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The hero of Everyman is obsessed with mortality. As he reminds himself at one point, "I'm thirty-four! Worry about oblivion when you're seventy-five." But he cannot help himself. He is the ex-husband in three marriages gone wrong. He is the father of two sons who detest him, despite a daughter who adores him. And as his health worsens, he is the envious brother of a much fitter man.
User reviews
LibraryThing member JimElkins
So tired of Roth, like I am tired of Woody Allen, tired of Saul Bellow. So tired of the New York Jewish scene, which was also my father's, and my grandfather's. When I read Roth, or watch Woody Allen, it feels like I am being loaded, again, with heavy, stained suitcases, and asked, again, to walk
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back, years into the past, into the sad, perfumed, self-regarding, romantic, culturally stifled world that I managed so many years ago to escape. Show Less
LibraryThing member jeniwren
Picked this one up off my shelf after the First Tuesday bookclub recently discussed 'Portnoys Complaint'. This is Roth's most recent novel and even though it is fine writing it is possibly one of the most depressing I have read. The story begins with the unnamed main character's funeral and then
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goes back over his life as a young Jewish boy who helps out at his fathers jewellery business , his marriages, affairs and relationships with ex wives, children and family. There is particular focus on his various illnesses and numerous surgeries which he explores in regard to aging, death and mortality. Roth is getting on in years and there is no doubt he is thinking deeply about his declining years and end of life. Show Less
LibraryThing member hereandthere
I re-read this book last week and enjoyed its dark meditations on maleness once again. "The life and death of a male body" is a phrase that comes up at least once, and rightly so. It reminds me of my father, and of his generation of successful east coast children of immigrant Jews. And, it is
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marvelous for its brevity and the way in which it captures the totality of a flawed human life, as reflected upon by the one who lived it. "Old age is not a battle; old age is a massacre" Roth wants us to know, and after you read this you will have been well warned. Show Less
LibraryThing member cshoughton
Based on a number of nearly unanimous reviews, I began this book with a few expectations.
I expected the protagonist to be a self-obsessed emotional vampire; Roth's characters are often needy and broken, cyclically building up their lives, tearing them down, and wounding anyone foolish enough to
But I also expected to have my heart broken. Most reviewers mention that this is a truly depressing book. It does indeed catalog the horrors of aging. You will not be spared any of the details. Illness and time do conspire to mentally and physically break down the protagonist, his friends, and his lovers. However, I didn't feel any of the loss I felt when reading Roth's The Dying Animal.
Here's what I think went wrong. Roth shovels the Everyman's life to you in great big heaps of unbalanced dirt. You learn everything there is to know about his transgressions and his pettiness. You follow every surgery he's had the pleasure to endure from childhood to the grave. But for some reason, you're spared all the best moments of his life. All the joy comes to you through the filter of a bitter old self-loathing man.
I'm going to do Roth the kindness of assuming Everyman was intentionally written to be so one-sided. Still, I don't feel at all depressed -- I'm indifferent. I never cared for the guy and the specifics of his life really do not apply to my own or the lives of those I love. The novel sounds one melancholy note and it's flat.
I expected the protagonist to be a self-obsessed emotional vampire; Roth's characters are often needy and broken, cyclically building up their lives, tearing them down, and wounding anyone foolish enough to
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mistake their emotional pawing for genuine love. The author met that expectation with room to spare.But I also expected to have my heart broken. Most reviewers mention that this is a truly depressing book. It does indeed catalog the horrors of aging. You will not be spared any of the details. Illness and time do conspire to mentally and physically break down the protagonist, his friends, and his lovers. However, I didn't feel any of the loss I felt when reading Roth's The Dying Animal.
Here's what I think went wrong. Roth shovels the Everyman's life to you in great big heaps of unbalanced dirt. You learn everything there is to know about his transgressions and his pettiness. You follow every surgery he's had the pleasure to endure from childhood to the grave. But for some reason, you're spared all the best moments of his life. All the joy comes to you through the filter of a bitter old self-loathing man.
I'm going to do Roth the kindness of assuming Everyman was intentionally written to be so one-sided. Still, I don't feel at all depressed -- I'm indifferent. I never cared for the guy and the specifics of his life really do not apply to my own or the lives of those I love. The novel sounds one melancholy note and it's flat.
