And Five Short Stories (Vintage International) - Goodbye

The great brilliance and talent of Philip Roth announce themselves to the world in this first book. Much of what Roth would be later admired for is present in this work. A remarkable capacity for creating memorable characters, a tremendous liveliness and humor in language, a somewhat sarcastic view of American reality mixed up with a deeply romantic and idealistic one, fervent sexual interest. There is also in these works the kind of criticism of his home- team, the American Jewish family which would make him anathema to certain leading figures of the Jewish literary ( Irving Howe) and cultural establishment. The major piece of writing , the novella ' Goodbye Columbus' seems like it is the heir apparent to ' The Great Gatsby'. There is a mastery of tone , precociously mature. That tone and that control will lead to the less successful line in Roth's writing, in which the narrator ( When She was Good) and the writer appear to be seeking entrance to the cathedral of Jamesian Anglo- American literature. This novella has many skilled and interesting pieces of writing excellently evokes the world of Jewish American suburbia its business and family worlds. The love affair between Neil and Brenda Patinkin has a certain unsatisfactory quality especially in his ungenerous portrait of Brenda. The scene with the little black boy in the library fascinated by the works of Gaugin may be sentimental but is quite moving. As for the stories they too have a brilliance, and they also have that criticism of middle - class Jewish piety which Roth will be lambasted for .These are very good pieces of writing and would stand well on their own. But when Roth wrote ' Portnoy's Complaint ' he changed the way his previous work would be seen .And all would be understand as simply preliminary to that outrageous work of true literary genius. This is a fine book, but that is a great one.

This is Philip Roth's first acclaimed work, a novella about a Jewish twenty-something and the yearnings of young love, and five other short stories. Roth always touches on something completely exceptional by its normality, and tells a story in a gripping, intelligent and thoroughly honest manner. The title story is about a young man who out of youtful desire starts a passionate affair with a Jewish girl, knowing nothing about her or her family. He ingratiates himself into her life and family, while still remaining somewhat elusive and anonymous. He has no real family ties, with parents living thousands of miles away and an aunt in Newark whom he is trying to break away from. It is a fascinating story, providing yet another glimpse into Jewish identity and alienation, of which Roth is one of fiction's greatest exponents.

The remaining stories are also outstanding; remarkably different from the title story, but each providing something of the present day (well, 1950's when the book was written) struggles with identity experienced by the post-WWII American Jew, ranging from a 13 year old boy undergoing training for his bar mitzvah and questioning issues of faith and tempting fate; to a Jewish military sargeant conflicted about how to fairly treat Jewish members of his military battalion.

One can almost taste the honesty, it is so thick. That is what I love about Roth. He has no agenda other than the accurate descriptions of humanity, which in his experiences happen to be mostly Jewish, in all its failings, idiosyncrasies and conflict.

I eagerly await the next installment in my Roth-provided education.

Goodbye, Columbus is the story of Neil Klugman from poor Newark and Brenda Patimkin from an upper-crust family in Short Hills and their relationship over a summer. Neil relates the story of his love for the beautiful Brenda, a love in which the two share little in common. He presents his hopes and dreams and his ultimate realizations about the state of the world and about himself. The novella is ultimately a beautiful, complex coming-of-age story which it seems everyone goes through.
Goodbye, Columbus is one of the best books I have read. It was so realistic and easy to relate to. I think that I have had a relationship similar to every one related in the novel. There are so many great insights to be found here. The novella isn't a difficult read, but one should definitely be aware of a lot of the symbols (such as the title, the fruit, the lions, and the uncle at the wedding) to glean the most from it. I will also say a word about the short stories. All of them, particularly "The Conversion of the Jews," were wonderful. They alone would make the book worth five stars; they just seem to get forgotten because of the masterpiece the opening novella is.

