As both a reader and writer, I have always loved Phiilip Roth. I’ve devoured maybe ten of his books. Honestly, in mid-December I was looking for a short novel to read to close out the reading year, when I came across one of his I’d skipped and never read, THE GHOST WRITER. I’m sad it took me so long to stumble across it, but am glad I have finally read it. You see, I have long admired Roth for showing us writers (and readers) how a writer must break the chains that bind us so we can go deeply into the essence of our being and portray the world as honestly as possible for the reader.

As a reader, he showed us “deep point of view” before deep point of view was a thing. Decades ago, when I read Goodbye Columbus, it was clear Roth was capable of doing this successfully. His effort was fully realized when, ten years later, he wrote Portnoy’s Complaint. Interestingly, THE GHOST WRITER was written in in 1979, twenty years after GOODBYE COLUMBUS and ten after PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT. In a way, this was Roth’s explanation—‘This is how and why I do it.’

What we see in those earlier works is the writer completely cutting himself off from his family, friends, and community to be able to tell a story without care or fear of retribution. If you make a clean break and simply do not give a damn about what others say, then nothing will hold you back as a writer. It was Roth who famously told the writer Ian McEwan, “You have to write as though your parents are dead.”

Certainly, in Roth’s earlier works we see him doing just that. In THE GHOST WRITER, Roth tells us why. In one chapter, Roth’s alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, must defend himself from his family and even his community about a manuscript that is a telling of a great and embarrassing family secret. This creates an enormous conflict between Zuckerman and his family:

“Writers weren’t writers, I told myself, if they didn’t have the strength to face the insolubility of that conflict and go on.”

The basic story of THE GHOST WRITER is Nathan Zuckerman (Roth’s alter-ego) is a young writer who idolizes and is enamored with the famous and great writer E.I. Lonoff. Zuckerman manages to obtain a dinner invitation to Lonoff’s house in the woods in the Berkshires. He arrives during a blizzard and meets Lonoff, his long-suffering wife, Hope, and a mysterious graduate student Amy Bellette. I’m not giving anything away by saying Lonoff is a crank, Hope is pitifully unhappy with her situation as Lonoff’s wife-servant, and the inscrutable, beautiful, and young Amy may or may not be Lonoff’s lover.

What is given over in this complex and beautifully-told story is deep insight to the mind of a writer—if not all writers, then Roth himself. We see the inner and outer conflict that arises when Zuckerman recounts the showing to his family of a manuscript he intends to have published that is an exposé of his family’s secret. There is the imagination of a writer when Zuckerman imagines the improbable secret life of the secretive Amy. Lonoff and other great writers are displayed as intensely egotistical, manipulative, adulterous, deep (and shallow at the same time), and yet capable of uncommon insight. Generously, this is not just Lonoff, but some of his competitors. No doubt, Roth is telling us about himself and his writing cohort. Finally, we receive this from Lonoff, who chastens Zuckerman that he expects the young writer will write about their odd encounter (and that he is administering his “rites of confirmation”) when he says:

“I’ll be curious to see how we all come out someday. It could be an interesting story. You’re not so nice and polite in your fiction.” He said. “You’re a different person.”

“Am I?”

“I should hope so.”

For anyone who wants to know how it is that a good writer struggles internally, this is the seminal work.

I highly recommend THE GHOST WRITER.

This small novella has many interesting features that will be delightful for those who enjoy Philip Roth's incredibly clear, elegant writing. The Ghost Writer does not have the power of his great novels, as language is relatively plain and without any stylistic digression, but as part of the evolution of Roth's creative thinking, it is clearly a first step towards the masterpiece American Pastoral. Roth here also sort of cathartically exorcizes some of his anxieties of influence (to use Harold Bloom's lingo), as he strives to surpass his predecessors, Liev Tolstoy, Franz Kafka, Saul Bellow and... Anne Frank, and this is just fantastic imho...

I love Roth novels, but this one really didn’t click with me. It has a funny little turn and there are definitely some interesting parts, but I didn’t find myself chuckling or being pulled into the story as much as I normally would.

But it is quick and it seems like there’s more to unpack than I was able to, so I’m sure others could get more out of this. Certainly didn’t sour me to the author.

Philip Roth has published steadily since the 1950's and attracts new readers all the time, who enter his world in media res. For those not as familiar as others, allow me to provide context: Nathan Zuckerman is a character who first showed up in Roth's fiction in the 1970's, and ever since has been considered the author's alter ego. In 1979, Roth published THE GHOST WRITER, which takes Zuckerman back to his days as a young up and coming writer of literary fiction in the 1950's. This is a terrific stand alone read, and it is also an excellent introduction to Zuckerman.

Roth knows how to tell a story. He knows where the bones of structure go, he knows how to order his information, deploy a flowing rhythm, adjust perspective and fashion a remarkable voice. He knows how to be funny ha-ha and how to be funny, hmmm. He is a writer of great economy who fits a lot of vision into a cleanly told story. In this book, the young worshipful Zuckerman arrives at the Berkshire retreat of his idol, the famous writer E.I. Lonoff, for an evening of literary conversation over dinner and drinks. Across the span of the evening, Zuckerman learns what a career of nothing but writing can do to a man and, more importantly, to his marriage. He recalls his own family issues that have sprung up now that he has begun to write stories that portray middle class Jewish Americans in the glare of reality. When it becomes late and Lonoff insists he stay the night, Zuckerman learns a lot more about Lonoff than was expected, and contemplates the mysterious graduate assistant who also stays, who inspires in the third movement of the book, an alternative history about Anne Frank. Several different variations of meaning are wrung out of the term "ghost writer" in the course of less than 24 hours.

