Search - The Human Stain

It took a good 60 pages into this book before I really got interested in it. The main character isn't the most admirable and there didn't seem to be enough happening to make it interesting. After those first 60 pages of exposition, however, the book lured me in with its twists and turns and surprises. You never know exactly where the story is taking you and what you'll learn. By the end of the book, I wanted to read it again. It accurately captures our world, how we are shaped by it and how we shape it.

If you run in circles where heavy-hitting books are bandied about at lively cocktail parties, then you'll definitely want to make sure you've got The Human Stain checked off the list. Had it been less pedantic & preachy, I would definitely have enjoyed it more, but like most "serious" American authors, Roth takes himself too...seriously (which is why Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Tolstoy & Bulgakov rate so highly in my book: they know how to tell an insightful, "important" tale with humor & a light touch). Brace yourself for lengthy, erudite-to-pretentious passages that make you want to shout "yes, you're SMART already!!" along with some extremely touching and insightful passages, in particular, the one from which the book derives its title.

This was a very captivating book. The themes are fresh and unique. I've really never read another book like this. It is so ironic that the protagonist makes a decision to reject his African-American heritage to ive his life as a white male so that he can control his destiny but in the end the fact that he is known as a white male throws his life into chaos and, ultimately, destroys it. At times the book goes into stream of conciousness writing that I found to be a bit long and tedious but otherwise the book is just extremely interesting.

This is my new favorite book. The writing is superb. It carries you along on a picturesque journey of thought. I have seen the movie and so I knew "the secret." None the less, it was engrossing to discover how and why Coleman Silk became the person that he did. The reader is also introduced to supporting characters and given insights into their backgrounds and motivations. One of my favorite quotes, among many, is "For all that the world is full of people who go around believing they've got you or your neighbor figured out, there really is no bottom to what is not known."

Written by one of the best American authors today, the book won the Pen/Faulkner Award. Character development and magnificent writing always characterize Roth's work.