I reread Goodbye Columbus, which I had read in 1970! This was Philip Roth's first novel, starting off his long (and continuing to this day) career of quirky, bold, controversial novels. Goodbye Columbus was really a novella, and somewhat autobiographical (in time and place at least). It isn't a book for everyone, but I loved it! Neil Krugman, lower middle class Jewish young man, living in Newark with his old school aunt and uncle in the late 1950's meets Brenda Patimpkin, original Jewish American Princess (before the term was used, but clearly at a time when the newly wealthy Jews were leaving the Jewish "ghetto's" of NY and Newark and heading to Short Hills, Milburn and Livingston, NJ, where even today they live in material splendor. Brenda and her parents, brother and little sister Julie (quite a brat) live in Short Hills where with their surgically altered little noses, they are fed lovely meals by their housekeeper, Carlotta, and they play tennis and swim at their ritzy club which is where Brenda and Neil meet one day when she is home from Radcliffe for summer vacation. She asks him to hold her glasses. He does, and from there a romance builds. Neil spends many weeks at the Patimpkin home, staying there for a 2 week vacation and spending his nights sneaking across the hall into the waiting Brenda's arms. This was risque in 1957. It happened, of course, but it wasn't talked about and people were far more furtive than Brenda and Neil. He encourages her to be fitted for a diaphragm and she is horrified. And here is where, only people of a certain age would know the reference to Margaret Sanger, Neil advises Brenda to go to the Margaret Sanger offices in NYC. I only knew what it was because I remember my Grandmother telling me that when she was a young married woman no one but married women could get such birth control, but that Margaret Sanger had an institute where wealthy married women could go for birth control! Most people reading this novel would not know this. Funny the things a book can bring back to your memory 40+ years after a conversation with a beloved, long dead grandmother! Brenda heads to NYC but feels she must pretend to be married!!!! There is a delightful scene as she exits the Margaret Sanger office, a scene which played out in my head in Ali McGraw's voice as I remembered her so well from the movie based on the book, a movie I saw at age 15 while traveling with a theatre camp. (I would NOT want a 15 yr. old to see the movie, rated R, even now!)
Roth's observations are keen. When he heads back to his home in Newark to see his aunt and uncle he wonders about the city, which had been so fine at one time. Jews with money left, the town was being filled with black people en masse, and he ponders whether, they too, will flee one day, but he concludes that no, he cannot imagine any other group filling it's streets. I found that so interesting as I look at Newark's demographics today. Roth, via Neil Klugman, is mocking the identity loss of ethnic Jews, fixing bent noses, living in over abundant splendor and looking down on the middle class, even the Jewish middle class. Even today we see people like this in their McMansions (doesn't matter their ethnicity or religion). These are the people who drive flashy cars and have to make known their wealth, even though no one is really impressed except themselves.
The romance of Brenda and Neil has it's twists and roadblocks. In the end there is a controversy I have never forgotten, but won't ruin for you. Did she or did she NOT do the thing she did on purpose? People discussed this for years (in schools, among friends, and after the movie). It's SUCH a good question!!!!!
Roth was only 25 when he penned this brilliant first novel. His observations are so astute for one so young. His writing is spare (unlike mine!) and allows the reader to easily envision his story playing out before his eyes. My daughter has chosen to read Goodbye Columbus for an honors research paper (jr. year in h.s.) and I am concerned that it is too sexy for her. As a teenager, I loved it, but as a mother I am freaking out! I am glad I will be able to explain to her the way society was in the late 50's, just beginning to let go of repression and allowing the sexual revolution and the free love of the 60's to become the new way of life for so many. I will be able to explain the reference to Margaret Sanger. She has been to Short Hills, so she will have some reference in her mind as to where the Patimpkin's lived and played their beautiful-on-the-outside but disfunctional lives.
Philip Roth is one of the greats! He will be read for generations to come, liek Fitgerald and Hemingway. Perhaps he will be remembered for being one of the first to write about birth control in a novel.
I am trying to get my hands on a copy of the dvd, but unless I am willing to pay $80, there are none. Richard Benjamin and Ali McGraw were so perfectly cast! The music plays in my head, their youth and charm flash across the screen. Rereading the book was a delight!!!!!

