Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth

Fiction 216 pages (Paperback)

After reading a number of Roth’s books, some hits and some misses, I decided to pick up another and give it a try. Goodbye Columbus is a short novella followed by five short stories. The novella follows the relationship of Neil and Brenda from Neil’s point of view. The five short stories give the reader a look into the lives of different Jews. The book presents itself in a way that seems like an introduction to Jewish people’s lives. I found myself draw into the story of Neil and Brenda, but then it just stopped. I didn’t know it was a series of short stories when I started; only realizing it when I came to the end of the novella.

Honestly, as the book went on I got bored with it. The short stories seemed to be humorous in nature, but I either didn’t appreciate it that much or the stories haven’t stood the test of time as well as you would expect. In fact towards the end I really just started skimming and didn’t give it the attention that it may have deserved.

Roth is a good writer. I have no complaints about style, but maybe it is the subject matter or how it seems like there wasn’t much story. This is how the book seemed to be presented: “Hey, listen to this thing that happened once.” That can be the nature of a short story, but it didn’t sit well with me.

2 Emotional/Intellectual: I just didn’t care about any of the characters and if humor was the intent to draw me in I didn’t feel it. This could be more me than the author.

3 Style/Readability: Nothing really for or against this.

2 Long Term Impact: Roth is already an established writer. Other works of his will keep Goodbye Columbus at least recognizable for some time.

7 out of 13 seems really harsh. It wasn’t really a bad book, I just did not get into it. I would certainly give some of his other books a read before this like Portnoy’s Complaint and The Human Stain. Personally, I am not going to pick another Roth book at random. I would read another of his books because I have enjoyed others, but now only with a recommendation or doing some research first.

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