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Zuckerman Bound #2

Zuckerman Unbound

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Following the wild success of his novel, Carnovsky, Nathan Zuckerman has been catapulted into the literary limelight. As he ventures out onto the streets of Manhattan he finds himself accosted on all sides, the target of admonishers, advisers, would-be literary critics, and – worst of all – fans.

An incompetent celebrity, ill at ease with his newfound fame, and unsure of how to live up to his fictional creation’s notoriety, Zuckerman flounders his way through a high-profile affair, the disintegration of his family life, and fends off the attentions of his most tenacious fan yet, as the turbulent decade of the sixties draws to a close around him.

But beneath the uneasy glamour are the spectres of the recently murdered Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and an unsettled Zuckerman feels himself watched…

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 1981

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About the author

Philip Roth

317 books7,259 followers
Philip Milton Roth was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, for its "sensual, ingenious style" and for its provocative explorations of American identity. He first gained attention with the 1959 short story collection Goodbye, Columbus, which won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Ten years later, he published the bestseller Portnoy's Complaint. Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's literary alter ego, narrates several of his books. A fictionalized Philip Roth narrates some of his others, such as the alternate history The Plot Against America.
Roth was one of the most honored American writers of his generation. He received the National Book Critics Circle award for The Counterlife, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Operation Shylock, The Human Stain, and Everyman, a second National Book Award for Sabbath's Theater, and the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. In 2005, the Library of America began publishing his complete works, making him the second author so anthologized while still living, after Eudora Welty. Harold Bloom named him one of the four greatest American novelists of his day, along with Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo. In 2001, Roth received the inaugural Franz Kafka Prize in Prague.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 350 reviews
Profile Image for Guille.
975 reviews3,150 followers
January 23, 2022

“Él, que hizo fantasía de los demás, ahora es fantasía de los demás.”
Nuevamente nos las vemos aquí con un Nathan Zuckerman envuelto en un juego metaliterario y autorreferencial en el que el autor sigue dándole vueltas, de forma muy divertida, eso sí, a la repercusión que tuvo en su vida la publicación de «El lamento de Portnoy» («Carnovsky» en la novela), sus problemas por la supuesta lealtad y responsabilidad debida al pueblo judío y las implicaciones de esta supuesta autorreferencia sobre las personas de su entorno, rápidamente identificados por críticos y público con personajes de la novela.

Lo curioso de ello, aunque era bastante previsible, es que la publicación de esta segunda entrega de la tetralogía desencadenada volvió a demostrar la imposibilidad de cerrar ciertas bocas que sienten una necesidad imperiosa de mantenerse abiertas, pues por mucha ironía y humor con el que el autor envolvió el absurdo de las acusaciones de las que fue objeto y por muy esperpéntico que fuera el despliegue de los problemas que le supuso la notoriedad tras su publicación, muchos vieron en este nuevo relato la confirmación del justo acoso al que fue sometido en su día, la aceptación por su parte de todas las acusaciones recibidas y la correspondiente solicitud de perdón en forma de autoflagelaciones varias.
“Deslumbrante, pero no profundo. Es algo que tenía usted que escribir, para volver a empezar de cero. Y, por consiguiente, es incompleto, le falta refinamiento, se queda en fuegos de artificio. Pero lo comprendo. Incluso lo admiro. Intentar hacer las cosas de otro modo es la única forma de ir mejorando.”
El caso es que sí, Nathan Zuckerman se sentía desencadenado cuando escribió «Carnovsky», o pretendía estarlo, pero ahora se descubre añorando las cadenas. Es su sino, estar siempre entre dos polos, queriendo estar en uno inmediatamente después de llegar al otro.

Divorciado dos veces, Nathan acaba de romper con Laura, su última pareja, una heroína de las causas perdidas a la que él distanció de sí mismo con la publicación de su última novela y ahora echa una jartá de menos, y que eligió, según ella misma le reprocha, para alejarse del modelo de “mujeres dependientes y temblorosas que habías tenido antes”.
“Ni siquiera es la virtud de Laura lo que te aburre a morir: es tu propio rostro respetable, responsable, lóbregamente virtuoso. Y con razón…no te cuadra en absoluto la mafia de la virtud…Lo de Laura es la causa de la rectitud, lo tuyo es el arte de la descripción.”
Así le echan en cara sus editores las ganas que tenía de cambiar su vida, de dejar de escribir esas novelas correctas y responsables mientras que ahora…
“…estás sintiendo más que nunca tu propia aniquilación. Lo que es más: ahora te saca de quicio que todos ignoren lo correcto, responsable y pavorosamente virtuoso que eres en realidad.”
Vapuleado por el mundo judío, sin la mujer que ama y asfixiado por su fama (los momentos más divertidos son los que Nathan comparte con Alvin Pepler, protagonista de un escándalo de concursos televisivos amañados, sí, el Herb Stempel de la película Quiz Show que también funciona aquí como reflejo de lo ocurrido a Nathan, y supuesto admirador del autor que acaba acusándole de robarle para su novela todos sus traumas y chantajeándole por ello), Nathan se tiene que enfrentar a las trágicas repercusiones que su novela ha tenido en su familia.

Realmente es un tres estrellas y pico, pero me lo he pasado bastante bien con las patéticas peripecias del personaje, tanto como me ha conmovido su situación familiar, así que redondeo al alza.
Profile Image for Dave Schaafsma.
Author 6 books32.1k followers
October 1, 2025
Zuckerman Unbound (1981), the second in Roth’s Zuckerman Bound trilogy, is a sort of comic romp that turns gradually tragicomic, then certainly serious, in the end. Not Tolstoy, exactly, but maybe leaning to Chekhov, with some echoes of Kafka in there. The novel features the writer Zuckerman, 20 years after the events of The Ghost Writer, which had Zuckerman at 20, having published a few stories. At this point, Zuckerman is a famous writer, with several books published, and he doesn’t handle fame well. His family and the Jewish community upbraid him for “making fun” of Jewish folks through his most recent and celebrated novel, Carnovsky, a kind of sex romp (like Portnoy’s Complaint).

A central character in this book is Alvin Pepler, modeled on Herb Stempel, who was a central figure in the 1950’s Quiz Show scandals. A Zuckerman/Roth affair with a noted actress is featured, continuing a theme in Roth of the tortured relations between husband and wife, but the central focus of the book is the pain of the relations between children and parents, and the confused understanding many people have about the relationship between an author and his creations: How can you cause your mother and father so much pain writing about such a sex-crazed Jewish guy??! You’re bringing shame on our family and community and all Jews! In the end, facing criticism for what some people perceive as his “anti-Jewish” sentiments, Zuckerman breaks free from any sense of strict responsibility to his family and community and cultural tradition, choosing instead to be responsible to his art and the truth as he sees it, thus the title.

I liked this book quite a bit, but it isn’t in the same league as his best books, Portnoy’s Complaint, American Pastoral, The Plot Against America, nor even The Ghost Writer that I just read. Normally I would just rate a book of this caliber 4 stars, but compared to the others I’ve recently read from Roth, I’d have to say it is good, not great, for him, maybe 3.25. Not the place to start with him, for sure. Though Portnoy’s Complaint and this book would make a nice pairing.
Profile Image for Michael Finocchiaro.
Author 3 books6,220 followers
May 25, 2018
While not as powerful as American Pastoral or as crazy as Portnoy's Complaint, the second installment in the Zuckerman Bound trilogy was a fun (and quick) read. Here Nathan Zuckerman has just published a very controversial novel (mirroring Roth's publication of the aforementioned Portnoy) and is dealing with the sudden benefits and drawbacks of fame: superficial affair with a starlet, psychotic stalkers, being told he is still living like a country bumpkin, his family's repression of their feelings of betrayal on how he portrayed them in the book...There is a lot packed into these quick-paced 220 pages. I enjoyed it very much especially the end. I am not sure I will finish this trilogy but rather hit the other masterpieces in the Roth oeuvre: Sabbath's Theatre, Plot Against America, Goodbye Columbus and Operation Shylock.
Note that when he refers to Carnovsky, he is referring to Portnoy's Complaint. Apparently, a movie was made from the book but I have not seen it yet.

