The Facts by philip roth

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

The need for a chronological reading can be equally applied to this book, as few are as deceptive.

It was written right after all of Zuckerman's novels (up to The Counterlife), yet it is not usually included in the novels of this fictional character, and it is more of an error that has to do with the game of identity confusion that the North American writer proposes to us.

This work passes for an unconventional autobiography where certain facts are related as if they were real and related to Roth's life.

Nothing is as it seems, and Zuckerman's final letter in a tone of reproach is magnificent and only endorses the game to which the author subjects us, novel after novel.

We are constantly left wondering what is real and what is fictional in Roth's works, and this book is no exception. It blurs the lines between the two, making it a truly engaging and thought-provoking read.

Whether you are a fan of Roth's work or new to his writing, this book is sure to challenge your perception of truth and fiction.

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rude-boylive

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

Fantaástico!

É engraçado como Roth abre uma chave para o entendimento da sua ficção autobiográfica (toda?) na carta ao final.

Este momento é intrigante, pois nos permite ter uma visão mais profunda da sua obra.

Pode ser que através dessa carta, ele esteja tentando revelar algo que não pôde expressar diretamente na narrativa principal.

Ou talvez esteja apenas dando uma pista para que o leitor possa interpretar a sua história de uma forma diferente.

De qualquer forma, é um elemento que adiciona mais complexidade e interesse à sua ficção.

E que nos deixa com a sensação de que ainda há muito a descobrir sobre a mente e a obra de Roth.

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woundedbird

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

William Burroughs once referred to Paul Bowles' autobiography, "Without Stopping", as "Without Telling". This came to my mind while I was reading "The Facts". It's not that Roth doesn't tell us the truth, whatever that truth might be. Instead, he simply doesn't tell us anything that those of us who have read all his other works didn't already know.

That being said, his family is depicted in a somewhat different light compared to the Zuckerman novels, and this difference is significant. The entire narrative deeply resonates with the ordinary reality of life. In many ways, it was truly satisfying to see the raw material from which he has woven his fiction. However, it wasn't what I had hoped for. I have no doubt that this is my own failure - a failure of expectations, that is, having them in the first place.

For me, ultimately, the most satisfying part of "The Facts" was the sense that Roth was speaking directly to me - and to his father, his mother, his brother, his friends, and Newark. The University of Chicago came alive, and so did "My Life as a Man". I should add that Zuckerman, who bookends the narrative, was a brilliant addition.

Perhaps this book is only suitable for completists and graduate students. But then again, if you're not a completist (or a graduate student), why are you reading Roth? I don't believe he was ever published in Redbook.

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TeucosFoxTrot

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

I didn't give up on this book, but I admit that there were some pages that I skipped. I really like Philip Roth, very much indeed. However, this autobiography didn't add anything to what I wanted to know about him.

I found the part about his childhood interesting, the experience in the Jewish community, the pride his family had in it, and the admiration for his father's professional ascent. After that, Roth talks about his college years, the choice of college, the people he met, the professors he knew, and the girls he met. And from here he moves on to the one who, ironically, he calls "the girl of his dreams", a woman with a disastrous childhood and youth who tries to make Roth's life the same way. I confess that this part bored me, although it served as inspiration for one of his books whose title I don't remember but which I think isn't translated in Portugal.

Finally, he reflects on the opposition of the Jewish community to his book Goodbye, Columbus (which I really liked) and also ends up talking a little about Portnoy's Complaint (which I didn't like at all).

In summary: a book with some interest but from which I didn't learn much and a book completely dispensable for those who have never read Philip Roth.

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mayflower578

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

In this book, Philip Roth demonstrates remarkable writing skills while seemingly writing about the most ordinary and unremarkable things.

We are taken on a journey through the life of young Philip, from his idyllic childhood days growing up in Newark, to his college years at Bucknell, his teaching experience at the University of Chicago, and his early successes as an author.

Throughout the narrative, there is a recognizable pattern of a boy from a traditional background, filled with ambition and eagerness to take on the world and prove himself.

However, at the core of Roth's telling, there is a distinct lack of warmth and heart, which is clearly intentional.

From the writing, it is evident that Roth had deep affection for his family, especially his father, yet he also seems to look down on his upbringing in complex ways as a grown and accomplished member of secular society.

Interestingly, it is when he writes about his family, particularly his father, that the book truly comes alive and shines.

As Roth moves further away from Newark, his prose improves, but the story becomes less engaging.

Then come the tales of women and fame, which, on the scale of a successful high-brow author, are rather mundane and uninteresting.

