere hunger for playing school (getting all A's) emerges as a memorably feisty undergrad, but Roth puts this character repeatedly into confrontation with opponents who have no case to make against him. Flusser, Elwyn, especially Dean Caudwell are embarrassingly one-dimensional strawmen for Marcus to oppose and then be thwarted by. Seeing this kid unfairly crushed and then crushed again becomes ultimately tiresome, if not unintentionally comic. Reading Marcus' story is finally like reading an inverted fairy tale, which might be titled "Giant, the Jack Killer." Roth has done - and can do - far better work than this simplistic, anti-nostalgic look at the bad old days.

In his latest short novel, set in 1951, Philip Roth explores the college experience of the young son of a kosher butcher from Newark, New Jersey. Marcus Messner has rebelled against his father's restrictions and has escaped to college in Winesburg, Ohio, where no one knows him and he can live according to his own values--though he still intends to blend in with the others at Winesburg. Marcus has participated in all facets of his family's business from the age of six, when he accompanied his father to observe the ritual slaughter of chickens. All through elementary and high school, he worked for his father, even cleaning out the garbage cans in front of the shop, where his schoolmates, including girls, could observe him. After two of Marcus's cousins are killed in the Korean War, Marcus's father becomes particularly protective, restricting Marcus's actions to the point that Marcus feels he must escape.

Some of the novel cannot be discussed without revealing a major spoiler (which I won't do) regarding Marcus's future, but as the novel progresses, the reader observes Marcus dealing with his sexuality within the restrictions of the times, pursuing a disturbed young woman who has absolutely bewitched him with her sexual prowess, challenging the fraternity system and his roommates, and eventually showing his "indignation" at the Dean's requirement that he attend weekly chapel. Throughout, Marcus remains a conscientious butcher's son from New Jersey who wants his own life and is willing to fight for it, even when his mother suddenly injects herself into his college life.

Roth's insights into Marcus and his depiction of Marcus's turmoil may, perhaps, reflect some of Roth's own youthful issues during the Korean War, when not attending college or leaving college meant instant recruitment into the military and shipment off to war. Marcus's feelings are carefully delineated, and his actions follow naturally from his personality and experience.

Unfortunately, the important spoiler I didn't mention turns the novel into a tour de force for the remainder of the novel. The reader is at least as concerned with how the spoiler came about as with Marcus's own integrity. What might have been a detailed and thorough analysis of a character in his time and place takes on an element of literary trickery, somewhat limiting the reader's appreciation of Roth's efforts. The novel is a terrific read, illustrating how one's "banal choices" can have monumental, disastrous results, but it is rather slight (and short) in comparison to many of Roth's earlier novels, which develop similar themes far more fully. n Mary Whipple

The Ghost Writer
American Pastoral
The Plot Against America
Portnoy's Complaint
The Human Stain: A Novel
Goodbye, Columbus : And Five Short Stories (Vintage International)