RIP (1933-2018). One of America's literary giants has left us.
Profile Image for Carlo Mascellani.
Author 15 books289 followers
October 11, 2020
La storia di una lenta transizione del protagonista Zuckerman (eterno alter ego di roth stesso) dalla nevrosi indotta dal successo letterario (e dal conseguente, difficile rapporto con la celebrità) alla quiete del ritrovarsi semplice uomo, responsabile solo verso se stesso, allorché un evento doloroso e inatteso giunge a scuotere la sua coscienza e a concedere un nuovo, rasserenante equilibrio.
Profile Image for Sandra.
959 reviews330 followers
January 10, 2020
Caotico, eccessivo, disordinato: contiene i temi ricorrenti della scrittura di Philip Roth, esposti senza una trama precisa, in modo disordinato, frettoloso. Di sicuro non è il primo libro da cui partire per conoscere lo scrittore Philip Roth, e sono contenta di aver letto capolavori prima di questo libro.
Profile Image for Darwin8u.
1,809 reviews8,999 followers
February 7, 2017
So good. I will have to think more about this one. I loved parts and really liked other parts, but I also know later Roth is nearly perfect, so how do I give this one five stars? Ah, oh well, I'll cross that Carnovsky bridge tomorrow.
Profile Image for Lee Klein .
904 reviews1,042 followers
March 29, 2023
Mostly thoroughly enjoyed settling down with this, especially the scenes with Caesara O’Shea, a sort of Irish version of Brigitte Bardot or maybe Ava Gardner, who the author apparently once knew? A famous movie star who takes a fancy to Nathan and asks him to show her where all the writers hang out. To which Nathan responds The New York Public Library? (The loudest LOL in a book with plentiful silent amusement/smiles and maybe three audible laughs.) Alvin Pepler, with his photographic memory and former game show glory, who relieves himself on Nathan’s handkerchief, foreshadowing Sabbath on a grave a few books later, is an entertaining character. And the whole conceit of persecution anxiety/assassination fears works well, considering the era it describes post-RFK/MLK.

The last stretch corresponded with a breakout section to Miami for Nathan’s father’s death and funeral, which seemed grafted on or appeared as though events in Roth’s contemporary late-‘70s life compelled this turn in his fictional account of his life a dozen years earlier when Portnoy/Carnovsky took off. I see how the ending with his brother and the armed-guard limo ride through transformed Newark syncs and closes the book down but for what’s essentially a comedy it has the progression of tragedy (starts high, ends low). As in the end of The Facts, written around the same period, there’s a relentless quality to the self-analytical questioning, the hocking, this time from Nathan’s brother, although it doesn’t really feel like anyone other than the author animating the character to critique the alter-ego.

But overall seems to demonstrate exactly why Roth has the reputation he has — highly regarded for humor, energetic language, characterization, and cultural insight, albeit with reservations maybe thanks to a sort of automatic excessive relentless lack of restraint that makes it what it is but also detracts from it at the same time?

Generally enjoying, however, my recent immersion in the lesser -- or at least, for me, the previously unread -- Roth.
Profile Image for Shane.
Author 12 books295 followers
August 2, 2020
A Wake-up call for Writers Seeking Fame

Every writer aspiring for fame and fortune would be advised to read this book. It will certainly cool any wannabe’s ardour.

Nathan Zuckerman, Roth’s alter ego, has just vaulted into the millionaire ranks with the success of his fourth novel Carnovsky, a proxy for Roth’s own Portnoy’s Complaint. The problem is that Nathan doesn’t know how to live like a millionaire: he still visits the neighbourhood sandwich shop, travels on the subway and is not very much into socializing. He has just left his third wife because he tires of self contained women and needs to find his freedom (conversely, his first two wives were needy women whom he needed to escape from too). The additional problem is that he is now considered a traitor by the Jews of Newark for having exposed all their quirks in his novel. He feels he is being followed, that the perpetrators mean him and his family bodily harm; how much of this is paranoia vs. reality is revealed as the book unfolds.

Central to his paranoia is a character called Al Peppler who accosts Nathan on the street and sticks with him like a leech. Peppler knows everything about Nathan, and is a two-time war vet who was making it big on a TV game show when he was cut down to size due to his Jewishness, he claims. Peppler is now courting a music producer to get his exposé novel on the state of America converted into a Broadway musical, and wants Nathan’s opinion and approval. When Nathan shies away, he gets threatening phone calls from people demanding ransom money for a kidnap yet to happen on his mother; Nathan wonders whether the voice is that of Peppler.

Nathan’s agent seems to know the answers to this condition, as he has managed many artists through their breakout phase with its attendant psychoses, and tries to get Nathan to scale up: date a Hollywood actress, be seen in society circles, buy a car, upgrade his wardrobe, get a bodyguard. Nathan tries to comply but he is stuck in who he really is, and with the guilt that perhaps he did let his people down with his breakout novel.

The novel suddenly dives into the family as Zuckerman Sr., Nathan’s father, a veteran sufferer of strokes, suffers a fatal coronary. Zuckerman Sr. was a career chiropodist who was also a great letter writer, writing copiously to presidents and vice presidents to express his views on Israel, the Vietnam war and other hot topics of the time. Family members gather around the dying man’s bed in Florida and the dysfunction within this ostensibly stolid family starts to emerge: Nathan’s inability to talk anything meaningful with his father other than the Big Bang theory; reticent dentist brother Harry who followed the family expectation of duty to family over his desire to become an actor and consequently is having multiple affairs with patients and staff while remaining dutifully married to his first and only wife; Nathan’s mother who is reeling from the shock of caring for an overbearing husband over a lifetime and now has to deal with this final mile. Nathan seems to be the only one who has soared free of the family yoke, but when his father’s last word to him is “Bastard,” he agonizes whether he has heard right. Any other word but the dreaded B word would be okay, for that word would reduce everything he has aspired to and achieved into nothing. When Harry finally bursts out and corroborates what the father had said, adding that Nathan is a “heartless and callous bastard” and a “destroyer of Jews” the grim returns of Carnovsky are clear.