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LibraryThing member msbaba
Everyman by Phillip Roth is a 21st-century secular morality tale. It deals with one fairly average and unexceptional man’s journey toward death. It begins and ends with the unnamed protagonist’s funeral. In between, through sentimental recollections, bitter regrets, and flailing against the
Everyman begins life as a sickly young boy, obsessed with health and death. Much of the book is taken up with details of his medical history. Many of his recollections concern illnesses and deaths among his colleagues and friends. We soon find out that Roth’s Everyman is a very self-centered man with an apparent, in-born, less-than-average capacity for empathy. He is completely estranged from his two sons, who are unable to forgive him for divorcing their mother, his first wife. But his daughter still adores him. Adultery and lack of control over his sexual appetite for young women are central to the current of his life. He marries three times; learns the jewelry trade from his father; does a stint in the Navy; goes into advertising; and finally becomes a successful New York advertising executive. But overall, his tale is full of betrayal, lies, regrets, hopelessness, loss, and suffering. At the age of about 70—after 20 years of multiple major operations—he ends up in an affluent retirement community. It is located near the same seaside resort where he spent summers as a young boy. At first he looks forward to it—something like a prolonged vacation. But he quickly finds himself surrounded by the ill and dying, alone, bored, angry at the degeneration of his body, and ultimately disappointed in everything.
In an interview, Roth admits that he purposefully gave the book the same title as the 16th-century morality play, and that he avidly reread and studied that medieval text during the writing of this book. In Roth’s secular, 21st-century reinterpretation, his message is clear: in the balance of life, we are who we are; we have done what we have done; we can regret our bad deeds, but we should not apologize for them—to do so would be to deny the reality of our human condition; in the end, all that is important is family and friends—after death, there is nothingness.
In the medieval text, the all-consuming importance of a true confession and the sacrament of forgiveness occur midway and are pivotal to the message. Perhaps to strengthen his secular moral reinterpretation, Roth places Everyman’s strongest moral defenses—this one concerning his two sons’ abandonment of him—at the center of this modern text. Here Roth writes: “He had done what he did the way that he did it, as they did what they did the way they did it. Was their steadfast posture of unforgivingness any more forgivable, or any less harmful in its effect?” (p. 94)
In Roth’s worldview, we are who we are; we do what we must; we can regret, but it is not necessary to ask forgiveness. The human condition contains both good and bad; we just have to accept ourselves as we are, and others as they are, and go about the business of living the best we can.
I read this book because I drive a 300-mile roundtrip every week to an affluent retirement community like the one described in this book to visit my aging parents (96 and 89). Although my own parents are still fully independent and happily together (after 73 years of marriage), I have met many other residents who often make me wonder what their experience in that place must be.
This was my first Roth. I was in awe over the power of his writing, and I will definitely read more. I recommend this book highly.
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unfairness of life, we bear witness to this man’s life. Overall, Everyman’s existence is not a pretty picture. But Roth’s telling is so magnificent, so utterly gorgeous and brilliant, that the reader is in awe throughout. The book is sparse. Every word counts. The reading is surprisingly fast and satisfying despite the gravity of the subject matter. Everyman begins life as a sickly young boy, obsessed with health and death. Much of the book is taken up with details of his medical history. Many of his recollections concern illnesses and deaths among his colleagues and friends. We soon find out that Roth’s Everyman is a very self-centered man with an apparent, in-born, less-than-average capacity for empathy. He is completely estranged from his two sons, who are unable to forgive him for divorcing their mother, his first wife. But his daughter still adores him. Adultery and lack of control over his sexual appetite for young women are central to the current of his life. He marries three times; learns the jewelry trade from his father; does a stint in the Navy; goes into advertising; and finally becomes a successful New York advertising executive. But overall, his tale is full of betrayal, lies, regrets, hopelessness, loss, and suffering. At the age of about 70—after 20 years of multiple major operations—he ends up in an affluent retirement community. It is located near the same seaside resort where he spent summers as a young boy. At first he looks forward to it—something like a prolonged vacation. But he quickly finds himself surrounded by the ill and dying, alone, bored, angry at the degeneration of his body, and ultimately disappointed in everything.
In an interview, Roth admits that he purposefully gave the book the same title as the 16th-century morality play, and that he avidly reread and studied that medieval text during the writing of this book. In Roth’s secular, 21st-century reinterpretation, his message is clear: in the balance of life, we are who we are; we have done what we have done; we can regret our bad deeds, but we should not apologize for them—to do so would be to deny the reality of our human condition; in the end, all that is important is family and friends—after death, there is nothingness.
