The Human Stain

Rating:
Summary: A disturbing assumption
Review: Although I found the narrative and the writing quite enjoyable, as usual with Ph. Roth, I was very disturbed by the assumption on which the novel is based, namely that the central character, Coleman Silk is a black man who passes for white, and that this constitutes an "original sin", an implicit lie about his origins. First, I do not recall anywhere in the novel when he says or writes that he is white. It is just what people believe. Does it mean that to avoid committing that "sin", Silk should at all times wear a poster bearing the words "I am really black", or that he should speak black, act black and write black, whatever that means? Moreover, Silk "passes for white", which means that he is not all black, he is mixed-race. Why does Roth describe him as just black? He might be 40-60 or 50-50, or 70-30, but what is the issue here? Does having one black ancestor qualify one as black, or is there another threshold? It is strangely reminiscent of the "halbjude" concept so in vogue under the Third Reich. It seems that Roth got entangled in what happens to be a non issue. Or am I missing the point?

Rating:
Summary: For the deep thinker
Review: I do not usually see a movie and then get the book, however the movie so inspired me that I had to pick up the novel. The novel is an in-depth journey of the relationship of a wrongly accused of racism college professor/dean (played in the movie by the wonderful Anthony Hopkins) who finds himself in an unlikely intimate relationship with a much younger, illiterate and emotionally troubled janitor (played by Nicole Kidman in the movie). The author really delves deep into these characters pasts, their emotional states and, in frank language, their sexual relationship. This is a great read for late at night before bed, when the reader is likely to have quiet surroundings for the purpose of concentration; this is not a light read. But definitely worth every minute! See the movie, too!

Rating:
Summary: Has Stayed With Me For Some Time
Review: I read THE HUMAN STAIN some time ago and thought then that it was quite good. After time, however, I realized that I thought back to this book more frequently than other books that I might originally have thought to be better. There are aspects of this book that touch a person but do so in such a gentle way that one may not initially realize the impression.

Certainly the book provides a poignant story of political correctness run amok. As one who spent way too much time in graduate schools, the possibility of a couple of hyper-sensitive students purposefully digging for the most pejorative interpretation of an ambiguous statement certainly rings true. What rings even more true is the complete lack of backbone of the university administrators and their kangaroo court investigation of the incident. THE HUMAN STAIN would be worth reading if it were nothing more than a cautionary tale of how badly our universities have degenerated.

But the book is far more than that. Coleman Silk's story of a light skinned black man passing as white so that race would not interfere with his life and career is simply captivating. What strikes a reader most is the price to be paid for such a decision. Silk has to make a total break from his family and has to do so not merely by passively ignoring them but by actively telling his mother of the decision. This scenario captures something essential about the universal human dilemma of whether to accept who one is and where one came from.

Coleman Silk's relationship with Faunia Farley also represents something essential about the human condition. People, especially those who have been damaged in some way, often find they need another person to accept them and validate their emotional pain. If the individuals in such a relationship are quite different from each other, they often do not analyze each other's issues but rather accept the experiences and the person who lived through them. This relationship is well portrayed in THE HUMAN STAIN.

I have not read any of Roth's other books and therefore I cannot say how THE HUMAN STAIN compares to his other works. I can say that the book made a lasting enough impression on me for me to recommend it to others. Coleman Silk's journey is well worth taking.

Rating:
Summary: Near Flawless Performance by Mr. Roth!
Review: I think the main theme here is the petty, rancerous bickering that has inflicted such a huge segment of this country. Mr. Roth's story occurs during the summer of 1998, among the nastiest,most sanctimonious, and pettiest during the over 200-year life of the Republic. He also shows how all of us, at least those of any dimension whatsoever, really have many lives, many secrets, and how difficult it can be to escape them. All the main characters, from the Professor Silk, his relatives, his girlfriends over the years, the anguished Vietnam vet,the French faculty member, and the rest are thus portrayed. Also of note is Mr. Roth's near-magical ability to make seemingly dull everyday routines like milking the cows, going to a Chinese restaurant,etc. interesting. This is the ability and talent of true artist. No one can doubt that Mr. Roth fits this description!

Rating:
Summary: A full meal of a novel
Review: I was in the hands of a true master throughout this great book. Insightful and rewarding.