Philip Roth shows early glimpses of his brilliance in this collection of short stories. For Roth fans, the real treat here is seeing the author's work as a young man. If you are like me and have read all of his books from the 1990s, you probably have an image in your mind of an author in his 60s. His writing always comes across as somewhat autobiographical, and most of the main characters in his books over the past ten years have been Jewish men entering their golden years. Because of this, I was a bit surprised to read a book of his in which the main characters are almost all young Jewish men. This just reinforces the notion that Roth has always tried to stick with what he knows, and that his writing stems more from his experience than from his creativity. In my mind he's the best writer out there.

I have tried to read Portnoy's complaint and just couldn't get very far. I can't really remember why now. I thought this might be more accessible Roth and indeed it was. The title story just rings so true about a summer love. The people and their feelings are just dead on. The Conversion of the Jews was kind of bizaare though. I enjoyed the story and what Roth was trying to say about religion but just didn't understand Oscar all that well. The book as a whole piqued my cutiosity enough to hunt around the house for my copy of Portnoy's Complaint to try again. At least read the title novella it will keep you going through the rest of the stories.

The first five chapters of Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus follow his protagonist Neil Klugman through a romanticized post college summer. Roth introduces this straightforward prose with a sentence that does not waste anytime, "The first time I saw Brenda"(p 3). This sentence draws the reader quickly into a book that does not spend pages on exposition, rather Roth starts out with action and fills in any gaps as they arise. This writing style is beautiful to read, and perfectly matches the quick, to the point feeling of a summertime romance. The story, like the prose, is not over packed. It begins, as stated, with the first time Neil meets Brenda Patimkin. The feeling of young love jumps off the first page, when Neil watches Brenda walk away, "She caught the bottom of her suit between thumb and index finger and flicked what flesh had been showing back where it belonged. My blood jumped" (p 3). And the reader, along with Neil, is hooked on Brenda from the beginning. Roth is careful to make the feelings in the book apparent, from the first we feel as though we are about to embark on a summer of relaxation and love. But Roth's love is not married couple adult love; it is love like the cashier in Updike's A &P. It is love at first sight. It is pretty girl by the pool kind of love. This feeling of Neil's love for Brenda is only made stronger by Roth's evocation of summer. The dominant feeling in the book though, is lust. Neil begins his relationship with Brenda after watching her at the pool, and after that he is always bringing sex to the foreground of he book. The description of Neil and Brenda's escapade in the pool shows Neil's youthful obsession with the female body, "Her breasts swam towards me like two pink-nosed fish and she let me hold them"(p 17). It does not end there; after he ate dinner with Brenda's family he sat at his desk in the library and, "watched the hot high-breasted teen-age girls walk twitchingly up the wide flight of marble stairs"(p 32). And he describes his lust for other women as "academic and time passing" showing that may not feel anything towards the girls that walk by him, but that should not stop him from thinking about them (p 32). The constant remembrance of sex in the novel is the most effective method Roth uses of getting his mood across. Without it the spirit of summer, young love, and adventure would be gone. Neil and Brenda's relationship would be dull and flat; the afternoons at the library would be spent solely on thinking about work, and story would be deflated. Roth did not, however, write an erotic book that talks only about sex. He does recognize what a key role sex, lust, and love play in the lives of his twenty-year-old characters. He uses it as a framework for which to place the deeper, less common story.

Are you neurotic or psychotic? Do you worry and obsess over little things or see sombrero-wearing orca whales tangoing with sea anemones in their teeth? Then you should either read Goodbye, Columbus or seek professional help. Following Neil Klugman through a summer of indecision, sex, and straddling of social strata, the book is as relevant today as when it was published in 1959. Also, don't shirk reading the five short stories that follow it. They're great. And I know your mother and I didn't raise you to be a Lazy Jane.

To read more reviews check out Void Magazine's website.

