The last Roth work I recall reading was a slim volume called "Everyman," which did nothing for me, though the straight, white male entourage over at The New York Times turned cartwheels over it. Just like every Roth work. If he wrote "Shit" on a sheet of toilet paper, the same reception would be accorded him.
The man's a prick, but he can write. When I saw the trailer for "Indignation," and saw all the praise being heaped upon it, I felt I had to see it, but that it was my duty to read it, beforehand.
Well, I have. First, let's get some stuff out of the way. There is a twist, but, from the endless clips shown of the Dean (Tracy Letts) asking Marcus, "What did you do? you would think it centers around that, but it does not.
To be sure, Roth cannot get away without incorporating male masturbation into his book, which gets tired real fast. Come on, Phil; we've all been there, done that.
What makes "Indignation" resonate is its hero's disenchantment with the authority surrounding him, showing it was not just limited to the hippies or Baby Boomers, but exists within any of the iconoclasts among us. This particular one happens to exist in 1951, at the height of the Korean War.
Marcus Messner's experiences at college prove to be disillusioning. But, before one say, "Ah, the pretension of youth," consider how Marcus father is falling mentally apart, without any explanation, which probably did exist then, and, at the very least, if examined today, might hint of bipolar disorder. And could Marcus disenchantment not just be akin to his age and generation, but a genetic tag of what is to follow for him.
Roth never explores any of his ideas in "Indignation." It is his most presentational novel, which means it is pure narrative, rather than analytic and discursive. But it is absorbing, and leaves much for the reader to ponder. Roth can still turn them out.
The film of this book has been called by many the best film translation of a Roth work. I cannot wait to see how what I consider his Masterwork, "American Pastoral," will be handled on screen.
I look forward to being disappointed, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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