PHILIP ROTH won the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. In 1998 he received the National Medal of Arts at the White House and in 2002 the highest award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Gold Medal in Fiction. He twice won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He won the PEN/Faulkner Award three times. In 2005 The Plot Against America received the Society of American Historians’ Prize for “the outstanding historical novel on an American theme for 2003–2004.” Roth received PEN’s two most prestigious awards: in 2006 the PEN/Nabokov Award and in 2007 the PEN/Bellow Award for achievement in American fiction. In 2011 he received the National Humanities Medal at the White House, and was later named the fourth recipient of the Man Booker International Prize. He died in 2018.
“Roth’s book has the elegance of a fable and the tragic
inevitability of a Greek drama.” —The New Yorker
“An artfully constructed, suspenseful novel with a cunning twist
towards the end.” —J. M. Coetzee, New York Review of Books
“Elegant. . . . Suffused with precise and painful tenderness....
Stands out for its warmth.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Painful and powerful.... Somberly but vividly, [Roth] recreates
the panic and fear triggered by polio.” —USA Today
“A perfectly proportioned Greek tragedy played out against the
background of the polio epidemic that swept Newark, New Jersey,
during the summer of 1944.” —Financial Times
“Like a very well-executed O. Henry story.... A parable about the
embrace of conscience.... and what its suffocating, life-denying
consequences can be.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
“Yet another small triumph from one of our native artists largest
in spirit. And by small I mean in length of the book.... This dual
portrait, of a neighborhood and of a man quite representative of
the times when trouble struck his neighborhood with lethal force,
gives this new novel a singular appeal.” —Chicago Tribune
“Roth writes a lean, vigorous prose that burns with the intensity
of his purpose. It flows smoothly even when he wrestles with the
knottiest of philosophical problems.” —Plain Dealer
“Exquisite. It is utterly straightforward American realism that
could almost have been written not long after Letting Go and
Goodbye Columbus at the beginning of Roth’s career.” —Buffalo
News
“Roth is all about character and how we are shaped by improbable
circumstances, and here he offers up insight to match his many
years on the job.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Grippingly and with documentary expertise, it tells a story set in
the devastating 1944 polio epidemic.... Roth writes vividly of
heat-choked streets and cramped houses.” —Boston Globe
“Classic Roth: handsomely written, historically evocative and
brutally honest about human emotions.... Impressive.” —Richmond
Times Dispatch
“Roth’s prose, that magnificent voice of his, has always fed off
the twin passions of lust and rage.” —The New Republic
“Roth does an excellent job of conjuring up the fear that polio
caused before the arrival of a vaccine.... Cantor is one of Roth’s
best creations and the atmosphere of terror is masterfully
fashioned.” —The Daily Telegraph (UK)
“Roth has always been terrific at rendering the times and places
close to his own youth. And in Nemesis, he masterly contrasts the
sweaty, close world of all-day ball games and nights spent on front
stoops with affluence and young love developing in the cool
countryside.... A quick, propulsive read full of chiseled
storytelling.” —Chicago Sun-Times
“Some of the most scathing and beautiful prose of our time.” —The
Toronto Star
“Part of the appeal—and the strangeness—of Roth’s novel is the way
that it renders this situation, with its seemingly undramatic topic
and unlikely protagonist, without hyperbole, yet maintains a grasp
on the tension and ethical drama.” —The Times Literary Supplement
(London)
"Roth's book has the elegance of a fable and the tragic
inevitability of a Greek drama." -The New Yorker
"An artfully constructed, suspenseful novel with a cunning twist
towards the end." -J. M. Coetzee, New York Review of Books
"Elegant. . . . Suffused with precise and painful tenderness....
Stands out for its warmth." -The New York Times Book
Review
"Painful and powerful.... Somberly but vividly, [Roth] recreates
the panic and fear triggered by polio." -USA Today
"A perfectly proportioned Greek tragedy played out against the
background of the polio epidemic that swept Newark, New Jersey,
during the summer of 1944." -Financial Times
"Like a very well-executed O. Henry story.... A parable about the
embrace of conscience.... and what its suffocating, life-denying
consequences can be." -Michiko Kakutani, The New York
Times
"Yet another small triumph from one of our native artists largest
in spirit. And by small I mean in length of the book.... This dual
portrait, of a neighborhood and of a man quite representative of
the times when trouble struck his neighborhood with lethal force,
gives this new novel a singular appeal." -Chicago Tribune
"Roth writes a lean, vigorous prose that burns with the intensity
of his purpose. It flows smoothly even when he wrestles with the
knottiest of philosophical problems." -Plain Dealer
"Exquisite. It is utterly straightforward American realism that
could almost have been written not long after Letting Go and
Goodbye Columbus at the beginning of Roth's career." -Buffalo
News
"Roth is all about character and how we are shaped by improbable
circumstances, and here he offers up insight to match his many
years on the job." -San Francisco Chronicle
"Grippingly and with documentary expertise, it tells a story set in
the devastating 1944 polio epidemic.... Roth writes vividly of
heat-choked streets and cramped houses." -Boston Globe
"Classic Roth: handsomely written, historically evocative and
brutally honest about human emotions.... Impressive."
-Richmond Times Dispatch
"Roth's prose, that magnificent voice of his, has always fed off
the twin passions of lust and rage." -The New
Republic
"Roth does an excellent job of conjuring up the fear that polio
caused before the arrival of a vaccine.... Cantor is one of Roth's
best creations and the atmosphere of terror is masterfully
fashioned." -The Daily Telegraph (UK)
"Roth has always been terrific at rendering the times and places
close to his own youth. And in Nemesis, he masterly contrasts the
sweaty, close world of all-day ball games and nights spent on front
stoops with affluence and young love developing in the cool
countryside.... A quick, propulsive read full of chiseled
storytelling." -Chicago Sun-Times
"Some of the most scathing and beautiful prose of our time."
-The Toronto Star
"Part of the appeal-and the strangeness-of Roth's novel is the way
that it renders this situation, with its seemingly undramatic topic
and unlikely protagonist, without hyperbole, yet maintains a grasp
on the tension and ethical drama." -The Times Literary
Supplement
(London)
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