Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth

This book of one novella, the title’s namesake, and five short stories, was Roth’s first; published when he was only 26. And you can tell. The smooth, extremely lucid and comfortable prose that I found in The Plot Against America and American Pastoral was absent and the story was begging for a point. At multiple points, it seemed like Roth would drone into useless scenes and rely on wit to pull him through, suggesting that he did not know exactly where to take the novella next (perhaps this is why it is a novella instead of a novel). At the end of each paragraph it seemed that Roth was gasping for air. For young, aspiring writers, I think this, along with trying to be excessively witty and eloquent, is a result of trying to imitate the authors who inspired them to write in the first place. What happens though is very unnatural and ungainly and I’d say a great laugh to the author many years later when they have so much more control of the page. However, that being said, the main problem may be that this book is about Jewish identity—particularly at the stage in life where your identity is most confusing—and I’m simply a goy.

I do want to point out though that the surface-level parallels between this novella and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh are striking. Both main characters are in their early twenties, both are socially awkward, they both work at the library at their college, both meet and begin sexual relations with girls during the course of the book, and both have unusual family lives. Both books take place during the summer and were the first projects for both of the now famous authors.

The short stories that followed Goodbye Columbus were a huge pickup. I think one was terrible, the rest were really good and one—Defender of the Faith—was incredible. If you can find it on the internet (it appeared initially in The New Yorker) then I highly recommend reading it. My overall suggestion, though, is to start with another Roth book.