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komet2020's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography encapsulates 3 phases of the life of Philip Roth, who became one of America's pre-eminent novelists in the late 1960s with the publication of the best-seller Portnoy's Complaint and remained on that lofty perch until his death in 2018, age 85.
I enjoyed reading about the first 2 phases of Roth's autobiography which described his childhood, adolescence (capturing the essence of what life was like for a Jewish boy growing up in Newark, New Jersey from the late 1930s into the early 1950s), and his time as an undergraduate at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, followed by his stint at the University of Chicago (on a fellowship), where he earned an M.A., engaged in some teaching, dropped out of a doctoral program, and began developing his skills as a writer. I felt that Roth largely followed the path of the traditional autobiography by laying bare essential truths about himself to the reader.
But when I began reading the third phase of Roth's autobiography, I felt that he had tired of the undertaking and showed a reluctance to share more about himself. Roth had brought the reader up to the late 1960s, when, following a divorce from his first wife (who came from a very troubled background and proved a trial for Roth to deal with - that is, until she died in an auto accident in NYC), had taken up with another gentile woman, and was just hitting his stride as a novelist. I was expecting that he would take the reader into the following 2 decades of his life, shedding more light about how the impact of his growing fame as a writer impacted his life and relationships. Alas, that was not to be.
Nevertheless, The Facts was an interesting book to read because it gave me some additional insight into Philip Roth that I didn't have before.
I enjoyed reading about the first 2 phases of Roth's autobiography which described his childhood, adolescence (capturing the essence of what life was like for a Jewish boy growing up in Newark, New Jersey from the late 1930s into the early 1950s), and his time as an undergraduate at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, followed by his stint at the University of Chicago (on a fellowship), where he earned an M.A., engaged in some teaching, dropped out of a doctoral program, and began developing his skills as a writer. I felt that Roth largely followed the path of the traditional autobiography by laying bare essential truths about himself to the reader.
But when I began reading the third phase of Roth's autobiography, I felt that he had tired of the undertaking and showed a reluctance to share more about himself. Roth had brought the reader up to the late 1960s, when, following a divorce from his first wife (who came from a very troubled background and proved a trial for Roth to deal with - that is, until she died in an auto accident in NYC), had taken up with another gentile woman, and was just hitting his stride as a novelist. I was expecting that he would take the reader into the following 2 decades of his life, shedding more light about how the impact of his growing fame as a writer impacted his life and relationships. Alas, that was not to be.
Nevertheless, The Facts was an interesting book to read because it gave me some additional insight into Philip Roth that I didn't have before.
toddlleopold's review against another edition
3.0
Lesser Roth, but still an interesting window into his life -- and his mind. Especially because of Zuckerman's postscript.
darwin8u's review against another edition
4.0
"Why is it that when they talk about the facts they feel they're on more soid ground than when they talk about the fiction?" The truth is that the facts are much more refractory and unmanageable and inconclusive, and can actually kill the very sort of inquiry that imagination opens up."
- Philip Roth, The Facts
Part memoir, part exegeis on the same memoir by Roth's ficitonal alter-ego Zuckerman (with some pointers from Zuckerman's wife if it hasn't already becoeme uber-Meta). I walked into this only partially knowing what I was getting into. I figured it would be more than just an author's memoir, but I was unprepared to like it as much as I did. I didn't lke it as much as [b:The Counterlife|11655|The Counterlife|Philip Roth|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327936114s/11655.jpg|2751013] (his previous work). Like the Counterlife, Roth is absolutely screwing with the traditonal form. He is bending memoir into a post-modern exploration of not just fiction, but memoir, facts, and his own history.
It would have been a good memoir without the Zuckerman invention, but somehow by having a fictional character critique a memoir, Roth is able to explore corners that straight memoir or fiction wouldn't allow. I still don' think it is top-shelf Roth, but it is still damn good.
- Philip Roth, The Facts
Part memoir, part exegeis on the same memoir by Roth's ficitonal alter-ego Zuckerman (with some pointers from Zuckerman's wife if it hasn't already becoeme uber-Meta). I walked into this only partially knowing what I was getting into. I figured it would be more than just an author's memoir, but I was unprepared to like it as much as I did. I didn't lke it as much as [b:The Counterlife|11655|The Counterlife|Philip Roth|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327936114s/11655.jpg|2751013] (his previous work). Like the Counterlife, Roth is absolutely screwing with the traditonal form. He is bending memoir into a post-modern exploration of not just fiction, but memoir, facts, and his own history.
It would have been a good memoir without the Zuckerman invention, but somehow by having a fictional character critique a memoir, Roth is able to explore corners that straight memoir or fiction wouldn't allow. I still don' think it is top-shelf Roth, but it is still damn good.
readbyrodkelly's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a unique book. Written with characteristic polish, and veering off into, or rather structurally framed by, a meta experimental conceit that has Roth commenting on his own work via his fictional counterpart, Nathan Zuckerman, whose lengthy critique makes Roth a character in his own life. The Facts posits that writing fiction, for a protonovelist of Roth's ilk, is the only way to shed the facade of reality and make the truth known. Really brilliant stuff.
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