A long, quiet meditation on death that commences and concludes in a cemetery located within the wastelands of North Jersey, which constitutes the very heart of Philip Roth territory. I have harbored this particular affinity for Philip Roth ever since my teenage years. It often takes me approximately 100 pages to truly fathom what the hell is actually "supposed" to be transpiring. He has a penchant for burying the lead, and by the time it finally dawns on you, it strikes with great force. In a novel as concise as this, I spent the majority of my time vacillating, thinking, "OK, here's a melancholy man who makes a series of critical mistakes, typical of Roth's domain, nothing extraordinary here..." And then I reached the end. That's precisely how you bring it to a close, folks. It contains some of the most exquisite writing the man has ever produced.

"Old age is not a war; old age is a massacre."

This profound statement reflects the life account of a nobleman who lived a fast life and had his heart broken, with only a short time left before his death.

Old age often brings with it a sense of weariness and a realization of the passage of time. The nobleman, perhaps having experienced the highs and lows of life, now finds himself facing the inevitable end.

His life, once filled with excitement and passion, has now become a battlefield of memories and regrets.

The concept of old age being a massacre implies the gradual loss of vitality, health, and the people and things we hold dear.

It is a reminder that time waits for no one and that we must make the most of the present.

As we age, we are forced to confront our mortality and come to terms with the fact that our time on this earth is limited.

This nobleman's story serves as a poignant example of the human experience and the bittersweet nature of growing old.

“Old age isn’t a battle, old age is a massacre.” This powerful statement by Roth takes us into the world of a man who has just reached his “three score and ten.” He experiences a series of physical breakdowns that lead to the inevitable embrace of death.

Everyman, the unnamed protagonist of this short novel, takes its title from a medieval play about the summoning of the living to death. Our Everyman is an average advertising man and creative artist with a long and successful career. He is retired, has been married and divorced three times, and succumbs to a progressive series of illnesses. His story is nothing spectacular, but it is our story, which makes it relevant. Roth delves deep into Everyman’s mind and conscience, showing his envy of his elder brother, his guilt for breaking up families, his longing for his father, and his missing of the life force of sex.

The writing is literary yet accessible, flowing in a stream of recollections mainly centered around Everyman’s hospital stays throughout his life. From a childhood hernia operation to an adult appendectomy and several middle-aged heart operations, these memories paint a vivid picture of his life. Other scenes are set-piece conversations that reveal much, such as Everyman chatting up a 24-year-old jogger, which is both sad and pathetic. As his health worsens, he engages in conversations with dying friends and grave diggers, facing the reality of his own impending death.

Towards the end of his days, Everyman leaves New York City for a retirement community, where he is surrounded by others suffering the effects of aging. Everyone laments the loss of control, whether it’s his ex-wife Phoebe’s lack of hand movement after a stroke, an old colleague’s nausea from cancer treatments, or Everyman’s inability to swim due to his weakening heart. The book has a strong autobiographical element, as do most of Roth’s works. Roth himself was a second child, had troubled marriages, and a successful literary career before retiring.

Death is an unpleasant and morbid topic, but one that every major writer addresses at least once. In the short novels Roth has released in the 21st century, this theme is prominent, culminating in Everyman. However, what was disappointing was that in the end, it was unclear what purpose Everyman had served humanity. Roth, being an atheist, may suggest that we are born alone, die alone, and in between, we meet a few interesting people who shape our character. There is nothing more.

The words "Old age isn't a battle. Old age is a massacre." by Philip Roth truly resonate as one gets older. As I have aged, my perspective on Roth's later novellas has changed. Years ago, when I read one, I thought they were mere indulgences. I questioned why he couldn't return to writing his great novels. However, after reading some of his last several novels in recent months, being older myself, I think I might understand. These works may not be as robust as his masterpieces of the 1990s, but they are still remarkable. They are memoirs, reflections on life before death, in anticipation of death, and contemplating death. They are like the murmurs of a man on the brink of the abyss.

