Indignation

Geschreven bij Indignation

Late 19th and early 20th Jewish immigrants in the US worked long hours in physical jobs, hoping their children would do better thanks to education. This book is about the years 1950-1952 during the Korean War. From a young age Marcus Messner (MM) is a model son who helps his parents run a kosher butchery in Newark, NJ. He graduates with straight A’s from high school and helps his father in the shop until his departure to a nearby college. The signs were already there, but once MM has moved out his father is developing ever more irritating and intrusive bouts of anger at the world around him and anxiety about his only son's safety.
MM always has Korea on his mind: if he flunks he will be drafted and killed. Better to graduate with top marks and become an officer and improve his chance of survival. But his father’s frantic behaviour prompts MM to move to a mediocre college in Ohio, where he does not always deal smartly with a series of new challenges and problems. Only two of the 15+ fraternities accept Jews, but he refuses to join the only Jewish one on campus, suspecting (rightly) his meddling father asked them to recruit him. When he joins later on, he will come to regret his decision…
Philip Roth became world famous with “Portnoy’s Complaint” (1969) and is today an institution among American literary writers. This short novel is often funny, often sad, always moving and a pleasure to read. Readers have to find out for themselves how MM will solve his different problems. Roth has written a domestic American history of an almost forgotten war. To recreate the atmosphere of the time, create a tense plot and a range of believable characters is a great achievement.

Geschreven bij Indignation

Goed verhaal geschreven met passie en overtuiging. Inspireert me om meer van Philip Roth te lezen!

Geschreven bij Indignation

beleef de stijgende verontwaardiging in de scène met de dean.