This is yet another edition of Roth's debut work. In it we feel a writer of incredible maturity and aesthetic feeling. The voice is more restrained and judicious, more Fitgerald-like than the later Roth. But how gifted, inventive each of the stories.

This is not yet the deepest Rothlike Roth the one that will appear in Portnoy but it a small American classic nonetheless.

Indeed a book worth reading. Neil and Brenda`s love affair is a clear example of materialism in love affairs. They also show a great amount of common sense as developed by Roth, which is very representative of his own life. Although brief, the characters are well developed, their attitudes are representative of the temporal setting (around the 60's), which sets the mood effectively.
At first, we thought that the story was a bit slow, but near the end, the finale is magnificently narrated, showing the characters more humane than in any other part of the novel. We would recommend this story because you might feel connected to any of the main characters. Finally, don't forget to take a look at the title's symbolism; this can be a key factor in determining the true meaning of the novel (Tahiti-Gaugin-The Patimikin's fridge filled with exotic fruit-Christopher Columbus?-New World?-Neil's New World?).

Roth has written a wonderful, easy to read story that contains many themes relating to teenage lives. The novel begins as a cute love story that keeps you interested and carries lessons on love VS lust in relationships. The relationship between Brenda and Neil is similar to that which many of us experience and are able to relate to. The content and message of the novel provide an enjoyable book to read.

For a debut book, this is very good albeit somewhat predictable. Roth's style is easy to read and surprisingly humorous. The title story about a summer romance should hit home with a lot of people. I found the theme of love versus lust to be quite an interesting and realistic perspective. I think many of us could learn a valuable lesson here.

Wow, what an enjoyable novella! I really love the simplicity of the story and the humor in it which would become Roth's trademark, along with his flawed protagonist. The five short stories are enjoyable as well and, together with the novella, form a very intriguing set of existential stories. I think Roth showed so much promise with this work that, despite the fact that he is one of America's premier writers today, I don't know if he's ever fulfilled that potential.

In Goodbye Columbus, Philip Roth first displayed his subconcious mind-probing virtuosity and the anti-hero proto-character, which would both become trademarks of his. Packaged with five very worthwhile short stories, this book, despite its simplicity, or perhaps because of it, remains one of Roth's most endearing creations.

I first read "Goodbye Columbus" years ago and recently decided to read it again to see if it holds up. It absolutely does. The story still resonates, the characters are just as real and identifiable as they were when the book was written. Clearly, it's a classic.

Goodbye Columbus is a good book about love, the lack of love and the gaps between society. It talks about the relationship between a middle class Jew and an upper class Jew. Phillip Roth exposes the differences between classes and uses the characters to show in a great manner the way of living and thinking of each part of the society. It also shows the lack of commitment that some teenagers may have and the problems that this may cause. Not to spoil the whole book for the readers the last thing that should be said is that the book is entertaining, even though some of the characters are not likeable; especially Neil. Everyone should read this book if they want to pass a good time and if they want to know about social conflicts.

...by all the adulation that the novella Goodbye, Columbus and the short stories in this collection by Philip Roth get. They did not appeal to me, and I insist that I am not a Roth basher. Letting Go is a great American classic (see my the store review), I very much liked Indignation, and I am engrossed in the Zuckerman novels now. But this collection is distinctly inferior in my opinion.

For one thing, and I'm not going to rant and harp on all the little things that bothered me, there are many inaccuracies and implausabilities. Brenda's parents let Neil, the boy friend, live with them for two weeks in the summer? They would not be that naïve. Ron, Brenda's brother, likes Mantovani? Come on! Pat Boone maybe but not Mantovani. Neil works at the library and helps out the artistic black kid. What a great guy Neil is. How very contrived and unconvincing. And so on.

I come from exactly the same background and milieu as Roth, but I am about ten years younger. We are probably (distant) cousins. And I am telling you it was not like that, not like it was portrayed in Goodbye, Columbus. (Although I will admit that the dialogue is often brilliant. Roth is always a master of dialogue.)