It appears that Roth needed to write this book to show the aftermath of his success as a writer. And the launching of a bestseller, especially one that exposes weak points in a community, is not a walk to the bank but the exchange of one set of traumas for another. Nathan Zuckerman remained a good alternative for Roth during his career as a writer, a persona to be assumed after a major work in his ouevre was published so that he could rationalize its outcome not only from the monetary but from the emotional, psychological and spiritual levels. This is a good book for those who are familiar with Roth’s work, and in particular for those who have read Portnoy’s Complaint and other Zuckerman novels.
Profile Image for Fede La Lettrice.
817 reviews85 followers
June 2, 2018
È il primo libro di Roth che leggo dopo la sua morte e questa cosa un po' mi ha fatto effetto. Pubblicato nel 1981, è la continuazione delle vicende (iniziate nel romanzo "Lo scrittore fantasma") che coinvolgono lo scrittore Nathan Zuckerman che adesso, inaspettatamente, arriva al grande successo godendone e subendone conseguenze e contraccolpi (proprio come successe allo stesso Roth dopo la pubblicazione di "Lamento di Portnoy"). Il protagonista deve tenere a bada, durante tutto il romanzo, Alvin Pepler, un personaggio dispotico, folle, molesto, ansiogeno e maniacale che si trasforma da iniziale fan, per quanto invadente, a stalker pretenzioso e furioso. Le incursioni di Pepler nel racconto sono condotte da Roth con grande e viva ironia e quasi oscurano il povero Zuckerman, qui sottotono. Oltre a gestire media, giornalisti, fan e Pepler, Nathan deve fare i conti con un padre che biasima il suo lavoro: fattosi leggere il romanzo del figlio da un 'solerte' amico, ha un infarto. L'epilogo di questo evento, che coincide con il finale del libro e con la sua parte migliore, è molto duro e drammatico; i colpi definitivi, strazianti e più crudeli, Nathan li riceve proprio dalla sua famiglia, dal padre e dal fratello, e Roth trasforma in poche righe, con maestria una commedia in una tragedia esattamente come succede nella vita.
Nonostante i problemi causati dalle interpretazioni soggettive e negative di lettori e critica, la grande vittoria di Zuckerman è l'aver deciso di scrivere e pubblicare un'opera che avrebbe creato disappunto e sdegno, la sua conquista è la libertà.
Ho trovato interessante e stimolante il parallelismo tra le aspettative deluse, l'irrisione da parte della vita, il giudizio della gente (lettori da una parte e spettatori dall'altra) nella vicenda di Zuckerman e in quella di Caesara O'Shea, attrice amica del protagonista (qualcuno vede in lei la Kennedy con cui Roth ebbe una breve frequentazione) delusa dall'esito frivolo della sua fama, rassegnata, soccombente.
Roth si conferma maestro dei dialoghi, precisi, pungenti, ritmati e ci regala un romanzo acuto, ironico, fluido, vivacizzato da continui salti temporali e reso profondo dai temi della vita.

Zuckerman scatenato
Philip Roth
Traduzione: Vincenzo Mantovani
Editore: Einaudi
Pag: 182
Voto: 4/5
Profile Image for Alan.
716 reviews288 followers
October 5, 2023
A nice stroll through the mind of the now famous Nathan Zuckerman. I read the first book in this series, The Ghost Writer, over two years ago. The voice of Roth as Zuckerman is so distinct that you barely need to reacquaint yourself with your surroundings. I’m also pretty sure that Roth himself would have experienced similar situations to what Zuckerman goes through here – being recognized in public when he doesn’t want to be, but he is not certain that he doesn’t want to be, so here he is, dealing with what is. Trying to navigate the sex life of a famous author in the middle of the 20th Century in America. Dealing with the paranoia of fame, but also thinking about the disappointment of his Jewish community in Newark. Not as good as the first book, but still decent.
Profile Image for D.
526 reviews84 followers
February 7, 2019
Hilarious and still eminently readable after more than 35 years. ...
Profile Image for Jason Pettus.
Author 17 books1,444 followers
April 7, 2010
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

As regular readers know, for a long time I've carried a pretty big chip on my shoulder when it comes to the Postmodernist era of literature, which I'm defining here as the period between Kennedy's death in 1963 and September 11th; I suppose it's a natural reaction for any underground artist, in fact, to rebel against the conventional wisdom they were raised on, to yearn for something new and almost diametrically opposite in the arts than what has become the safe status quo. But now that I'm a critic instead of a creative, and especially now that I'm writing the CCLaP 100 essay series (which is as much about examining the grand tapestry of literary history as it is about the individual books themselves), I now find it important to try to understand Postmodernism in a more complex way, to acknowledge not just its limitations but also its strengths, and what led its precepts into becoming the basis for a major movement in the first place. And there's not much of a better way to do this, I thought, than to read the remarkable nine-book series that Philip Roth has written over the decades on this subject, all of them featuring his fictional alter-ego Nathan Zuckerman; because not only is Roth considered one of the greatest writers of the Postmodernist period, but his Zuckerman books are an autobiographical look at his life during the Postmodernist years, from his college days right at the start of the era to his elderly years of our current times, a rare opportunity to examine an entire period of history through the related three-act narrative stories of someone who lived through it all, and who wrote most of the tales in nearly real time to when they were actually happening.

Last year I got a chance to review the first Zuckerman book, 1979's The Ghost Writer, which I encourage you to read first if you haven't already; taking place exactly twenty years previously, it is like I said a look at Roth's early twenties, when he was first breaking into the east-coast literary scene (i.e. getting his first stories published in magazines like The New Yorker), told through the filter of a dinner one night with a Bernard-Malamud- or Saul-Bellow-type mentor, a fellow Jew but a little older and a lot more famous, and who has a complicated relationship with his public reputation as a groundbreaking author of contemporary Jewish literature. (And in fact, now that I've read Bellow's Pulitzer-winning Humboldt's Gift, published just four years before The Ghost Writer, I've come to understand just what an homage Roth's book is to his, both of them laid-back looks at American intellectualism in the post-war period, and what exact role Jews had in it.) Today's book, then, Zuckerman Unbound, although written only two years after The Ghost Writer, skips ahead an entire decade in its setting: it's now 1971, just a year or two since Zuckerman's novel Carnovsky has become a national sensation, a naughty but witty "smart person's sex romp" published at the exact right moment of the countercultural revolution, and which has thrust Zuckerman into the role of spokesman for an entire generation of young, with-it Jews.

And for those who don't know, this is indeed exactly what happened in Roth's real life too -- that after establishing himself at the tail-end of Modernism with a series of stories written in the formal style of such Realists as Henry James, his filthy but funny Portnoy's Complaint from 1969 became a true highlight of the entire countercultural movement, and helped re-define young urban Jews into nebbish yet undeniable sex symbols of a new age (and this in the same years that Woody Allen was doing the same thing in the movie industry). It's something I talk about in detail during my write-up of the first Zuckerman book, but bears repeating, of just how successful such '60s and '70s figures as Roth, Allen, Lenny Bruce, Mel Brooks and others were at "normalizing" the ins-and-outs of Jewish life in the eyes of their mostly Christian mainstream audiences, so much so that we often forget now just how controversial such a thing was back then. As Roth so expertly reminds us in these books, for a long time after World War Two, Jews were of profoundly different minds regarding just how they should present themselves to society in the first place; after all, before the Holocaust, anti-Semitism was a semi-accepted part of life nearly across the planet, with it only being the pure brutality of the concentration camps that finally snapped so many Westerners out of their own anti-Jewish attitudes. Many Jews during the Mid-Century Modernist period thought that they should take advantage of this newfound collective goodwill, that they should as much as possible simply not remind people that Jews even exist, and the few times they do to make sure it's some example of noble selflessness like Anne Frank, the dead diary-writing teen who single-handedly had more to do with defining Judaism in the '50s and '60s than any other individual on the planet.

It was Roth and other young hip Jews of the countercultural period who changed all this, who dared to commit the unspeakable sin of portraying their fellow Jews as actual complex human beings, flaws and tics and all, who dared to talk about such exclusively Jewish subjects in their work as seder and sitting shiva, demanding that mainstream America get caught up to them, instead of them constantly having to dumb down their lives to a lily-white Christian audience. And like I said, although these artists of the Postmodernist period did such a good job at this that we barely even question such a thing anymore, to the generation of Jews who survived the Holocaust this was seen as the ultimate in self-hating behavior, to air their community's dirty laundry to a group of misunderstanding Caucasians who just thirty years ago had been slaughtering their people by the millions, and in these older Jews' minds were just itching for an excuse to start doing so again.

