Welcome to Litsy!

I did it! I finished a book! 😁 This is a tough one to review given that it took me more than a month to read what would normally take me a week, but at the same time it's perfectly suited to read in small chunks. This was like if you distilled the laments of every Jewish friend, comedian, author, etc. I've ever known into a single, highly concentrated screed about the effects of a guilt-based upbringing (will feel familiar to Catholics and 👇

#motivationalmonday

1. I have the good fortune to live directly in the path of totality AND for it to be sunny in Vermont at the beginning of April, so watching the eclipse is the one and only thing I have on my mind this week. 🌞🌛🌗🌑😎
2. Coffee
3. Bookmark
4. Tagged!

The title is apt. Portnoy doesn't half complain a lot.

This book is a misogynistic monologue whereby Alexander Portnoy blames his parents for his excessive masturbation and lack of romantic satisfaction. It's clever and amusing.

I don't think we are supposed to feel particularly sorry for Portnoy. He's a pompous, whiny, woman-hating arse. Still, as a character piece this book is believable and reminiscent of The Catcher in the Rye.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have been trying to figure out how to review this, because I feel torn. On the one hand, it is a story about a white, privileged man, who COMPLAINS A LOT! But on the other hand it was... quite funny. I can definitely see how this was pretty out there for the times, and I like the irony of Portnoy. But I‘m not sure it really stands the test of time (so many racial slurs), and I was ready for it to be over when I finished.

This one got us riled up! Nothing like a long, complaining monologue that we found to be pretty misogynist to fuel our own rant. Give the episode a listen! #1001books #applepodcasts #googleplay #soundcloud

#WithMyLittleStickOfBlackpoolRock #RedRoseSeptember

Am I being too obvious Arlene?

A repressed Jewish guy whacks his psychiatrist over the head with his Oedipal complex. It‘s funny, engaging, and charming, perhaps a little too dirty for some folks but that‘s how I like ‘em. Reading it is like eating apple pie & ice cream for dinner: you could make an argument that there‘s some nutritional value in doing it, but it‘s just indulgent fun for grown-ups. Full review: http://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/portnoys-complaint-philip-roth/

The heart of this book is the gap between who Alexander Portnoy is and who he wants or feels he needs to be. His sexual desire, or perhaps his guilt over his sexual desire, stunts his personhood in profound ways.

My gift certificate #bookhaul 📚 now I just need to get those stickers off of the McEwan 🙄

Not one of my favourite....

#litsybook #portnoy #philiproth #readingchallenge2019 #book #toread #bookly #goodreads

I really tried, but the whole thing is a dude‘s boring monologue to his therapist. I couldn‘t take him whining about his mom and his dick anymore. As much sex is in this book, it isn‘t sexy.

My hauls today from #McKays and #Goodwill. @Booksnchill Thanks for the tip on the bargain books at McKay‘s! I grabbed the #JonathanTropper and #MaryKarr books from that section for less than a dollar each. They‘ll be used for future swaps or giveaways. The #ThomasMcGuane is for the husband.

#bookhaul #usedbooks #shoplocal

R.I.P. 😢

Confession: I didn't find "Portnoy's Complaint" funny. And by the time I read it in the '90s it certainly wasn't shocking anymore. I need to work on reading the rest of his oeuvre. Perhaps desire will strike someday.

RIP.

Up to Mt. Vancouver for #MountTBR!
36/100
On to the next one...

I‘m done - I gave it a really good shot.
I picked this up for 3 reasons:
1. Caroline Kepnes
2. #192019challenge - 1967
3. I truly love some of Roth‘s other work.

But after a week and only 100 pages, I‘m calling it. I get it - he‘s Jewish, in therapy, & loves sex without real commitment. And he‘s obsessed with his mother. Maybe this was groundbreaking in 1967, but I‘m over it in 2018.

2-5-18: Finished on the plane home from Philadelphia. I read almost nothing while I was away because I was so busy but I did buy more books for the future 👍🏼 This book was weird. I enjoyed it but wouldn't know how to recommend it. The entire book is a one sided conversation. Alex Portnoy, is telling his therapist why he thinks he is still unmarried and running around, because of his Jewish mother and his Jewish background. Quirky and funny.

1-30-18: Always waiting in doctor's offices for my mom's appointments means I have more time to read. This book is weird but funny. Roth has a bizarre sense of humor. 📖

“What was it with these Jewish parents, what, that they were able to make us little Jewish boys believe ourselves to be princes on the one hand, unique as unicorns on the one hand, geniuses and brilliant like nobody has ever been brilliant and beautiful before in the history of childhood - saviors and sheer perfection on the one hand, and such bumbling, incompetent, thoughtless, helpless, selfish, evil little shits, little ingrates, on the other!”

TOKYO USED BOOKSTORE HAUL - BOOK 7 OF 15

I have never read Roth. I'd say there's at least a 50% chance that I will hate this novel, but this was $5 and in near mint condition. Besides, there's a 50% chance that I might really like it! :-)

Some of Roth's novels have been on my TBR for quite some time and I have yet to take the plunge. I've heard that his works can be separated with a butter knife, in terms of style and literary impact but is that such an uncommon thing to see from 20th century writers who had long tenures? I always enjoy seeing how an author's writing changes as they do, and as time and history progresses.

#philiproth #portnoyscomplaint #bibliophile #reading

Really sharp observations and thoughts make this an excellent read. Especially considering the rather serious subject Portnoy is talking about to his 'doctor' in his long monologue: the consequences of being Jewish in Newark in the 40s and 50s. He complains about his Jewish parents and their traditions and beliefs, he complains about religion in general, but as a grown up he discovers he cannot escape his own roots. #1001books

Depraved. Vulgar. Crass. Sexist. Disgusting. Offensive. Perverted. Abnormal. Disturbing. Welcome to the twisted mentality of Alexander Portnoy! This is one of the funniest, most deviant books I have ever read. It's like a Borscht Belt comedian working blue performing a degenerate one man show for a shocked audience. Fearless and hilarious. #AprilBookShowers #PublishedInThe1960s

I'm finishing up Portnoy's Complaint. I often enjoyed and understood the reason for the chaotic rambling, but I would have liked to have had something else to hold on to. Perhaps the problem is that I read American Pastoral first and enjoyed it so much. #PhilipRoth

Yeah, I have a complaint NO ONE CARES! #threwitacrosstheroom #toomuchpenis. Actually I wanted to throw it out the window of the MUNI (SF bus system), but I donated it instead. Now it lives again once we blended the households. Sigh. #photoadaynov16

You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you.

While Roth's prose and characterization are certainly engaging, what this book amounts to is a 300-page inside joke about being a thirteen-year-old Jewish boy, and if you don't happen to fit into that category, too bad, because there's no narrative thread to follow if the joke doesn't include you. Let's just say it's masturbatory in more ways than one. #review #portnoyscomplaint #philiproth

So the voice is strong and the characterization is great, but I'm 100 pages in and still can't find a plot... #philiproth #portnoyscomplaint #currentlyreading

A friend picked this out for me at Daunt Books yesterday. #dauntbooks #london #philiproth

Hated this. Dude despises his mom for barely justifiable reasons and masturbates a lot and couldn't convince me to care.

With 45 minutes to go, feeling the urge to drive to Barnes & Noble, queue up, and then at the stroke of midnight purchase and read a Philip Roth novel.

Uhhh...

Less than 50 pages in and already pretty sure I'll hate this.

👍

Because Joe - and Caroline Kepnes 😏 - say so.
#HPBhaul