A review by keebleman
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth

3.5

I have read several other of Roth's Zuckerman books, but this is my first reading of his alter ego's debut. Unlike the others I have read - the great 90s novels and Exit Ghost - this one is almost entirely concerned with the difficulties and conflicts that come from being a full-time novelist.  Decades ago I used to enjoy such fiction, I took it to be a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes.  But now I find the genre tiresome, self-indulgent and unimaginative.  This book's best moments are when Roth, via Zuckerman, allows his imagination to rip, and we get what is in effect an extended short story, a fiction within a fiction, about one of the characters.