As for the other stories: "The Conversion of the Jews" is ludicrous, and marital infidelity revealed by a rash? All of the stories are amateurish and unconvincing. Perhaps these stories are bizarre Kafkaesque fantasies. They are not realistic portrayals and explorations of life. Nor are they particularly entertaining as fantasies, either.

That's my opinion. So there. Revile me.

"GOODBYE, COLUMBUS is the first book published by the american writer Philip Roth in the late fifties. Neil Klugman is a young intellectual working in a Public Library near New-York City. He falls in love with Brenda Patimkin who belongs to a rather wealthy family of the Jewish Bourgeoisie. Excellent descriptions of the different social classes composing the american jewish society of 1955, smart dialogs and an humoristic style. Highly recommended."

Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar

Goodbye Columbus is a book centering around a young lustful relationship in which problems arise due to differences in social class and religion. It is an easy read and is a good choice for someone who wants to read something entertaining. It is best for mature readers who do not mind a sexual theme.

It's a literary masterpiece, realistic as it can be, Goodbye Columbus makes you feel as if you were 19 again. Neil's way of looking at life makes him a very interesting protagonist.
Roth really scored a hundred whit this book, he makes the reader relates to the selfish feeling of a typical collage student, like Brenda. It makes you laugh going into two different mentalities such as Neil's and Brenda's.
Intriguing enough not to let the reader know every detail, but to give him the opportunity of drawing your own conclusion.

Goodbye Columbus is a book that shows reality about love. I really recommend it to everyone, specially the teenagers who want to learn a tough lesson about life. I think the deal with Neil and Brenda is that they were in love at some point of their lives but still their relationship was not so strong to handle a long distance relation, neither a problem with parents. Both were still immature, especially Brenda who could not take her own decisions because, as a little child, she was influenced by her parents, no matter what she felt. On the other side, Neil ran out of love so, at the end, he was not interested on fighting for their love. I believe that the idea of the story is sad but is still has some humorous parts that will make you enjoy the book at the same time it teaches you a lesson.

A fascinating look at a young man who is beginning to question his youthful ideals. Does he abandon his lower class family and everything he believes to marry into a wealthy family? It is beautifully written and very real.

The title story, Goodbye, Columbus is everything you expect from this great writer. The interaction and dialogue between the main character and his aunt is extremely funny. A must for Roth fans. The five short stores are all worthwhile reads. I've read "Defender of the Faith" before and enjoyed it very much. "Epstein" and "The Conversion of the Jews" are just as good.

It's a literary masterpiece, realistic as it can be, Goodbye Columbus makes you feel as if you were 19 again. Neil's way of looking at life makes him a very interesting protagonist.
Roth really scored a hundred whit this book, he makes the reader relates to the selfish feeling of a typical collage student, like Brenda. It makes you laugh going into two different mentalities such as Neil's and Brenda's.
Intriguing enough not to let the reader know every detail, but to give him the opportunity of drawing your own conclusion.

Goodbye Columbus is not a really good book, it does not matter if this is an award winning story, the lack of characterization and the main character makes this book a failed attempt of feeling sympathetic about him. This is the story of a summer love, the protagonist, Neil Klugman is a kid who mets Brenda Patimkin, a girl of upper class that falls in love with him, but Neil is always making fun of her and her social class, sometimes being even mean to her. For this reason, the reader can never like him. The setting of the novel is great, but flaw is the protagonist and his attitude and that is not good, because when you begin to read the novel, the expectations are high, but in the end it dissapoints.

It is an excelent story for everyone even young readers. It is one of those stories that applies to everyone and everywhere. A must read for all. Highly recomended. The end was a bit predictable but still a good book.

The problem with a collection of short stories is that one is bound to be a clunker. For me, that one unfortunately was the book's last story "Eli, The Fanatic." It seemed like Roth was trying too hard. I would have enjoyed the book more if this story were left out and it ended with "Epstein." That seems to me a good bookend with the main novella.