I am a breast. A phenomenon . . . took place within my body . . . and converted me into a mammary gland disconnected from my human form. Yes, it is true, the main character in this book transforms overnight from a healthy middle-aged man into a 155-pound breast, complete with a 6-inch nipple and all. I picked this up at a secondhand bookshop for a few bucks and it was well worth it. It’s only about 100 pages and can be read entirely on a Sunday afternoon, but in that time Roth, à la Gogol (The Nose) and Kafka (The Metamorphosis) describes what life would be like as a very popular part of the female body. I shouldn’t say much on this book because it is so short and should simply be read instead of any review on it, but I will say that Roth does not hold anything back in his prose. After reading this and American Pastoral and about Portnoy’s Complaint (in which the main character, at one point, masturbates into the core of an apple), I can safely say that there seems to be no subject that embarrasses him as an author. And though at times it seems he may be going out-of-bounds, I don’t think he would put it in unless it was important and part of the story. He has an uncensored mind, but for those who can stand it, the rewards are vast.
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