Exit Ghost
by Philip Roth
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Book Reviews of Exit Ghost
Book Review: Past and present hold mirrors up to each other
Summary: 5 Stars
Roth's ninth book to feature Nathan Zuckerman as a character does two things at once: it brings author and creation full circle to the events of THE GHOST WRITER, the novel that profiles a defining weekend in the 23-year-old writer's up and coming career and adulthood, and it pursues them on the relentlessly unforgiving linear projection into older age.
The present day Nathan Zuckerman is 71 and has been living reclusively in a rural cottage in the Berkshires for several years. The need for the solitude was not just the artistic concern for a workplace free of distraction; it was a safe harbor from an anonymous stalker and the social difficulties of being left incontinent from prostrate surgery. When the urologist offers a possible solution to the latter, Zuckerman returns to Manhattan and in a rash burst of hope, agrees to trade the cottage for the upscale apartment of a young writing couple who have reasons of their own for escaping the city. And suddenly, post 9-11 New York closes in upon him with its cell phones and predatory youth at the same time it reintroduces him to the 1956 muses of THE GHOST WRITER, Amy Bellette and the long deceased Manny Lonoff.
EXIT GHOST gives Roth the opportunity to take Zuckerman out on one last detail, working through some of the major themes the two of them have shared across their mutual career, notably about the problem of "fictional journalism" and biography by strangers totally misunderstanding the role of imagination. There are endless ways to live, lots of ways to be a ghost, many ways to destroy and be destroyed, and there are very specific ways to lose control of one's own cells. Roth takes them through 5 acts very neatly, all in his own way.
Book Review: EXIT
Summary: 3 Stars
The negative effects of prostate cancer settle prominently in Nathan Zuckerman's 71 year old mind and body. Now, as a sexually ineffective man yearning to rekindle his ability to love, Zuckerman's lust for a woman 40 years younger is propped up and sustained only by an imaginary affair concocted with pen and paper. After all, Zuckerman is yet a reputable writer and author. What happens in the end, one can imagine but only after reading to the end.
Only a writer of Philip Roth's caliber can take a simple plot and create a profound narrative of structured, meaningful words and phrases. However, Roth gets caught up in political diatribe which detracts from the story and adds nothing except to describe an attitude of extreme liberalism. His characters of the 30 something generation, and Zuckerman himself, express not merely opinions such as "Bush lies" and "irresponsible National Rifle Association," but also pure denigration and hate against the Bush administration and his followers, some of which include - "evil people," "motivated by insatiable greed," "worse than the terrorists." "It's not Al Qaeda that scares me, it's my own government." "Religion! Why don't they put their trust in crystal gazing as a means of apprehending the truth?" Even the Texas drawl has been screwed up by G.W. Bush! (He can't talk right and can't even get the accent right.)
No, I am not a Republican - merely an observer. If this were a strictly political novel, such opinions should be expected, but over 20pp (of 304pp) covering those topics leaves me questioning...Roth's novel could have been another "winner" sans unnecessary political and social diatribe.
Book Review: RANT AGAINST DEATH AND THE DEATH OF LITERATURE
Summary: 5 Stars
71-year-old Nathan Zuckerman, an established writer and thoughtful loner, hates cell phones and the narcissism of contemporary life, viewing himself as an "escapee from the coarse-grained world" of the Bush Administration and New York City after September 11, 2001 as well as of prostate problems and incontinence.
In a blink of an eye, Zuckerman finds himself attracted to Amy, a wealthy, married, 30-year-old woman while also trying to avoid Richard Kliman (Amy's former lover from college), a wanna-be biographer who threatens to destroy the reputation of Zuckerman's oldest and closest friend, a writer, now dead and forgotten, by the name of Lonoff, because of an incident of incest when the deceased writer was a teenager.
In his struggles with his nemesis, Philip Roth allows us to read about one writer's well-thought-out views on literary tabloidism (which is Kliman's whole career project: personal scandal as a means of discussing literature or writers) and why great authors today necessarily are "ghosts" exiting a vanishing literary scene. This deep theme is starkly contrasted to the pathetic but humorously absurd theme of being an imperfect human being who, at 71, still has the heterosexual desires of the typical teenager.
I can't imagine anyone under 50 really appreciating the perspective of this contemplative, self-aware, articulate septuagenarian (without finding it bleak or boring). For myself, as I approach 60, I admire any thoughtful writer willing to discuss the battle with deterioration and death without platitudes. Few there be! The "ghost exit" theme was perfect literary enjoyment.
Book Review: Zuckerman's Last Gasp
Summary: 5 Stars
For anyone interested in the ultimate fate of Nathan Zuckerman, a long term character in Philip Roth's corpus, then Exit Ghost is required reading. But be warned this is not the Zuckerman of the classic frame narrator that we find in American Pastoral, I Married a Communist, and The Human Stain. Here Zuckerman is front and center. In Exit Ghost we get more shades of the old, narcissistic Zuckerman, the self-involved soul at odds with a world which misconstrues all his actions and words, but here with a deeper shade of melancholy. Really, this isn't a novel at all, but a very stern rumination on writing, death, eros and the futility of youth's hope. This has become the late Roth: he is almost puritanical in his demands for writing, for readers, for writers. He bangs away from his pulpit, and the reader can be cowed by Roth's extraordinary moral weight. All of the characters become a kind of mouthpiece for his authorial demands, for his artistic agenda, for his narrow yet penetrating vision of what writing must be. This is no more apparent than in the He/She play interspersed throughout Exit Ghost. In the hands of a less accomplished writer, this ploy could be no more than a gimmick. But Roth bends it into his aesthetic demands, and Zuckerman and Jamie sound like interlocutors in a Platonic dialogue. The trick works. It seems Roth will unroll these themes in the twilight of his writing career with ever increasing devotion.Book Review: Our Ghosts
Summary: 4 Stars
The genius of Philip Roth is evident in "Exit Ghost". Though I am not as much a fan of the Zuckerman books as other books in his catalog, this book has its bright spots. It is most impressive how Roth chooses to tie the story together in the conclusion.
The book begins with a powerfully political tone that surrounds the 2004 presidential election. Roth's personal feelings are thinly veiled. As this aspect of the plot fades, readers may wonder where Roth is taking them. Stalkers, relocating, and reunions with old acquaintances advance the story. With dialogue scattered throughout the pages as written by our heroine Nathan Zuckerman, the lines of reality blur. Yet Roth is clever enough to make sense of it at the end.
Exploring issues of sexuality in old age and the politics of the 21st Century, Zuckerman finds himself a new enemy. Richard Kliman seeks to assasinate the character of Zuckerman's mentor and hero E.I. Lonoff by revealing a secret in a scandalous book. The once fiesty Zuckerman must call upon his person reserves to avoid the shame which he fears may one day be his own.
Even for a short book, the plot moves along ploddingly at time. While the sexuality in this book was necessary, there were certain images I could have done without picturing. Even with the flaws, this is a welcome addition to the Roth catalog.