Rating:
Summary: Hopeless
Review: I'm afraid I simply couldn't get through this book. I realize Mr. Roth is an outstanding contributor to contemporary American literature. I quite enjoyed "Portnoy's Complaint". I was prompted to read this novel after having watched the film version starring Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman. I disliked the film, but thought perhaps the text on which it was based would be more palatable. Alas, no.

For being so charismatic a character (by description of the omniscient narrator, anyway), Coleman "Silky" Silk is utterly boring. While his life as a "passer" (being African-American but "passing", successfully [almost always], as Caucasian) is of note, particularly the aspects of self-negation he inflicts on himself in order to be recognized as a white man, makes for a worthy theme, Silk is completely dismal to READ about as the protagonist. I found myself completely at a loss as far as caring what his impetus was or what his actions and their consequences were.

Faunia Farley is even less memorable. She's coarse, uneducated, and brash -- qualities the refined academic Silk finds sexually arousing after he is widowed. Fine. Then there's the token "crazy-ex", the Vietnam Vet who wants to kill everyone (surprise, surprise!). Of course in the end he does kill Coleman and Faunia, but I am certain if one makes it to the novel's conclusion, one simply wouldn't much care.

I was truly saddened when I couldn't even force myself to get to the 100th page of the hardbound edition of this book. Hopefully I will find Roth's "Plot Against America" more rewarding for my efforts.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Roth
Review: More wonderful writing from Roth. His take on race is a unique and fearless one and his writing is, as usual, wonderful. Certain passages just burn into your brain with their mix of anger, shock, and emotion. Some parts were simply jaw-dropping exercises in writing, and my friends and family who have read the book agree. I'd say what they are, but that would ruin the book.
There are obvious parts that are unfortunate, namely Roth's standard depiction of women. There are two main women. One is an untalented, vindictive and irrational professor, the other is an abused illiterate. Roth's defense of the relationship at the center of the book is a bit unsettling, but admirably fearless. A 4 star story balanced out by (as dumb as it is to say this) 6 star prose. How many other writers are this relevant at this age? Bring on the Nobel.

Rating:
Summary: HE'S COME UNDONE...
Review: Overall, I liked this book, despite the author's oftentimes wordy and dense prose. It was an interesting look at one man's history, a proud man who was brought to heel and hoisted by his own petard in a most ironic way. It seems that the main protagonist in his book, Coleman Silk, an esteemed classics college professor, who almost single-handedly put small, liberal arts Athena college on the academic map, finds himself brought up on charges by the college for using a word that has dual meanings, one of which is racially offensive to blacks, in connection with two students. Coleman has never seen the students at the heart of the brouhaha, as they missed all their classes. Consequently, he has no idea what their racial makeup is when he uses the word that is to cause so much offense.

Coleman is rightly outraged by his colleagues reaction towards him in connection with this incident and, in particular, by one colleague's virulent attempt to castigate him and paint him as the devil incarnate. Coleman then cuts off his nose to spite his face and resigns from the college, holding the college responsible for the death of his wife, when she dies shortly after learning of his disgrace. What the college does not know, and what makes the accusation so ironic, is that Coleman Silk is an African-American who has been passing for white. Therein lies the rub, as Coleman and his life slowly unravel.

Coleman, now in his early seventies, is fighting mad about the way his once promising and respected life seems to be ending. He is not helping matters any, however, when he takes up with Faunia Farley, an under-educated, emotionally troubled janitor at the college who is half is age and has a great deal of personal baggage from her own turbulent past, including an abusive, Vietnam vet ex-husband who stalks her. Coleman is like a man possessed and seems to go into an emotional tailspin, seeking to right what went wrong. To that end he reaches out to writer Nathan Zuckerman, whom he befriends, and asks him to write his story, as he himself is unable to write it. Of course, Coleman is unable to write it, because he cannot do so without revealing the secret that he kept for fifty years from his wife, his children, his colleagues, and his friends.

When tragedy strikes, Nathan Zuckerman is left to put the pieces together and discover what it was that made Coleman Silk the man that he was. This is a very compelling story. The most affecting parts of the book have to do with Coleman's early life, before he decided to pass. It is an indictment of race relations in America at the time of his decision, when someone perceived to be a black man was unable to be all that he could be. Coleman, a very bright and talented young man, seeking to be all that he could be without thinking about race, chose to pass. He was simply not interested in being a role model for those of his perceived race.

