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The Humbling Audiobook by Philip Roth
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Title: The Humbling
Author: Philip Roth
Narrator: Dick Hill
Format: Unabridged
Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
Language: English
Release date: 11-02-09
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 53 votes
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of Philip Roth's startling new book. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his 60s, he has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance. His Falstaff and Peer Gynt and Vanya, all his great roles, "are melted into air, into thin air". When he goes on stage he feels like a lunatic and looks like an idiot. His confidence in his powers has drained away; he imagines people laughing at him; he can no longer pretend to be someone else. "Something fundamental has vanished." His wife has gone, his audience has left him, his agent can't persuade him to make a comeback.
Into this shattering account of inexplicable and terrifying self-evacuation bursts a counterplot of unusual erotic desire, a consolation for the bereft life so risky and aberrant that it points not toward comfort and gratification but to a yet darker and more shocking end. In this long day's journey into night, told with Roth's inimitable urgency, bravura, and gravity, all the ways that we persuade ourselves of our solidity, all our life's performances - talent, love, sex, hope, energy, reputation - are stripped off.
Following the dark meditations on mortality and endings in Everyman and Exit Ghost, and the bitterly ironic retrospective on youth and chance in Indignation, Roth has written another in his haunting group of late novels.
©2009 Phillip Roth; (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Editorial Reviews:
Every action has consequences.
Every word counts.
These are the essential ingredients of The Humbling, a riveting, unflinching novel by Philip Roth, America's greatest living novelist. Many eminent writers Roth's age (76) have long since settled into the role of the polite, genteel elder statesman. Not Roth. His books still sizzle with raw emotions and stark language which possess the power to shock and enthrall listeners. This decade alone, Roth has produced one startling masterpiece after another. The Plot Against America and Everyman stand out in particular. Add The Humbling near the top of this elite list of remarkable books.
Written in a commanding, powerful voice, this compact novel revolves around acting legend Simon Axler, who has suddenly lost his ability to act. "instead of the certainty that he was going to be wonderful, he knew he was going to fail," the narrator intones. Axler's mysterious, artistic paralysis leads to the dissolution of his marriage and lands him in a psychiatric hospital. There he meets Sybil Van Buren, a suburban housewife suffering from the effects of accidentally uncovering a disturbing family secret. But soon after leaving the hospital, another woman, Pegeen Stapleford, plays a more prominent role in the daily drama of Axler's life. The grown daughter of Axler's longtime friends, Pegeen ignites dormant desires in Axler and introduces more exotic ones he didn't even know existed inside him producing dramatic consequences in "the last act", Roth writes, as if the novel were a play.
That's actually the best way to approach this book, as if it's a classic, three-act play. And the audio version of The Humbling perfectly captures the book's theatrical quality and illustrates the dramatic power of Roth's writing.
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Title: The Humbling
Author: Philip Roth
Narrator: Dick Hill
Format: Unabridged
Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
Language: English
Release date: 11-02-09
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 53 votes
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of Philip Roth's startling new book. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his 60s, he has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance. His Falstaff and Peer Gynt and Vanya, all his great roles, "are melted into air, into thin air". When he goes on stage he feels like a lunatic and looks like an idiot. His confidence in his powers has drained away; he imagines people laughing at him; he can no longer pretend to be someone else. "Something fundamental has vanished." His wife has gone, his audience has left him, his agent can't persuade him to make a comeback.
Into this shattering account of inexplicable and terrifying self-evacuation bursts a counterplot of unusual erotic desire, a consolation for the bereft life so risky and aberrant that it points not toward comfort and gratification but to a yet darker and more shocking end. In this long day's journey into night, told with Roth's inimitable urgency, bravura, and gravity, all the ways that we persuade ourselves of our solidity, all our life's performances - talent, love, sex, hope, energy, reputation - are stripped off.
Following the dark meditations on mortality and endings in Everyman and Exit Ghost, and the bitterly ironic retrospective on youth and chance in Indignation, Roth has written another in his haunting group of late novels.
©2009 Phillip Roth; (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Editorial Reviews:
Every action has consequences.
Every word counts.
These are the essential ingredients of The Humbling, a riveting, unflinching novel by Philip Roth, America's greatest living novelist. Many eminent writers Roth's age (76) have long since settled into the role of the polite, genteel elder statesman. Not Roth. His books still sizzle with raw emotions and stark language which possess the power to shock and enthrall listeners. This decade alone, Roth has produced one startling masterpiece after another. The Plot Against America and Everyman stand out in particular. Add The Humbling near the top of this elite list of remarkable books.
Written in a commanding, powerful voice, this compact novel revolves around acting legend Simon Axler, who has suddenly lost his ability to act. "instead of the certainty that he was going to be wonderful, he knew he was going to fail," the narrator intones. Axler's mysterious, artistic paralysis leads to the dissolution of his marriage and lands him in a psychiatric hospital. There he meets Sybil Van Buren, a suburban housewife suffering from the effects of accidentally uncovering a disturbing family secret. But soon after leaving the hospital, another woman, Pegeen Stapleford, plays a more prominent role in the daily drama of Axler's life. The grown daughter of Axler's longtime friends, Pegeen ignites dormant desires in Axler and introduces more exotic ones he didn't even know existed inside him producing dramatic consequences in "the last act", Roth writes, as if the novel were a play.
That's actually the best way to approach this book, as if it's a classic, three-act play. And the audio version of The Humbling perfectly captures the book's theatrical quality and illustrates the dramatic power of Roth's writing.