Certain parts of this novel hit close to home for me. I too had a brother who seemed to have perfect health. My older brother could neglect brushing his teeth for a year and still not get a cavity. He rarely suffered from headaches, fevers, or colds. He was an Army Ranger and later a decorated helicopter pilot. I, on the other hand, had flat feet, was pigeon-toed, diabetic, rheumatic, had thyroid issues, bad teeth, Marfan syndrome, heart problems, and struggled with pain almost daily.

There seems to be a strange imbalance and a measured shadow that exists between brothers like us. On one level, there is care and concern, but on another, there is an almost hero worship that can easily slide into jealousy and envy, making one empathize with Cain. Overall, this is a very human novel that delves into loneliness, aging, relationships, memory, and death. It may not be perfect and is far from Roth's best, but it is still very good and significantly better than The Humbling.

As I grow older and reread Roth's books, I appreciate and love him even more.

Roth represents my thoughts and concerns. He is realistic, cynical, tragic, intellectual, and always relevant.

Not all of his books are good, but he has written some that hold a prominent place in my heart.

The theme here is by no means pleasant. Mortality, ultimate solitude.

In just a few pages, he manages to summarize what interests me at times, and I always find him at the end closing my eyes with a sardonic smile.

His works have a profound impact on me, making me reflect on life and its various aspects.

Roth's writing style is unique, with his vivid descriptions and thought-provoking ideas.

Each book is like a journey into a different world, filled with complex characters and emotions.

I am constantly amazed by his ability to capture the essence of human nature and present it in a way that is both engaging and enlightening.

Roth's books are not just entertainment; they are a source of inspiration and a means of self-discovery.

I will continue to read and cherish his works for years to come.

Perhaps rarely, but it happens that after reading a book, I understand that I really love my life and the people around me. Such books force one to look at everything with different eyes and understand that each person is unique both on the outside and on the inside. For me, such books are like a guiding star that leads the way to a new self-discovery, an understanding of certain of my inclinations, and finally an acceptance that everything in life is determined by fate, which you bring with you when you come into this world. I am very glad that such books appear one after another every year and that they help me to gather myself and understand a lot. In other words, they force my half-asleep mind to work at full capacity. Finding such books without any help is a great plus for oneself, because only in this way do you realize how many good and worthy of attention books there are that give food for thought and freedom to the imagination. This time I want to talk about a book that I found completely unexpectedly in the library, although I had heard quite a few good reviews about it. It is Philip Roth's book "Everyman". Just the title makes you think that perhaps it is really worthy of attention and my time. I was not disappointed. It captivated me from the very first pages, caught me with an invisible hook and allowed me to enjoy its plot, with perfectly and responsibly chosen characters and an endlessly literary and philosophical text that is pleasing to the eye, sounds good to the ear and is dear to the heart. It is like a panegyric to life, to being alive, and to mortality. While reading this work, such positive thoughts come to mind that you want to immediately start evaluating what you have. Despite the fact that the plot of the book does not talk about cheerful things, however, the author allows the reader to empathize with what is tragic, what can change every second of life or simply disappear at a certain time. This is us. This is a book about us, about our life. Therefore, at the center of the story is the ordinary life of an ordinary person: a bright childhood in his father's jewelry and watch shop, work in an advertising agency, complicated family relationships, hesitant searches for one's own path, wrong choices, an unwavering thirst for love, and finally a terrifying awareness of getting older with one's own body, loneliness, and the realization that true love was always nearby... Not wanting to go into too much detail and reveal the plot of the work, I sincerely recommend it to everyone to read, because it is a very valuable book both in terms of its content and in terms of its thoughts and reflections. Once again, I was convinced that in small-sized books there are so many pearls of wisdom that you want to string them into a long necklace of life, not afraid that at some point it will break, and when you turn each of them - to gain the strength to live again, to create, to enjoy all the joys of life and, with a little care, give them to others so that they do not feel alone, having lost the desire and purpose to live. Such a book is invaluable in its thoughts, but a real awareness of life. Therefore, I would recommend this book to those readers who want to look at their lives more closely and see those things that sometimes we do not want or simply cannot flaunt, or perhaps it is difficult to accept the very fact that we are mortal and aging, and all that will remain after us will be just another impression in the history of mankind. This work should also appeal to those readers who do not like clichéd works. I would like to recommend it to those who simply want a different acquaintance with literature, which is sometimes so amazing, but very valuable in its content. This work is for each of us - vulnerable, but capable of courage. I do not want to compare this work with others or look for similarities, but I will call it another literary discovery of these years. And finally, I want to remind not only myself, but also you: "When you are young, the appearance of the body is important, how a person looks on the outside. When you get older, the inside becomes important, and it doesn't matter much how a person looks."

