Yeah – I can see why they just used his name and the title on the cover. I mean, they couldn’t exactly just put a piece of liver on it…

(6) PHILIP ROTH –

PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT (1969)

“Doctor, this is my only life and I’m living it in the middle of a Jewish joke!”

And it even has a punchline. No, seriously.

Well, I suppose it could be worse – he could be undergoing a Kafkaesque transformation into a breast, the titular (heh) fate of Roth’s protagonist in a subsequent book, The Breast. No, seriously.

Philip Roth put the kink into my literary fiction. And he did it with this book – his fourth and most controversial novel that nevertheless gave him “widespread commercial and critical success”.

Portnoy’s Complaint is his magnum opus of kink, perpetually warring with the Freudian Jewish-American guilt from that kink – a confessional of unsatiated satyriasis. Or dare I quip of sexual Judaism – or a comedic spin on Chesterton’s Song of the Strange Ascetic, of one who does have the guilt and cannot have the fun.

Again no, seriously. The titular Portnoy’s complaint even has a clinical definition at the outset, virtually synonymous with satyriasis.

“The novel tells the humorous monologue of “a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor”, who confesses to his psychoanalyst in “intimate, shameful detail, and coarse, abusive language.”…Portnoy’s Complaint is a continuous monologue by narrator Alexander Portnoy to Dr. Spielvogel, his psychoanalyst”.

Apparently in the one session, albeit of a few hours or so – the bill from that had to hurt – and he’s still (literally) only just getting started.

And oh boy – Alex Portnoy is one sick puppy. Men will compulsively pursue one sexual misadventure after another before going to therapy.

Let’s just say you won’t forget one chapter title in particular – or one scene in a chapter of similar scenes of frenzied onanism that I’m sure was the inspiration for the titular scene in the American Pie film, except with the liver that was the family’s dinner.

POETRY (DRAMA)

“Roth is known for his distinctive writing style, which is at once analytical, empassioned, confessional, foul-mouthed and extremely verbose.” Now if that’s not poetry, I don’t know what is!

Also “several of his works have been adapted into films, but rarely with results considered satisfactory by critics”.

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

Not so much on this book but Roth definitely flirts with fantasy, at least as magical realism – see the aforementioned transformation in (and into) The Breast. And science fiction, at least as alternative history.

As for comedy, one of the most comedic entries into my top ten. Portnoy’s Complaint reads up as stand-up comedy performance – and has been literally “likened to the stand-up performances of 1960s comedian Lenny Bruce”.

RATING: 4 STARS****

A-TIER (TOP TIER)