This is the fourth novel by Philip Roth I've read. I enjoyed, for the most part, though I did think it wasn't long enough. I would have given it five stars, except that the plot twist I thought was coming didn't happen. If it had happen, I would have gladly given it five starts.

I have the feeling I will have to read it again to understand it.

Two-thirds of the way through Roth's insular novel, his now-legendary narrator admits the following: "If only I could invent as presumptuously as real life! If one day I could just approach the originality and excitement of what actually goes on!"

Encountering this classic piece of Roth's canon in this day and age, it is easy to find excuse to dismiss it for its flaws: a writer narrator inhabiting the home and ideas of another writer to comment upon the predicament of being a writer; the escapism from reality being an imagined reworking of Holocaust memory; the flatness of its female characters, embodying the misogyny Roth's critics love to devour.

Except, it is these very "flaws" that injected this novel with life for me. Its insularity gave it a precision, and even a permission, to be honest without falling prey to the ambiguities of universalism that are far too often characterized by blandness more than any particular flavor. Its borderline-ridiculous escapism is, at broader view, the logical conclusion to one desiring so much to eclipse his reality as a writer--and the resulting indictment is indeed more universal than we give it credit for. And its misogyny is, if nothing else, honest, a clear look into the mind not only of a successful man but the successful male artist. And the consequences that follow.

This book is mesmerizing in its layers, indeed.

Writing can be beautiful. Just a joy to read the words that tell the story. Philip Roth is one such writer, he is a master and has won so many prestigious awards. THE GHOST WRITER is book one of the set featuring Nathan Zuckerman, and being honest the book just ends without an ending, so be ready for book two. Nathan Zuckerman , said to be Roth's alter ego or himself, is a young writer in the book meeting his hero, E. I. Lonoff. The story is as much about the beauty of the words as it is about the story. It is short. Read this masterful work. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Despite the dated approach to women, Roth is an incredibly smooth, descriptive writer. The early novel works at all levels.

Nathan Zuckerman, eine zentrale Figur in den Romanen des Philip Roth.

Laut Meinung der Literaturkenner soll dieser Nathan Zuckerman starke autobiografische Züge des Autors tragen. Der Ghostwriter" ist der erste Band einer Trilogie (danach folgten "Zuckerman Unbound" und "The Anatomy Lesson").

Um es vorweg zu sagen: Der Roman liest sich außerordentlich gut. Er ist zunächst getragen von dem Konflikt zwischen dem Protagonisten und seinem Elternhaus, insbesondere seinem Vater, darüber hinaus überhaupt mit den ganzen jüdischen Ritualen und Traditionen innerhalb des amerikanisch-jüdischen "Bürgertums".

Darf ein junger Schriftsteller die eigene Familie, die eigene Kultur, sein Volk derart kritisieren und verunglimpfen wie es bei dem jungen Zuckerman geschieht? Darf er überaus harte Kritik an seinem jüdischen Volk und damit an der Gemeinschaft in der er lebt ausüben? Der Konflikt ist scharf und tief gehend, dabei so alt wie die Menschheit selbst. Zuckerman führt an, dass fast alle bedeutenden Schriftsteller in ihren Anfängen diesen Konflikt zu durchleben hatten. Ein Schriftsteller dürfe und müsse dies. Es zeichne ihn aus, es sei seine ureigenste Aufgabe, alte Strukturen aufzubrechen und damit Platz für neue Wege aufzuzeigen. Auch Philip Roth selbst ging diesen Weg, leicht erkennbar, wenn man seine frühen Romane liest. "Portnoy`s Complaint" war bekanntlich bei seinem Erscheinen ein sogenannter Skandal. Der Roman löste heftigste Empörung aus. Vor dem gleichen Problem steht jetzt Zuckerman.

Zuckerman ist zu Gast bei einem bedeutenden Schriftsteller, nur für zwei Tage. Es werden richtungweisende Gespräche geführt, das Talent des Zuckerman deutet sich an, der Gastgeber sieht die Zukunft des angehenden Schriftstellers klar.

Er lernt ein Mädchen kennen. Ihr Leben, ihre Herkunft sind rätselhaft, zum Teil wohl real, zum Teil fiktiv in der Phantasie des Zuckerman. Zeitweise sieht sich der Leser verwirrt. Die Spannung steigt. Es folgt eine unglaublich intensiv erzählte, weit umspannende Geschichte, der der Leser nur gebannt folgen kann. Die eigentliche Auflösung erfolgt nicht, das Ende ist eigenartig nebulös. Zuckermann steigt mit dem Mädchen in ein Auto und verschwindet im Dunst.

Als Leser kommt man wohl um Teil II und III der Trilogie nicht herum, was sicher nicht bedauerlich ist, handelt es sich doch um eines der bedeutendsten Werke der amerikanischen Literatur.

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Was Amy Bellette really Anne Frank? Nathan Zuckerman didn't care. All he wanted was to get inside her knickers. Having already read American Pastoral, I was disappointed in this book. However, I plan to read the rest of the Zuckerman series just to be sure.

Philip Roth deserves a Nobel prize. I haven't read this book and I don't know how to write a review before reading it but apparently I cannot access the book without writing this review.

A story told well. Breaks prejudices around Jewish society, although meanders somewhere into Anne Frank, why I couldn't make out why.

Una historia escasa pero bien escrita, con aire intelectual y un inglés hermoso pero asequible.

Recomendable, pero no se puede dejar mucho tiempo. Debe leerse en cuatro o cinco entradas.