Nevertheless, the entire book is written with absolute perfection, with not a single comma out of place.

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krishima

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

Authorized biography is a problem. When collaborating with the subject of the biography, it becomes an even bigger problem. And what about autobiography? It would require a type of writer with sincere and fearless prose enough not to slip into the temptation of portraying oneself as a virtuous hero of one's own story.

The good thing is that throughout his entire career, Roth, whether well or badly, had already taken this kind of honest approach to his own psyche very far in the works where he masks real episodes and invents completely fictional ones in the life of his alter-ego Nathan Zuckerman (Goodbye Columbus, The Counterlife, the novels of Zuckerman Bound, The Ghost Writer). Biographical and career coincidences always made Zuckerman the perfect vehicle for Roth to create his fiction, so it's no wonder he appears here too as an interlocutor.

The book opens with a letter from Roth to "Zuckerman", as if asking a fellow writer to review a recently completed manuscript, and ends with Zuckerman's "response" analyzing what, in theory, would be Roth's memories: his youth in Newark, his university education, his often traumatic love affairs (the main one with an older woman and portrayed as a manipulator on the verge of psychopathy), and how this material often ended up being captured in his novels. Material so rich that a lot of what Claudia Roth-Pierpont (no relation) wrote in Roth Unbound, a biography published in 2015, came from this book published in 1988.

However, not everything is perfect. The way Roth describes his relationship with his first wife, whom he defines as a manipulator who forced him to marry her and later forced him to stay married with the fictional story of a non-existent pregnancy, is confusing, light, and somewhat scandalous. Roth may be glossing over many of the problems of his description as a consequence of the traumatic relationship he says he lived. Still, this is the point in the biography where Roth seems to shift all the blame to the absent (and dead at the time the book was written) woman and put himself in the role of the virtuous hero victim of an obsessive crazy woman alluded to at the beginning. Nevertheless, Roth is a master of prose, and reading one of his books will never be fruitless.

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Terako-chan

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

3.5 stars.

What is one supposed to make of an autobiography that appears more like a sketch and is utilized as a diatribe against the author's ex-wife? Moreover, what is a reader to think of this autobiography that is framed as a correspondence to/from Roth's alter-ego, the fictional Nathan Zuckerman?

I found the entire book captivating. A significant portion of it indeed helps to elucidate Roth's early works, especially Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories, When She Was Good, and Portnoy's Complaint. Strangely, it also provides some details regarding works that would emerge two decades later in the writer's life (Indignation and Nemesis). However, an additional touch of artistry is truly added through Roth's ingenious framing device. Nathan Zuckerman makes evident the deficiencies of the book and offers a broad, philosophical analysis of the fine line between fiction and non-fiction.

Your acquaintance with the facts, your sense of facts, is much less developed than your understanding, your intuitive weighing and balancing of fiction. You make a fictional world that is far more exciting than the world it comes out of. My guess is that you've written metamorphoses of yourself so many times, you no longer have any idea what you are or ever were. By now what you are is a walking text.... What one chooses to reveal in fiction is governed by a motive fundamentally aesthetic; we judge the author of a novel by how well he or she tells the story. But we judge morally the author of an autobiography, whose governing motive is primarily ethical as against aesthetic. How close is the narration to the truth? Is the author hiding his or her motives, presenting his or her actions and thoughts to lay bare the essential nature of conditions or trying to hide something, telling in order not to tell? Is this really "you" or is it what you want to look like to your readers at the age of fifty-five?

Through an almost Freudian rant at the conclusion of the book, Roth seems to be critiquing himself and the entire genre of autobiography. This shift to meta-narrative should not astonish any Roth enthusiasts. Although I was hoping for something a bit more substantial and not overly obsessive (over his deceased ex-wife) in the main body of the book. Nevertheless, it is enjoyable and enlightening about a writer I adore.

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tapewormslurper

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

Superbe nouvelle traduction de Josée Kamoun.

Livre éblouissant, névrose permanente mais faussement caché. It presents an autobiographical fiction by Roth that engages in a playful dance with the reader, with himself, and with his characters. The final letter between his double Zuckerman and him is one of the most beautiful literary follies. Roth doesn't adhere to a specific form of the book but simply offers the pleasure of playing with the reader.

The last indictment of the book is a summit, and the book is right there. It's a work that challenges and intrigues, blurring the lines between reality and fiction, and inviting the reader to join in the literary game. The new translation by Josée Kamoun brings this complex and fascinating work to a wider audience, allowing them to experience the unique charm and intellectual stimulation that Roth's writing offers.

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