Aplink kapą apleistose kapinėse susibūrę keli buvę kolegos iš Niujorko reklamos agentūros prisiminė jo energingumą, originalumą ir dukteriai Nensei sakė, kad dirbti su juo buvęs didelis malonumas.

Another slim (140 pages), yet profound book. The story is about a man who was once powerful enough and used that power, but now is forced to feel alone.

I would not agree with the authorship that this is the life of every (ordinary, average) person. However, "wrong choices, the pursuit of love without looking, and finally the terrifying reality with an increasingly aging body, loneliness and the painful realization <...> of life's tremors in the face of one's own mortality" (back cover of the book) should touch the hearts of many readers.

The novel is deceptively simple, but it cannot be called easy. The book is very masculine and in some places could be accused of sexism or chauvinism, but in old age many things are forgiven. Even more is forgiven when a person is dying.

I liked Philip Roth's craftsmanship (simplicity and elegance), I liked the book's time frame (the novel begins with the protagonist's funerals and ends with his visit to the cemetery before a fateful operation), I liked the protagonist's honesty (openly about life, especially when many mistakes have been made), I liked the tenderness and sense of humor, I liked the neurosis and the tremors of the body, I liked the vividness and the authenticity. I don't know if I liked the protagonist himself (megalomania, imagining that he can charm younger women, even when he is already spending his days in a nursing home), but I could not condemn him either.

The story is a simple yet profound narrative. The author skillfully presents the frenzy and the fear of annihilation and death of human beings. There is a sense of regret for the passing moments of life and the waste in extravagance. The protagonist of the story has no particular unique feature except that he is "as slow as everyone" and like everyone else, has no other end but death. The narration begins at the funeral of the first character in the story, and then the narrator retrospectively tells the distant past full of memories of the first character, from the beginning to the annihilation of all the creations, talents, and the final and firm crumbling of the human's "castle", that is, the body. It talks about the events of childhood, the successive marriages and continuous failures, the old ages, and the repeated attacks of diseases and death in the last years of life that he spends in self-created solitude. The unnamed character in the story, who remains unnamed until the end, tastes the regret of the past in a few steps before death and loses everything. Health and youthful strength, opportunities, connections, and even family. He imagines a train that is constantly losing its passengers every day, and now, at the threshold of the last operation and death, the train is passengerless and he is alone. In some parts of the story, especially in the last few pages, I confronted the deep and confused thoughts in my own mind, and in this regard, the book had a certain impact on me. Therefore, I give four stars to the story and its excellent translation, and one star is also for the feeling and experience of reading the book alone at night in the silence and solitude.

His only choice was to live, but not to be so alone. The worst aspect of loneliness is that you have to endure it. Either you endure it or you drown. You must strive hard to keep your hungry mind away from looking back at the past.

Call it "The Death of Ivan Ilych 2: Modern Times."

It is indeed true that Roth is regarded as a modern-day Tolstoy. However, the question remains: is this type of tale, which has already been told and retold, truly necessary?

It's all my fault. During my summer marathon of small novels (albeit inversely large in quality), I have endured one devastation after another, filled with drama and death. Works like Animal, Michael K., Elizabeth Costello, and others. This particular one involves the unnamed EVERYMAN, who, of course, represents you and me. It takes the novelistic maneuvers that Roth is so highly revered for to transform it into THE QUINTESSENTIAL LIFE STORY. Or perhaps it is actually The Story of Death?