Or to cite an excellent example from the book itself, look at the consternation that is caused by including a spindly loser Jew as a character (based believe it or not on tainted quiz-show fallen hero Herb Stempel, who for a time in the '50s was the most famous living Jew in the entire United States), personally repulsive to most and always with an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory whenever something doesn't go his way...or in other words, Uncle Leo from Seinfeld. ("HELLLLOOO, Jerry!") It's remarkable, I think, that the mention of a character type that now elicits fond and knowing laughter was just forty years ago seen by most Jews as the height of race-sabotaging behavior; and that is the power of Postmodernism, that writers like Roth and others really were able to bring about a world where Seinfeld is now one of the most beloved television shows in history, a world where Yiddish terms now pepper the everyday vernacular of most Christians, and where nearly every suburban grocery store now has an entire aisle just for various ethnic speciality foods from around the world. And that like I said is the whole reason I'm reading the Zuckerman books in the first place, to understand all the remarkable things that the Postmodernists actually accomplished, instead of just always concentrating on the endless snotty irony and pop-culture worship that became unfortunate side-effects of the age.

Ultimately I can give this book no better of a compliment than to state the following, that reading this slyly funny, slow-moving character-based story made me understand what it must've been like to be a middle-aged intellectual in the early '80s -- you know, living in a rehabbed attic loft in Minneapolis or Denver, watching The Big Chill and thirtysomething, reading insightful novels about the human condition whose covers are rendered in big looping script typefaces, having debates at dinner parties over the continued relevance of Norman Mailer. Reading Zuckerman Unbound felt exactly like this, like getting literally transported back to this era, and it's easy to see why it's arguably the best and certainly one of the most popular of all the books in the entire Zuckerman series. It makes me glad that I took on this project in the first place, and I'm now looking highly forward to tackling the next book in the series, 1983's The Anatomy Lesson.
Profile Image for Gabril.
1,018 reviews246 followers
June 10, 2018
“Sai cosa disse Cechov, da grande, della sua giovinezza? Disse che aveva dovuto spremersi il servo dall’anima, goccia dopo goccia. Forse quello che tu dovresti cominciare a spremerti dall’anima è il figlio obbediente”.

Il secondo libro con Zuckerman protagonista vede Nathan al culmine della fama. Ha scritto un libro scandaloso, “Carnovsky”e dalla gente viene unanimemente identificato col suo protagonista. Visto mentre prova un letto per valutarne l’acquisto, viene immaginato acrobata erotico da osservatori sconosciuti. Un ex vincitore di quiz di Newark, in cerca di riscatto, lo aggancia per strada e pretende da lui attenzione illimitata e impossibile risarcimento.
Il prezzo della fama è alto (Lonoff, nel primo libro, lo aveva avvertito); significa anche essere preda di fanatici e mitomani, perseguitato dai detrattori, adulato dagli adulatori, guardato con sospetto dai familiari.

Il tema collaterale è proprio questo: il sacrificio degli affetti più cari è il prezzo dello scatenarsi, ovvero del liberarsi dalle catene del perbenismo, dell’educazione, dell’obbedienza ai valori trasmessi dalla tradizione (l’ebraismo, con tutte le connotazioni drammatiche che conosciamo), e via dicendo. Ciò equivale a praticare un rispetto più profondo e più alto, quello della propria vocazione. Il prezzo però non è mai trattabile.
A Zuckerman costa la rabbia del padre sul letto di morte (e come non ricordare lo schiaffo a Zeno Cosini...), la tacita sofferenza della madre, il ripudio esplicito del fratello minore (bravo ragazzo che sopporta le pene del disamore per amore del sacro vincolo coniugale).

Il ritorno nei luoghi dove Nathan aveva trascorso la sua infanzia felice è un altro incontro con la distruzione: il quartiere è radicalmente trasformato, intorno a quella che era stata la sua casa crescono le erbacce. Un nero che abita da quelle parti gli chiede chi è.
Esemplare la risposta: “-Nessuno,-rispose Zuckerman, e la cosa finì lì. Non sei più il figlio di tuo padre, non sei più il marito di una brava donna, non sei più il fratello di tuo fratello, e non vieni più da nessun posto.”
Profile Image for David Carrasco.
Author 1 book120 followers
June 28, 2025
¿Y si el peor castigo por escribir un libro escandaloso no fuera la censura, sino la fama?

No la fama luminosa del Nobel o de los aplausos cultos. No. Me refiero a esa fama pegajosa, ridícula y sórdida que hace que tu madre te oculte lo que murmuran sus amigas, que tu hermano se avergüence de ti, y que un desconocido en el metro se crea autorizado a preguntarte si lo que escribiste sobre masturbarte es literalmente cierto. Bienvenido al mundo de Nathan Zuckerman. O, mejor dicho, bienvenido al mundo de Roth fingiendo que no es Roth, mientras todos sabemos —y él más que nadie— que lo es.

La liberación de Zuckerman (o Zuckerman desencadenado, como la traducen otras ediciones), es la segunda entrega del ciclo Zuckerman y arranca justo cuando Nathan —ególatra brillante, sexualmente compulsivo y emocionalmente desorientado— se convierte de repente en celebridad tras publicar Carnovsky, una novela obscena y provocadora que todos leen como una confesión personal. No necesitas haber leído El mal de Portnoy para entender lo que está pasando, pero si lo has hecho, el efecto es más turbio, más irónico, más incómodo. Roth se ríe de sí mismo, sí, pero también se expone, se ridiculiza y se destruye. Y a su alter ego lo lanza contra el muro sin previo aviso.

No hay spoilers porque no hacen falta. Esto no es una novela de intriga ni de revelaciones. Es una novela de erosión. Lo que se derrumba aquí no es la trama, sino el sujeto. La identidad. La máscara del escritor. Cuando el yo ficticio se vuelve más real que el yo verdadero, ¿qué queda? Esa es la pregunta. Y también la condena.

Y Roth consigue transmitir esa erosión no solo en la historia, sino en la forma misma de escribir. Lo primero que deslumbra es la prosa. No es torrencial como en Portnoy , pero tampoco se contiene: Roth escribe con una precisión insolente, como quien lanza piedras desde una azotea. Hay lirismo contenido en algunas imágenes, pero lo que manda es el ritmo nervioso, rápido, casi musical. Y los diálogos... madre mía, los diálogos. Son pura dinamita: tensos, divertidos, llenos de doble fondo, como si cada personaje hablara desde su propio pozo de neurosis sin dejar de escuchar (mal) a los demás. Es teatro con metrónomo roto. Cada intercambio tiene algo de pugilato, de malentendido, de comedia cruel. Y, claro, en ese ring verbal, Zuckerman suele ser el boxeador que se tropieza con las cuerdas antes de lanzar un golpe decente.

Y esa misma tensión formal se traslada también al punto de vista. El narrador, en tercera persona, nos ofrece una mirada pegada a la piel de Zuckerman, como si alguien lo estuviera observando desde una cámara flotante, sin que él pueda verla. A veces incluso se desliza hacia la segunda persona, en un juego de desdoblamiento que refuerza el extrañamiento: Zuckerman se ve a sí mismo desde fuera. Ya no se reconoce. No es tanto un narrador omnisciente como un espejo andante: lo que muestra es el reflejo de un yo que se descompone.

En ese marco narrativo tan íntimo y desasosegante, hay momentos que te destrozan con una sola palabra. Y ahí entra la cuestión del padre. No voy a decir lo que ocurre, pero hay un momento final —una palabra, una sola palabra— que no es perdón ni despedida; es ajuste de cuentas. Es el tipo de escena que Roth construye con bisturí: sin melodrama, sin lágrimas, pero con una violencia emocional soterrada que te deja helado. No hay reconciliación. Lo que hay es una última herida, pronunciada con la voz entrecortada de alguien que ya no tiene tiempo de explicarse.