In the medieval text, the all-consuming importance of a true confession and the sacrament of forgiveness occur midway and are pivotal to the message. Perhaps to strengthen his secular moral reinterpretation, Roth places Everyman’s strongest moral defenses—this one concerning his two sons’ abandonment of him—at the center of this modern text. Here Roth writes: “He had done what he did the way that he did it, as they did what they did the way they did it. Was their steadfast posture of unforgivingness any more forgivable, or any less harmful in its effect?” (p. 94)
In Roth’s worldview, we are who we are; we do what we must; we can regret, but it is not necessary to ask forgiveness. The human condition contains both good and bad; we just have to accept ourselves as we are, and others as they are, and go about the business of living the best we can.
I read this book because I drive a 300-mile roundtrip every week to an affluent retirement community like the one described in this book to visit my aging parents (96 and 89). Although my own parents are still fully independent and happily together (after 73 years of marriage), I have met many other residents who often make me wonder what their experience in that place must be.
This was my first Roth. I was in awe over the power of his writing, and I will definitely read more. I recommend this book highly.
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LibraryThing member piefuchs
A novella on aging which is even more asute and depressing than the average Roth. Starting from his funernal, and moving through the missteps of his life, "Everyman" (a name his father chose for a jewellry store) narrates his medical problems and accompanying loneliness with painfull honesty.
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Failed marriages, enormous sexual desire, meaningless sex, angry children, faithfully loving parents - the usual salt and pepper of Roth - its all there. Fast and worthy read. Show Less
LibraryThing member goose114
Everyman tells the story of one man’s life - his triumphs and failures of his personal relationships as well as his struggles with his health. While the main character is not painted as the “everyman” Roth shows that all lives are connected in our constant progression towards death. I was not
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particularly impressed with this book. There were definitely some great moments including the beginning and the end of the novel. However, I felt unable to sympathize with the main character. Roth always writes eloquently which made reading this novel enjoyable. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carlie
Regret and fear are really what this story breaks down to; a story of a man who has recently died and that struggled with life and regrets. Chronicling his fear of death throughout, we are able to glimpse his life and personality, but the themes of regret and fear are obvious. Many parts gave me
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pause and sorrow. What if I am making mistakes that I'll look back on in pain, sorrow, and regret? What if I turn out to be Everyman? Show Less
LibraryThing member rcorfield
This is a slim volume and a quick read. A book about mortality (that's "death" to you and me). A book about the time when the "remote future" has become the present.
Philip Roth's description of a day at the beach in the man's (he is never named) youth is perfect; a moment revisited in the last
Favourite line of the book: "Then he resumed where he'd left off, looking through the large sunny window of their boyhood years."
Not too maudlin. Get's you thinking though. Worth a read, though maybe only if your "remote future" is not particularly near ...
Philip Roth's description of a day at the beach in the man's (he is never named) youth is perfect; a moment revisited in the last
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couple of pages when he arrives at his inevitable conclusion.Favourite line of the book: "Then he resumed where he'd left off, looking through the large sunny window of their boyhood years."
Not too maudlin. Get's you thinking though. Worth a read, though maybe only if your "remote future" is not particularly near ...
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LibraryThing member NoLongerAtEase
Philip Roth is going to die and he's not happy about it. He's also not particularly fond of qualifying for an AARP membership nor of the physical degradations and loss of virility that accompany such an honor.
LibraryThing member marient
A story of loss, regret, and stoicism. one man's lifelong skirmish with mortality.The fate of Roth's everyman is traced from his first shocking confrontation with death on the idyllic beaches of his childhood summers, throught the familoy trials and professional achievements of his vigorous
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adulthood, and into his old age, when he is rended by observing the deterioration of his contemporaries and stalked by his own physical woes. Show Less
LibraryThing member bkswrites
Paints a Jew who has chosen secularism as living his life in fear of death and sacrificing life to stave off death (primarily through sexual adventurism). The (gimmickily) unnamed hero confronts specific features of his parents’ religious practice, particularly at his father’s fully orthodox
Over all, disappointing. So androcentric as to gag.
Roth on “Fresh Air” 2006 (replayed 2007 on release of paperback) says he’s also entirely secular, believes in no afterlife, but ‘glad’ that his loved ones are buried in identified plots because visiting the graves reminds him to remember them.
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burial (mourners refill the grave), but the narrator gives us no real hint of his response. As physically stronger relatives are filling the grave, for instance, he has a vision of his father’s mouth filling with dirt, but shares no thought of his mother’s body, buried adjacent some years earlier, and what its state of decay might be now. Over all, disappointing. So androcentric as to gag.
Roth on “Fresh Air” 2006 (replayed 2007 on release of paperback) says he’s also entirely secular, believes in no afterlife, but ‘glad’ that his loved ones are buried in identified plots because visiting the graves reminds him to remember them.
