Product Description

`If I had...one word to sum up Indignation I'd go for classy. If were allowed two: very classy'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118623 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
'Once again, Roth defies all the rules of artistic decline and shows that this is a career still producing highlights' --Metro

Indignation is, among its many pleasures, a controlled expression of wrath --Daily Telegraph

It thrums with energy... altogether it is a brave, romantic, young man's book
--Literary Review

`Written with all the power, wit and grace of an early Roth novel'
--Kudos Magazine

`Philip Roth's thousandth novel (approximately), deserves an honourable mention...a plaintive and elegant book' --The Spectator

'Timely, powerful and intensely sad' --Sunday Telegraph

`an extraordinary, compact story'
--The Times

`A taut masterwork that resonates with all the skills of a veteran novelist on top form'
--Sunday Times

`brief, compelling and rather curious novel - a late-period oddity that requires more than one reading'
--Daily Telegraph

Review
`drivingly readable'

`a gratifying novel in its won right ... Indignation is, unquestionably, seriously "good" Roth'

Review
[Roth] reasserts his fictional mastery ... a great novelist writing at the height of his powers'

Customer Reviews

Classic Roth - truly wonderful
Some are suggesting that Roth has become too prolific, with the implication that quality begins to dip, but Indignation refutes that. This is a tightly written, evocative and moving novel. It's the story of Marcus Messner, a young man dealing with an overbearing father and the strangeness of moving away to college, set as America is fighting the Korean War. Messner is also dead and from this vantage point, he is reviewing his short life. Such a device can be clumsy or silly, but Roth employs it to incredible effect. The characters are all vivid and memorable (the scene between Messner and the dean of men is a wonderful example) and the narrative is beautifully structured.

At the denouement, when Roth's purpose comes into final focus, I was left with the feeling of having experienced something simple and wise and powerful. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.

Masterly
While this may not rank against the American trilogy this is nevertheless a masterpiece. The writing is faultless and the narrative is constantly engaging. Above all Roth is, as ever, capable of creating a state of mind that is coherent and compelling.

Messy Messner
Philip Roth's new novel tells a story narrated by Marcus Messner, a Jewish butcher's son from Newark at college in the American Midwest during the Korean War. Marcus intends to work hard at his studies to avoid being drafted into the war, for fear of being killed. At college he has an unsettled time, not getting on with room-mates and having a short-lived affair with a troubled fellow student. Marcus's fall-outs with room-mates and then his girlfriend's mental breakdown bring him into conflict with the college dean.

Overall "Indignation" is about the protagonist's unwillingness to fit in with social conventions he doesn't accept - for instance, he's an atheist, but the college requires him to attend chapel weekly. A sexual ingenu, he's unable to cope with the complexities of an adult sexual relationship with his girlfriend.

If this description makes the novel sound slight, that's because it was my reaction to it. I thought this was insubstantial in comparison to Roth's better work - with large chunks of story skipped over, and an ending that's far less elliptical than it seems on first reading. But Roth is a first-rate writer, and it is a slick, easy read, though I'd also add that the story itself has the feel in places of being a messy first draft.