La madre, en cambio, es otro tipo de figura. No se indigna, no lo enfrenta, no lo acusa. Lo protege. Le oculta lo que piensan sus conocidas, intenta amortiguar el escándalo, como si aún pudiera envolver a su hijo en la misma tela con la que lo arropaba de niño. Pero esa contención, ese silencio maternal, es infinitamente más devastador que cualquier reproche. Roth no la convierte en una caricatura de madre judía. La convierte en un personaje trágico, sin levantar la voz.

Y luego están las mujeres, ese punto caliente en toda la literatura —y la vida— de Roth. Porque si algo define a Zuckerman —además del ego— es su incapacidad para vincularse con ellas de forma real. Hay deseo, por supuesto. Fantasías. Diálogos brillantes y situaciones grotescas. Pero el cuerpo femenino, en esta novela, siempre es campo de batalla: lugar de conquista, de frustración, de huida. Las mujeres con las que se cruza son más lúcidas que él, más prácticas, menos fascinadas por su propio reflejo. Y eso lo desconcierta. No sabe amar sin convertir el amor en literatura. Y ahí está su derrota.

Y no menos explosiva es la galería de personajes con los que se rodea. El desfile de secundarios es uno de los puntos fuertes del libro. Algunos son paródicos, otros trágicos, y otros directamente grotescos. No por casualidad aparece Alvin Pepler, un personaje ficticio inspirado en escándalos mediáticos reales como el de Herb Stempel, protagonista del famoso caso Quiz Show. Pepler funciona como un espejo deformado del propio Zuckerman: un judío brillante, trastornado por la fama, pero sin el consuelo de la literatura auténtica. Roth no tiene piedad con ninguno de los dos. Personajes que parecen sacados del casting de un reality con guion escrito por Kafka y Woody Allen a la vez. Lo trágico y lo absurdo, perfectamente mezclados.

Curioso el título, tanto el de mi edición, La liberación de Zuckerman, como el original, Zuckerman Unbound —probablemente más fiel al Zuckerman desatado de otras ediciones—, que juega con la idea de liberación y ruptura. Porque Roth hace justo lo contrario: esta aparente liberación es en realidad la apertura de una jaula invisible, un vértigo insoportable donde la fama, la identidad y el éxito literario se convierten en cadenas aún más pesadas. Zuckerman, ese personaje que parecía romper sus ataduras con Carnovsky, descubre que la libertad que ansiaba no es sino una cuerda floja sin red, un lugar sin suelo donde la nostalgia por las cadenas rotas se mezcla con el miedo a caer al vacío. Esa paradoja condensa el meollo de la novela: estar “desatado” no significa estar libre, sino estar perdido, a la deriva entre dos prisiones emocionales.

Además, todo el libro está atravesado por una cuestión que Roth jamás disimula y que es una constante en toda su producción literaria: la identidad judía. Pero no tratada como bandera ni como orgullo narrativo, sino como peso, como conflicto irresuelto. Zuckerman —como Roth— no escribe a pesar de ser judío, ni desde su identidad judía: escribe contra ella, o al menos contra la forma en que esa identidad le ha sido impuesta. Y al hacerlo, provoca el rechazo de su familia, de su comunidad, y sobre todo de aquellos que le reprochan el haber aireado “la ropa sucia” de su cultura. El antisemitismo externo apenas aparece; el que duele de verdad es el que viene desde dentro: el juicio familiar, la culpa, el miedo a la traición. Como si escribir libremente fuera un acto de apostasía.

Y esa tensión, esa culpa que no cesa, también se filtra en la estructura misma del libro: cada elección narrativa parece nacida de ese conflicto latente, como si Roth escribiera desde una fisura. En lo formal, la novela también sorprende. Literariamente, La liberación de Zuckerman (Zuckerman desencadenado) es menos volcánica que otras obras de Roth, pero más incisiva. Es como si hubiera apagado el fuego, pero dejado las brasas encendidas. Y se notan. Cada escena tiene una tensión subterránea que te obliga a leer despacio, a detenerte. Esta no es una novela para devorar. Es una novela para rumiar. Roth exige del lector un ritmo pausado, como quien no quiere que se le escape ni una grieta del edificio que se está resquebrajando.

Claro, llegados a este punto seguramente te preguntarás: ¿Es necesario haber leído otras novelas de Roth para entender esta? Pues mira, no. Pero si has leído Portnoy , el eco es inevitable. La liberación de Zuckerman (Zuckerman desencadenado) funciona como su espejo roto. Y si más adelante lees La visita al maestro o La orgía de Praga, verás que todo este ciclo es en realidad una conversación interminable entre ficción, autobiografía, y parodia. Una conversación neurótica, brillante y peligrosamente honesta.

Porque Roth, cuando se obsesiona, no lo suelta. Y lo que empieza con Zuckerman no termina ahí: Los hechos, donde Roth confronta a Zuckerman directamente; o La conjura contra América, donde la ficción histórica se mezcla con la herida cultural. Incluso hay algo del Philip Roth más tardío, el de Elegía, donde el cuerpo y la enfermedad son ya parte de la identidad narrativa. Pero aquí lo que se pone en juego no es el cuerpo, sino el yo literario: esa criatura ficticia que, una vez liberada, ya no puede volver a su jaula.

Por eso esta novela no es una sátira. Ni una venganza. Es una autopsia en tiempo real. Roth disecciona lo que le ha ocurrido tras el éxito de Portnoy , pero en lugar de escribir unas memorias lastimeras, inventa a Zuckerman y lo lanza al foso. Y se ríe. Y sufre. Y lo hace con un talento que da rabia.

Por eso La liberación de Zuckerman (Zuckerman desencadenado) no habla solo del precio de la fama. Habla del precio de escribir con absoluta libertad. De inventar una ficción tan potente que termina devorando a su autor. De convertirse en personaje público y perder, en el proceso, el derecho al matiz. Y al anonimato. Y al perdón.

Y ahí está el milagro: que Roth, en plena descomposición identitaria, siga escribiendo con esa lucidez que corta y con ese humor que, de tan cruel, termina salvando. Porque si algo queda claro después de leer esta novela es que en la casa de los espejos de Zuckerman no hay salida. Y, a decir verdad, después de lo leído, tampoco te apetece mucho buscarla. Al menos no sin una copa cerca. Y aun así, no quieres salir de ahí. No puedes. Y, de algún modo, tampoco quieres ser tú quien apague la luz.
Profile Image for Cristians. Sirb.
312 reviews91 followers
October 7, 2025
Nu la fel de “consistent” ca alte romane de-ale lui Roth. Pe alocuri, ar putea să pară o schiță de piesă de teatru în câteva acte. Și nu-i din cauza transpunerii în românește - de data asta.

Dar tot rămâne să notez aici vigilența comică a autorului meu favorit, hiperatenția la detalii ce îi folosesc să-și nimicească cu sarcasm personajele, stilul său frust și tăios, duioșia greu mascată sub o avalanșă de criticism față de familie, nostalgia inhibată sub bățoșenie față de locurile și întâmplările copilăriei.

PS: uit să menționez traducerea = nu mi-a plăcut. Nu pot uita cum doamna cu tradusul mi-a ruinat lectura la Teatrul lui Sabbath.
Profile Image for Simona.
967 reviews227 followers
June 13, 2014
Roth è un genio. L'ho sempre pensato, l'ho sempre detto e questo romanzo ne è l'ennesima conferma.
Chi conosce Roth, saprà certamente chi è Nathan Zuckerman. Nel caso non lo sapeste, no problem. Ci sono qui io pronta a spiegarvelo.
Nathan Zuckerman è l'alter ego di Philip Roth,. Nathan Zuckerman è uno scrittore che, dopo aver conosciuto la fama che il suo libro "Carnovksy" gli ha regalato deve affrontare tutto ciò che la fama e il successo comporta e porta con sé. Un successo che porta la firma di uno scrittore stanco di essere fermato dai fan, dalle persone, stanco di essere quello che è.
Forse non è il romanzo migliore di Roth, ma in esso vi sono molti dei temi che confluiranno nelle opere successive: dalle donne al sesso ai rapporti con la famiglia sino alla scrittura. Una scrittura che mi ha permesso di amare e conoscere questo grande scrittore.
Profile Image for robin friedman.
1,935 reviews398 followers
October 9, 2021
After Carnovsky

Philip Roth's novel "Zuckerman Bound" tells the story of novelist Nathan Zuckerman in the immediate aftermath of Zuckerman's great popular success with his novel, "Carnovsky". Roth's novel is the second of three novels and an epilogue dealing with the life of Zuckerman which Roth would group together as "Zuckerman Bound". The novels each have strongly autobiographical components, but it would be a mistake to consider Zuckerman as a simple stand-in or alter ego for Roth.