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LibraryThing member maggiereads
How can this book be so heavy? It lies innocently enough in my lap, weighing less than a pound, yet feels more like a cold brick or slab of marble. Philip Roth’s Everyman has me perplexed.
This little novella wishes to convey a single simple notion—we live to die. Everyman’s fate, or every
I read this book over two weeks ago. Struggling with its soberness, I then read the medieval play from whence the title Everyman derives. Can you believe reading the play just made matters worse? I was left with more questions than answers.
Here’s my problem. The play “Everyman” and the book Everyman share only two things: the title and a main character facing death. In the play, our Everyman tries to bargain with Death for more time on earth. In the book, the nameless main character, or Everyman, shuns religion and faces death alone. He doesn’t take comfort in pearly gates and angels.
I can identify with the play whereas the book leaves me anxious. The main character is really a jerk, and I worry about his soul. He faces death so utterly alone. This is silly, but I want to hold his hand. I want to give him human comfort.
Roth believes we all face death alone and his Everyman is utterly alone. At 71-years, Everyman has two ex-wives, three children, two of which do not speak to him, and a loving brother he has excommunicated because he is jealous of his health. He also displays a passion for younger women, who laugh at his advances.
The opening of the book begins with Everyman’s funeral. Here the reader meets all those associated with Everyman’s life. Yes, it is a small gathering, but not without a few weepers. Then Roth reverses the storyline and we meet Everyman before his death.
Roth tells Everyman’s story, from the first operation as a boy to his last operation as an adult. The timeline is based on his health rather than the traditional coming-of-age. This might be why I didn’t bond with the character.
After much soul searching and researching, I admit I like the book. Author Roth scrutinizes mankind’s acceptance of death and I am better for taking this journey. I’ll leave you a quote from the play, “O Death, thou comest when I had thee least in mind.”
This little novella wishes to convey a single simple notion—we live to die. Everyman’s fate, or every
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man, woman, and child’s fate, is to one day cease being. As Roth stated in an interview, “We all live to die.” This uncomfortable thought translates into a very uncomfortable read.I read this book over two weeks ago. Struggling with its soberness, I then read the medieval play from whence the title Everyman derives. Can you believe reading the play just made matters worse? I was left with more questions than answers.
Here’s my problem. The play “Everyman” and the book Everyman share only two things: the title and a main character facing death. In the play, our Everyman tries to bargain with Death for more time on earth. In the book, the nameless main character, or Everyman, shuns religion and faces death alone. He doesn’t take comfort in pearly gates and angels.
I can identify with the play whereas the book leaves me anxious. The main character is really a jerk, and I worry about his soul. He faces death so utterly alone. This is silly, but I want to hold his hand. I want to give him human comfort.
Roth believes we all face death alone and his Everyman is utterly alone. At 71-years, Everyman has two ex-wives, three children, two of which do not speak to him, and a loving brother he has excommunicated because he is jealous of his health. He also displays a passion for younger women, who laugh at his advances.
The opening of the book begins with Everyman’s funeral. Here the reader meets all those associated with Everyman’s life. Yes, it is a small gathering, but not without a few weepers. Then Roth reverses the storyline and we meet Everyman before his death.
Roth tells Everyman’s story, from the first operation as a boy to his last operation as an adult. The timeline is based on his health rather than the traditional coming-of-age. This might be why I didn’t bond with the character.
After much soul searching and researching, I admit I like the book. Author Roth scrutinizes mankind’s acceptance of death and I am better for taking this journey. I’ll leave you a quote from the play, “O Death, thou comest when I had thee least in mind.”
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LibraryThing member TPLThing
I was eager to read Philip Roth's new novella, Everyman, having thoroughly enjoyed his 2004 Plot Against America. Silly me. There is no comparison. The new book is 182 small pages of one man evaluating his rather full life (and his deteriorating body, in roughly equal portions) and finding both
Everyman is named after the medieval morality play, and both works remind us that "you can't take it with you." In the classic's case, beauty, wealth, wisdom, even family remain behind, and only one's acts of love endure when we leave for the big banquet in the sky. In Roth's writing, his hero loses it all, too, but he never got his invitation to the final party. Life boils down to clogged arteries and frustrated longings. "Death is death and nothing more." If this is the Everyman for our times, heaven help us!