There are parts of the novel, however, that do not ring true. His affair with the janitor is a little hard to believe. I suppose that that the reason that Coleman and Faunia come together, other than the obvious sexual one, is because of the inherent, personal pathology that each one brings to the relationship. Of course, the relationship makes Coleman feel young again. Still, it is more distracting that enlightening in terms of the issues contained within the pages of this book. I also found her ex-husband to be more of a caricature and distraction more than anything else, though he is necessary to the plot.

Still, there is much to like about this novel, if one can overlook the somewhat self-indulgent prose that probably could have used better editing. The issues of racial identity are interesting and are the ones that provide much food for thought. It is in these issues that the strength of the book lies, even though the questions that they raise remain unanswered. This is a good book that could have been a great one.




Rating:
Summary: What's the matter about a novel on a questionable character?
Review: Reading previous reviews about this prolix, physical, sensuous novel -Roth struck me as one of the few American writers who can speak about sex by means of allusions only without producing near-porn and neverthless manage to be enourmouly enticing- I'm struck by the inability of some American readers to grasp the novel's main point.

Coleman Silk, the novel's hero, is on one side, an entirely questionable character - an African American who has decided to make good in Academe by faking himself an alternate life as Jewish; on the other side, he's the prototypical all-American hero - the youngster who has decided to make good solely on his own. It's not his decisions, in themselves, that are "bad"; it's the _context_ in which they are set that makes makes them to appear as so. Now, this is the stuff of which tragedy, according to Aristotle, was made of: a person like any other making a normal, "good" - but neverthless flawed- decision that unfolds consequences that turn entirely for the bad. In order to be understood, Silks needs to be set against his historical milieu - therefore to understand the nature of his tragedy is to understand the nature of the general tragedy of the American Dream - something I fear some of the novel's readers are unwilling to cope with. Those who want to cope with it, however, may be sure they shall have a superb novel in their hands with which they shall not easily able to set aside until they have read it from cover to cover.

Rating:
Summary: "The truth about us is endless. As are the lies."
Review: THE HUMAN STAIN explores the relationship between public and private life in America during the second half of the 20th century. Like his few other novels, Philip Roth narrates the novel through his alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, who after a prostate surgery became impotent and worked as a retired writer. Zuckerman crossed path with our protagonist, Coleman Silk, in a seemingly preposterous situation. Everyone knew about Coleman's affair with a woman half his age. Nor did people not know about the secret of his racism, which severed his well-established tie with Athena College of which he had been professor for nearly forty years.

Readers will eventually learn that Silk is a light skinned African-American who gradually drifted across the American racial divide and for 50 years has successfully passed as a white Jew. He thrives to take Zuckerman into his confidence about this deep lifelong secret that lies at the very core of his identity at the backdrop of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, whose subversive affair with a White House intern emerged in every last mortifying detail in 1998. It was set at a time when "the jumble, the mayhem, the mess proved itself more subtle than one's ideology and one's morality."

A supposed racism slur - "spooks" - forced Coleman Silk to resign and the accusation, Coleman understands, leads directly to his wife's death to heart attack, though the charge is both spurious and preposterous. But this is not his only nightmare. What is most unendurable is that he is drained to the last bucket of days, the time if there ever is a time to quit the quarrel, to give up the rebuttal, to end the protest to an untrue accusation, to undo himself from the conscientiousness with which he raised his family bound by a combative marriage, and on top to come to term with his secret.

Coleman Silk's tragedy is intrinsic that it has so firmly imprinted in his in his early years, at his painful realization the objective is for his fate to determine not by the ignorant, hate-filled intentions of a hostile world but by his own resolve. So racism is just one example of evil, which, in Roth's rigorous and robust language, originates from his quest of purity, one that is racism-free. The lie, a shameful secret that has his lifetime magnetism, exists at the foundation of his relationship to his children who never have the opportunity to know their true ethnic identity. The lie impedes his relationship with his family, which has inevitably become an impediment, embarrassment, and taboo. No wonder Coleman is left to his crushing sense of abandonment that festered into the wound that has led to his self-destructive isolation and too circuitously a tragedy. Coleman's original goal is to live in freedom and not a representative of his race. In the quest for this freedom he falls prey to a society in which racism issue compromises the public and private life of morality.

The prose of HUMAN STAIN is robust, matter-of-fact, mellifluous, and highly literate. The book is quite difficult to take in the sense that he takes the fanaticism of the social root of evil very seriously.