Told in the third person narrative voice, "Zuckerman Bound" is set largely in New York City in 1969 during the early part of the Nixon presidency. The violence and protests of the Vietnam era form an important backdrop to the book. Zuckerman's book sounds much like Roth's own novel "Portnoy's Complaint" which brought him notoriety, wealth, and fame. In discussing the writer's life and the writer's relationship to his characters, the book uses a mirroring effect. There is first Philip Roth, his relationship to his novel, "Portnoy's Complaint" and his relationship to the character he created, Zuckerman. Then, there is the character, Zuckerman, and his relationship to his fictitious novel "Carnovsky". At one point in the book Zuckerman reads a draft review of "Carnovsky" for a character who, among other things, is a wanna be writer and reviewer; and critiques it for the benefit of both character and reader.

This book is entertaining and relatively straightforward to read. There are long ranting speeches and scenes and much detail about persons and places. Yet the book is also highly serious. Roth explores the nature of the writer's life and the isolation it requires and enforces. The book also is a story of background and family, of the difficulty in any life in setting out on one's own. In the novel, Zuckerman tries to understand his search for independence through reflections on "Carnovsky" on his family, on his hometown of Newark, New Jersey,on his three failed marriages, and on his Jewishness.

"Carnovsky" became famous because of its blunt exploration of male sexuality and sexual frustration, rare in a novel of the time. While higly popular, the novel drew criticism for its portrayal of American Jewish life and for its portrayal of what were thought to be intimate details of the lives of Carnovsky's family. These factors reach back, of course, to Roth and to "Portnoy's Complaint." Zuckerman in the novel must fight off both adoring fans and threatening critics.

The first part of the book develops Zuckerman's relationship with a fan, Alvin Pepler, who appears out of the blue. Pepler is based upon a historical character who appeared on the corrupt television quiz shows of the 1950s. He bothers Zuckerman about his own writing, including the draft review mentioned earlier. He is a comic character. Zuckerman also has a short affair with a famous actress and shows regret over the collapse of his third marriage.

The focus of the book pivots to Zuckerman's aged parents who have retired to Florida. His hardworking father has been in a nursing home for four years and in his last breath curses his wayward son for his attitude towards Judaism and towards family. The book develops Zuckerman's relationship with his younger brother, Henry, who acted responsibly in his parents' eyes by becoming a dentist and by marrying a college sweetheart, and with his mother. Zuckermann comes to both a greater degree of understanding of his own family with the death of his father and, if possible, to a greater degree of distancing.

Besides being the story of a novel and of a novelist writing about a novelist, Zuckerman's story is developed through a wealth of literary allusions. They include Aristotle, Kierkegaard, Freud, James Joyce, Mary Mapes Dodge (author of "Hans Brinkner and the Silver Skates"), and Thomas Wolfe, among others. Franz Kafka, in his tormented life and writing, plays a large role. Zuckerman quotes Kafka at a critical moment: "I believe that we should read only those books that bite and sting us. If a book we are reading does not arouse us with a blow to the head, then why read it?" So too, with the provocations and anguish of Zuckerman's "Carnovsky" and Roth's "Portnoy".

With all its humor and irreverence, "Zuckerman' Unbound" is a coming of age story for adults.

Robin Friedman
Profile Image for Gauss74.
461 reviews92 followers
August 10, 2020
Il secondo capitolo della trilogia che vede nascere il personaggio di Nathan Zuckerman, lo vede alle prese con il successo, ed è un' occasione per Philip Roth per consegnare ai lettori la sua visione degli aspetti più impegnativi della notorietà.
Tema quanto mai diffuso ed attuale (un cantante come Luciano Ligabue arriverà a dedicargli una canzone "tra palco e realtà", che mi è venuta spesso in mente leggendo questo libro), reso come al solito alla perfezione.
Secondo il grande scrittore di Newark, la notorietà toglie alcune fatiche (il peso dell'indifferenza altrui, la fatica di sbarcare il lunario) per sostituirle con altre. Soprattutto lo schiacciante peso con cui gli anonimi ammiratori giudicano il famoso ("ognuno sceglie la tua verità", canta Liga), ma ancora di più lo schiacciante peso con cui le persone cercano di strapparti un pezzo di te stesso per vivere al tuo posto.

Dal momento del successo non c'è gesto, parola o azione di Nathan Zuckerman che non sia soggetto a giudizio. E non c'è momento che non sia minacciato da più parti da parte di persone alla ricerca di rivalsa, di notorietà, di denaro, comunque alla ricerca di un riscatto che magari la notorietà del VIP di turno può concedere. E' un romanzo breve profondamente umoristico, secondo me. Perchè il tema è di quelli drammatici o comunque profondamente tristi (personaggi vuoti che ruotano intorno al grande scrittore alla ricerca di un po' di carta o di brillantini per riempire le loro vite), descritti però su pagine scoppiettanti di Humour. Ed in questo, lo sappiamo, Philip Roth è un maestro.

Perchè allora "scatenato"? La traduzione da Unbound è un po' fuorviante, sempre secondo il mio parere. Perchè scatenato fa pensare ad un toro, a qualcosa di violento, istintivo, fuori controllo. Invece questo capitolo della storia di Zuckerman parla di una transizione dolorosa, traumatica, ma graduale e consapevole. Si dovrebbe parlare di "slegato". Da cosa? dai suoi legami umani, affettivi, sentimentali. Il ruolo dello scrittore di successo non tollera la conservazione di legami di questo tipo, perchè inevitabilmente lo scrittore di successo usa le persone che gli sono più vicine come strumenti letterari, mettendo in piazza ciò che di più hanno da nascondere.

Che poi lo faccia davvero non ha importanza. Perchè "ognuno sceglie la tua verità", e nelle pagine di uno scrittore da milioni di copie, chi gli sta vicino cercherà sempre la falsa intenzione, il subdolo riferimento, comunque se stesso. Perchè, lo sappiamo da sempre, l' unica cosa peggiore di essere insultato è essere ignorato.

Non sono sicuro se questo sia vero, conosciamo scrittori famosi con una solidissima situazione faamiliare. Però è un aspetto della fama su cui è valsa la pena riflettere, magari ascoltando la canzone di Liga e sfogliando le pagine di questo libro piccolo, ben scritto ed a tratti piuttosto divertente.
Profile Image for Richard Moss.
478 reviews10 followers
September 13, 2017
The second outing for Roth's alter ego Zuckerman sees him achieving remarkable success.

His novel Carnovsky is a sensation - turning him into a celebrity. But with fame also comes notoriety. The sexual nature of the novel leaves Zuckerman facing enmity as well as adulation.

The parallels with Roth are plain. For Carnovsky, you can substitute Roth's second novel Portnoy's Complaint with its onanistic obsession.

Zuckerman Unbound is perhaps a kind of apologia for Portnoy's Complaint (although that's a book I love), but it is also very funny.