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pathetic.Everyman is named after the medieval morality play, and both works remind us that "you can't take it with you." In the classic's case, beauty, wealth, wisdom, even family remain behind, and only one's acts of love endure when we leave for the big banquet in the sky. In Roth's writing, his hero loses it all, too, but he never got his invitation to the final party. Life boils down to clogged arteries and frustrated longings. "Death is death and nothing more." If this is the Everyman for our times, heaven help us!
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LibraryThing member neurodrew
A brief novel, depicting the last years of a life. The protagonist is a lapsed Jewish man, age 71 at his death, who was an advertising executive, thrice divorced because of sexual adventures. It mostly describes his decline in a retirement community; it actually begins with his funeral, although by
I was able to read this in one day, enjoyed it; I never did finish his original hit, Goodbye Columbus, because it was boring.
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misdirection it is not immediately clear that the funeral was that of the protagonist. I detect Phillip Roth's usual sex obsessed writing, and his concentration on New York and New Jersey Jewish life. It supposedly had a good deal of descriptions of his various operations and medical problems; they were rather pale to a physician. I was able to read this in one day, enjoyed it; I never did finish his original hit, Goodbye Columbus, because it was boring.
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LibraryThing member probably
A tad depressing. I'm not sure why he would have felt compelled to write this.
LibraryThing member bobbieharv
More great writing by Roth. A man looks back at this life in terms of the women he loved and the medical problems he faced; at the beginning he died.
LibraryThing member colinsky
"Old age isn't a battle. It's a massacre." Vintage Roth -- I read it in one quick sitting in an airport without looking up. I remember, at one of the lowest points of my life, being given a copy of "My life as a man" by a friend who said it would explain much of what was wrong with me. It did. This
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book, perhaps, about some of what's to come (though hopefully my life's sunset won't be nearly as bleak, I'm sure it will have some of the same admixture of loneliness, fear, pain, regret, recollection.)_ Show Less
LibraryThing member leesb
Stunning clarity. Prose that is at times lyrical. A work of impressive grace and power. Very, very well done.
LibraryThing member Ibreak4books
What I love about Roth, and this book is no exception, is that he never takes the easy way out: every phrase is original.
LibraryThing member franoscar
This is a short well-written book. 1 man, 1 life, strengths, weaknesses, faults, ends up alone. He has medical problems, envies his healthy brother; it is about being human and about death.
LibraryThing member M.Campanella
Giving this book a rating was more difficult then I would like to imagine.
It is the rather straight forward of a person trying, and failing, to come to terms with his own mortality. I can applaud the effort, as it is something all of us torture over at some point (hence, Everyman). But in terms of
Credit can be given to to Roth for his writing. The short book was a page turner, and despite the chronology of the story being somewhat haphazard, I never felt lost in it.
Good enough I guess.
It is the rather straight forward of a person trying, and failing, to come to terms with his own mortality. I can applaud the effort, as it is something all of us torture over at some point (hence, Everyman). But in terms of
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theme, the story is not contributing much to the genre.Credit can be given to to Roth for his writing. The short book was a page turner, and despite the chronology of the story being somewhat haphazard, I never felt lost in it.
Good enough I guess.
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LibraryThing member SusanT
One of the best books I have read...a great book for my sons to understand and possibly relate to their father. A must read for all adult..or growing into adults from divorced father/son relationships. I wish I had read it when they were young teens...maybe the relationship would be differnt
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now..but it never to late... Show Less
LibraryThing member 1morechapter
Everyman could have been a good book. If only. . . Had he not. . . I will get to those details later.
The book traces a 70-something man's history of his health problems, his three marriages, and his affairs. After doing some research on Roth, I wondered if it is a bit autobiographical. At the end
He could have written this novel without the graphic s * x scenes. It really does border on p * r n. How such a le wd book could be awarded the PEN/Faulkner is beyond me. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
The book traces a 70-something man's history of his health problems, his three marriages, and his affairs. After doing some research on Roth, I wondered if it is a bit autobiographical. At the end
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of the novel, he regrets his life. His sons and his ex-wives hate him, and he doesn't get to spend time with the one person he does love, his daughter Nancy. He is even jealous of his brother's good health and stops calling him--a brother who has always been there for him. There are lessons to be learned from the novel, sure, but here is my objection to it.He could have written this novel without the graphic s * x scenes. It really does border on p * r n. How such a le wd book could be awarded the PEN/Faulkner is beyond me. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
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LibraryThing member hennis
I put it away a few times, but usually when I was able to read more than 10 minutes it became more difficult to put it away. It was pretty slow, but nice.
Awards
PEN/Faulkner Award (Finalist — 2007)
Connecticut Book Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2007)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction & Poetry — 2006)