A round of applause for Portnoy’s Complaint.

I can only imagine how incredibly daring and revolutionary this book must have seemed when it was initially published in the late 1960s.

An entire novel crafted as a tirade addressed to the narrator’s psychoanalyst! Just picture it!

Moreover, the book manages to maintain its energy and momentum throughout – it’s highly entertaining and funny, and offers profound insights in a way that only something truly groundbreaking can.

Honestly, despite all the responses and imitations this book undoubtedly inspired, I firmly believe that Portnoy’s Complaint will always remain in a category of its own, and I mean that in the most positive sense.

However, it’s really too bad about all the misogyny.

My appreciation was somewhat dampened by the fact that this book was clearly written with the perception that women are not really people in the same way men are. (There was definitely racism and homophobia too, but the misogyny was particularly widespread.)

On the bright side, it truly highlights how far we have come since then.

Bless all the women writers who have discovered their voices since the publication of Portnoy’s Complaint – knowing that they are all out there enabled me to enjoy this book without succumbing to the anger it could have easily provoked otherwise.

Sincere congratulations, Portnoy’s Complaint, for being so audacious so many years ago and now being such an amusing relic.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s all good.