Roth creates a great nemesis for Zuckerman in the shape of quiz contestant Alvin Pepler, who seems to be stalking Zucker, and may have malevolent intentions. There are echoes of Pupkin in Scorsese's King of Comedy in Pepler.

And even 35 years after its publication (and 50 years after its set), Zuckerman Unbound feels very contemporary in its depiction of celebrity. There may be no social media, but Pepler feels like a classic troll. And the same celebrity feeding frenzy with its half truths and downright lies is present and correct. It's hard to read whether Pepler is a harmless eccentric, or a murderous stalker.

But the novel takes a different direction in its final pages, becoming more poignant and sad as we spend time at the death bed of Zuckerman's father, lending it a surprising depth, and making it more than mere comic confection.

Zuckerman Unbound may not be up there with Roth's later state-of-the-nation novels, or indeed be as compelling as Zuckerman's first outing in The Ghost Writer, but it still has lots to offer, not least the ever-present quality of Roth's prose.

193 reviews52 followers
February 16, 2016
Philip Roth è un grandissimo scrittore. Ne sono sicuro. Uno il cui nome inizia con Phil è sicuramente un mito.

Ho iniziato con un'ironia banale, non molto riuscita, per descrivere la sensazione che mi ha lasciato questo libro. Roth può fare meglio.

Volevo conoscere Philip Roth ed ho pensato di farlo da questo libro quasi senza trama. La mia amica Martina sostiene che "leggere libri senza trama equivale a vedere la vera anima di una persona senza essere condizionati dal suo aspetto". Ispirandomi a Martina ho scelto questo libro, il secondo della serie sullo scrittore Zuckerman, per approcciare lo stile e le tematiche di Philip Roth.

La trama è infatti debole. Il libro è costituito da una sequenza di belle scene che ruotano attorno a Zuckerman.

Lo stile è senza dubbio scorrevole ed ironico, ma l'ironia avrebbe potuto essere migliore. Non mi sembra al livello di un Böll ( Opinioni di un clown) o di un Simenon ( L'uomo che guardava passare i treni).
I dialoghi, molto intensi e ben strutturati, sono invece il punto di forza del libro.

Come esempio d'ironia riporto una corrispondenza letteraria tra una certa Julia e Zuckerman. Divertente il riferimento alla ricchezza, ma avevo aspettative troppo elevate.

《 Saresti disposto, così, d'impulso, a fare un viaggio con me in Europa, durante le vacanze? Sono pratica della Svizzera (ho un conto segreto, numerato, presso la maggiore banca elvetica) e mi piacerebbe iniziarti ad alcune fra le più surreali e commoventi esperienze che si possono fare in quel paese [...] Potremmo visitare assieme le famose fabbriche di cioccolata, i solidissimi istituti bancari, la cascata presso la quale Sherlock Holmes incontro' il suo destino... Occorre che seguiti?
Julia, la Non-Tanto-Pazza
c/c numerati 776043

Cara Giulia, neanch'io sono tanto pazzo e rispondo di no quindi al tuo invito. Vorrei essere più cordiale, poiché tu mi usi tanta cortesia e sei tanto affettuosa, per non parlare del tuo spirito e della tua ricchezza. Ma temo che dovrai visitare le fabbriche di cioccolata senza di me. Tuo, Nathan Zuckerman
Bankers Trust 4863589 》


Anche le tematiche sono appena accennate. Il rapporto con le donne, la fedeltà, l'attrazione verso le star, il rapporto letteratura vs. realtà. Quest'ultima è probabilmente l'unica tematica che unisce l'intero romanzo.

«Prima vanno a letto con la tua immagine e, dopo, vanno a letto con la tua truccatrice. Non appena si rendono conto che il tuo "te" non è il "te" del mondo, ci restano delusi.»

Questa frase mi sembra d'averla già sentita nel film "Notting Hill", quando Anna Scott cita Rita Hayworth "Gli uomini vanno a letto con Gilda e si risvegliano con me" (Gilda e' la protagonista di un film della Hayworth del 1946).

Oltre a queste temi piu leggeri, sono presenti tematiche più serie, di vario genere. Dalle ossessioni interiori (le nostre paure) a quelle esteriori (lo stalking verso le star); dall'ebraismo alla cultura di massa, dove le persone continuano a vedere in tv quiz taroccati (queste due tematiche nella parte iniziale); dai rapporti con i familiari alla morte (queste nella parte finale).

Ho precisato in quale parte del libro i temi vengono trattati (incasinando la frase con troppe parentesi) per evidenziare che le tematiche sono solamente accennate e non sono comuni a tutto il libro. Probabilmente saranno sviluppate nei libri più importanti di Philip Roth.

Questo suo libro mi ha in parte deluso, però mi ha dato un assaggio del suo stile e delle sue tematiche. Entrambi notevoli, nonostante mi aspettassi meglio.

Personaggi 5
Stile 4+         (speravo 5)
Tematiche 4+     (speravo 5)
Trama 2
Coinvolgimento 2

Voto medio 17,5/5 = 3,5

Avevo aspettative molto alte, per questo motivo la recensione manca un po' d'entusiasmo. 
Alla prossima, Philip!!

-----------------------

Edit: Grazie Natalia per avermi involontariamente ricordato che tre mesi fa avrei dovuto correggere i 200 errori

Nuovo voto (profilo): 6 su 10.


Profile Image for Marcello S.
637 reviews288 followers
September 12, 2016
Un po’ sconslusionato.
Nathan Zuckerman a cui accadono cose.

In un certo senso manca la gestione delle parti, manca l’arrangiamento.
A tratti sembra di leggere dei siparietti tragicomici.
E questo penalizza la visione d’insieme.

Per il resto si legge facile e qualche momento godibile c’è, che la classe felpata di Roth non scompare d’un tratto in cantina.
Ma un po’ pochino per farmi sobbalzare.

Riservato ai fedeli. [65/100]
Profile Image for Gabriela Pistol.
631 reviews247 followers
August 31, 2025
3.5
Un Zuckerman mai degrabă dezlegat decât dezlănțuit. "Dezlănțuit" te face să te gândești la sensul metaforic, la furtunos, impulsiv, furios, de neoprit. Dar volumul ăsta e, de fapt, despre ruperea lanțurilor familiale, relațiilor care l-ar fi putut frâna pe scriitor (poate și pe bărbat).

E destul de limpede scris în final (s-ar putea ca finalurile să fie partea cea mai reușită din cărțile lui Roth, ceea ce nu le iese prea des majorității scriitorilor, dar am impresia că lui îi iese de fiecare dată): "Nu mai ești fiul niciunui bărbat, nu mai ești soțul niciunei femei bune la inimă, nu mai ești fratele fratelui tău și nici nu mai vii de nicăieri".
Profile Image for your brilliant friend.
116 reviews14 followers
July 27, 2025
'... You have to have a plot, like in Hamlet or anything else first-class....Does Hamlet get up from the stage and say I don't want to die at the end of the play? No, his part is over and he lies there. That is the difference, in point of fact, between schlock and art. Schlock goes every which way and couldn't care less about anything but the buck, and art is controlled, art is managed, art is always rigged. That is how it takes hold of the human heart.'