Anyway, Everyman goes in and out of the hospital, and this is probably where most of the action occurs. The second place where a significant portion of the action takes place is the cemetery. But Ilych, doomed by a blunt bump resulting from a stupid oversight, faces a different kind of doom compared to our (modern) Everyman. Everyman has a say in things, knows the medical jargon, and has money. Their lives may be different, but their fates, unfortunately, are irreparably equal.

The Rothian motifs do accumulate. We recall the countless cemetery scenes from other Roth novels, especially "Sabbath's Theater" (this one also begins there). All the sex (as in "Deception") and all the dire emotions that wash over older, broken Jewish men (as in "The Human Stain").

The anecdote is necessary: always necessary. The themes have not been exhausted yet. Although the tale is quite specific, it must be noted that Roth masters the considerable challenge of making one man stand for billions of others. The shared fate of death, the Unifyer, is what Roth, as an aging novelist and an aging man, contemplates. With an ease and a poetry as brutal as Tolstoy, Roth knows precisely how to earn his IMMORTALITY.

"The fans seek inspiration, while the rest of us get up and get to work."

During hours, after the three consecutive calls (and after the predictable banality and uselessness of the talk to boost morale, after reliving the spirit of yesteryear by evoking memories of the lives of his colleagues, trying to find something to say to encourage those who lacked hope and keep them from the edge of the abyss), what he wanted to do was not only to call his daughter, whom he had found in the hospital with Phoebe, but also to revive his own spirit by calling his parents. However, what he had known was nothing compared to the inevitable attack that is the end of life. If he had been aware of the mortal suffering of every man and woman he had known during his years of professional life, of the painful story of grief, loss and stoicism of each one, of fear, panic, isolation and terror, if he had known everything that had been taken away from them and that at one time had been completely theirs, and the systematic way in which they were being destroyed, he would have had to stay by the phone all day until night, making at least another hundred calls. Old age is not a battlefield; old age is a massacre.

A thrilling and ordinary novel.

A constant rotation between death and life.

In the first book that I read from Roth, I encountered a sincere and straightforward pen.

The number of pages is just right, neither lacking anything from the pen nor being excessive.

It's as if you are sitting at the feet of someone to describe their story or have found an old notebook of memories and are reading it.

It was a good society!

Overall, this novel offers a unique reading experience. The author's writing style is engaging, making it easy for the reader to get lost in the story. The theme of the constant rotation between death and life adds a layer of depth and mystery. The恰到好处 number of pages ensures that the story is neither rushed nor overly long-winded. It feels like a personal account, which makes it even more captivating. Whether you are a fan of Roth's work or simply looking for a good read, this novel is definitely worth checking out.

We cannot remake reality. We have to accept it as it comes. Stand firm and accept it as it comes.

This is the fifth book I've read by Philip Roth. And there's no sign of seeing all the stars for him... Are they in "The Human Stain"? There has to be hope...

In this novel, the main character goes through the operating block several times and in the end, actually at the beginning, dies. Just like almost everyone in this book gets sick and dies. I, at my advanced age, should have been scared, or at least, very emotional. But nothing. In certain parts, it felt like I was in the waiting room of a doctor's office or a hospital, where I usually read to not hear lamentations.

To add a bit of life, there are also some (few) parts about the love life of the "dead man".

"He lied to Phoebe, he lied and lied again, but it was no use. He told her he had gone to Paris to break up with Merete.

— But at the hotel, while you were breaking up with her, didn't you sleep with her in the same bed?

— We didn't sleep. She spent the nights crying.

— Four whole nights crying? That's a lot of crying for a twenty-four-year-old Danish countess. Not even Hamlet must have cried that much."

The four stars are because Roth writes very well. And because the book is short.

"Old age is not a battle; old age is a massacre."