It occurs to me now that this is the first Philip Roth novel I have finished, and the fourth I own. It is as quirky and charming an introduction to the notorious novelist Nathan Zuckerman as I could ever hope for, though I might have encountered him in my last attempt at Roth, in American Pastoral. I didn't go far enough into it and I don't remember it that well, but I don't think I have such worries with this book, which is memorable, and, if forgotten, small enough to read again in an afternoon and a night, to again see Zuckerman set free—unbound—by his old man's death. By the end, he may be damned, cursed, fucked, but he is free, no longer any man's son, [...] no longer some good woman's husband, [...]no longer [his] brother's brother, and [he] doesn't come from anywhere anymore, either. He is Zuckerman truly unbound.
Profile Image for Ryan.
110 reviews6 followers
March 12, 2023
Zuckerman, now at roughly the same moment in his life and career as Roth was following the publication and runaway success of Portnoy's Complaint (plus a couple of extra crises for good measure, including having his father in a nursing home following a debilitating stroke), is a man being pulled in a number of different directions at once and feeling increasingly untethered to anything in his life on which he could formerly rely: he's broken up with his third wife, he's reacting badly to his newly minted celebrity status, he's receiving unwanted phone calls constantly (including from someone threatening to kidnap his mother if Zuckerman doesn't fork over $50,000) and this despite having an unlisted number and an answering service, he's grappling with feelings of guilt over having exposed his family to the attention of the press and public because of what he wrote in his Portnoy-esque lurid bestseller Carnovsky, and by the end of the book he will have been called a "bastard" with the last breath of a dying loved one. The second of Roth's acclaimed "Zuckerman Bound" trilogy (plus epilogue novella), Zuckerman Unbound trades the surgical precision and thematic perfection of The Ghost Writer for something a bit looser in its construction; whereas that book was structured like a brilliant piece of chamber music, with corresponding contrapuntal sections and recurring, nested motifs, Zuckerman Unbound is basically a series of scenes/set pieces that just denonstrate, one after the other, how utterly at sea Roth's protagonist (and stand-in) is, culminating in a devastating trip to his boyhood home, to which the place in its present state bears little resemblance. It's a very good book, full of well-drawn details and first-rate dialogue (not to mention tidbits that, having just read the big Blake Bailey bio of Roth a little while back, were familiar to me as having been drawn from his real experiences), including Roth's signature blend of skin-crawling, cringe-inducing awkwardness and drama with side-splitting humor (the image of Zuckerman casually walking away from his spot outside an ice cream parlor in which "quiz show king" Alvin Pepler is buying him an ice cream only to break into a sprint seconds later had me cackling wildly), but I can't help feeling that much of this ground (i.e. the family drama of being a writer who holds nothing back on the page) was covered better not only in The Ghost Writer but in My Life as a Man and, more or less, in The Professor of Desire (though Kepesh isn't a writer of fiction there); I also didn't feel the same level of complete mastery was on display at some points, as a few of the scenes (the initial encounter with Pepler for one) began to wear out their welcome before they'd ended. Nonetheless, a very good book from an always engaging writer, and I'm eager to move on to The Anatomy Lesson to see what's next for Zuckerman.
Profile Image for Trin.
2,272 reviews676 followers
May 25, 2018
The day before Philip Roth died, this book appeared on my office's giveaway shelf and I snagged it. I don't think this coincidence has any cosmic significance, but it sure was convenient.

I think Roth has fallen out of favor a bit among my peers -- even in his NYT obituary he was linked so emphatically to Updike and Bellow, and it's true that the sex-crazed male novelists of the middle of the last century now seem perverse only in their ridiculousness. Certainly the sexual attitudes that once seemed daringly offensive now come off as offensive only because they're dated and out of touch. (See, for example, John Updike not understanding the very great mystery of how women pee).

But I've always thought Roth stood out from this pack. He wrote some ridiculous sex stuff, sure, but always with a level of self-awareness and humor. And his work was about so many things, as --coincidentally, conveniently -- this novel perfectly illustrates. In it, Nathan Zuckerman has just struck it rich with his version of Portnoy, and the darkly comedic cost of fame is rippling through his life, starting with strangers ogling him on the bus and escalating to kidnapping threats against his mother. But really the book is about how Zuckerman's choices, in work and in love, have affected his relationships with his ex-wife, his parents, his brother; not for nothing is the final chapter called "Look Homeward, Angel." Like Thomas Wolfe, Zuckerman can never go home again; none of us can go back and do it again, or ever recapture the past.

But Roth, now to my great sadness wholly confined to that past, is still worth reading and remembering and rediscovering. And I think, unlike those contemporaries of his, he will stand the test of time.
Profile Image for julieta.
1,317 reviews41.2k followers
November 3, 2008
What I feel is the most important question on this book, was asked in the first one (ghost writer)... Does the artist have no responsibility towards his loved ones, his family? His father dies (with the word "bastard" on his lips), and once his brother is pushed a bit, you see how much he despises what zuckerman has made of himself (and his family), with his writing. "Do you really think conscience is a jewish invention from which you are immune?.."... The fame factor is also a pretty funny part, the way other people act with him, and how they seem to own him, most of the time thinking he is the character in his book. Very funny, and sad at the same time.
Profile Image for PJ Mblt.
158 reviews32 followers
October 3, 2017
Even slightly better than The Ghost Writer.. amazing characters, beautiful prose.. 4*
Profile Image for Amirsaman.
493 reviews262 followers
August 30, 2017
📖 #پیشنهادکتاب
🎞 #فیله‌سین

به این نتیجه رسیده‌ام که اساسا خواندن رمان سخت است، توجه به جزیی‌بینی‌های نویسنده‌ی رمان تمرکز بالایی می‌خواهد. شاید به همین خاطر است که اخیرا بیشتر مطالعاتم رمان نبوده‌اند.
زوکرمن، با کتابش مشهور شده است و این کتاب شرح چند روز زندگی او پس از فروش یک میلیون نسخه‌ی کتابش است.
سبک فیلیپ راث - حالا بعد از خواندن سومین رمان از او با اطمینان بیشتری می‌گویم - این است که پیرنگ اصلی ساده‌ای را برمی‌گزیند، و به فراخور موقعیت، غرق گذشته‌ای که آن موقعیت را به وجود آورده می‌شود. یک آن داستان درباره‌ی یک شخصیت فرعی می‌شود.
الکس راس پری در ۲۰۱۳ فیلم «بشنو فیلیپ» را بر اساس آثار اولیه‌ی فیلیپ راث می‌سازد. فیلم پری یک شاهکار است و بارها آن را دیده‌ام. اما چیزی که این «اقتباس» را خاص و یکتا می‌کند، این است که فیلم، «فرم» نویسندگی فیلیپ راث را اقتباس می‌کند، و نه لزوما اتفاقات داستان را. در فیلم پری، پیرنگ با صدای راوی زندگی فیلیپ فریدمن شروع می‌شود. بعد از دقایقی زندگی دوست‌دختر فیلیپ روایت می‌شود و بعدتر حتا روابط آیک و ملانی و مادری که هیچ‌وقت نمی‌بینیمش هم آشکار می‌شود. در کتاب‌های راث هم راوی تبدیل می‌شود به افکار شخصیت داستان و بعد می‌شود یک دانای کل و به تعبیر من جایگاه یک «فرا-راوی» را برای خود می‌سازد.
این تاثیر پذیری از ادبیات و مسخش به سینما کار نابی است، کاری که فقط از الکس راس پری جوان برآمده و فیلمش - و فیلم‌هایش - را شاهکار تمام عیار کرده است.
درباره‌ی گانه‌ی اول این مجموعه (این کتاب گانه‌ی دوم است) در گودریدز نوشته بودم. ترجمه‌ی سمی در این کتاب بسیار بهتر است از آن کتاب اول.

۳/۵
Profile Image for Giulia_ (_didolcezzeedifurori_).
169 reviews3 followers
May 9, 2020
Che c’entravano, comunque, quei libri con suo padre? Se per suo padre avessero mai significato ciò che la loro scoperta, a scuola, aveva significato per lui, tutto sarebbe stato diverso, la sua famiglia, la sua infanzia, la sua vita. Così, invece di pensare i pensieri dei grandi pensatori sul tema della morte, Zuckerman pensò i suoi.
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