Rating: 
Summary: Ugh
Review: Loved early Roth (Goodbye Columbus etc.) but he has been going straight downhill for several years. This misshapen thing is terrible -- not least because of the cardboard cutout cliche Vietnam veteran character. A beginning writer would cringe at stooping so low; from one of America's previously better novelists it is appalling. Not many groups left to pick on and be PC -- Nam vets and rednecks are the only two that come to mind -- but this think is fatally flawed and ugly.
Rating: 
Summary: A well written book
Review: Interesting characters and a nicely woven plot. A little slow at times, but overall a nice read.
Rating:
Summary: Roth Right On
Review: I am unfortunately not as familiar with Roth's earlier works and previous reviewers, though I have read him, knew of him, and respected him as one of America's great writers. I was nonetheless excited to discover this motherlode of observation, perception and wisdom that deigns touch upon such complicated and socially sensitive matters as race, academic culture, contemporary social pyrotechnics, vietnam, and simply surviving the murk of daily living. As an African American, it was a very pleasant surprise to discover the implicit wisdom of Roth's dissection of what it must be like, or entail, to cross the color line. Roth explores the subject matter with a wisdom and sensitivity and, more importantly, and insigtfulness that is rather staggering. Should I add, for an outsider? But perhaps that is the implicit lesson of the book; that though we may be positioned as outsiders in viewing arcane matters dealing with other races, cultures and societal segments, we may not be at all--that the human stain that brushes against all of us, gives us insight into the plight, the problems, and the possiblilities of the rest of us. Roth's novel is excellent, entertaining and rewarding reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Savory!
Review: My first Phillip Roth novel. I loved it. The run on descriptions would normally be tedious but weren't. The plot, the relationships,the history, the nuances, all of it added up to a great read. I highly reccomend it and will refer all my friends to it.
Rating:
Summary: Do Not Read This Book
Review: I am the easiest critic in the world. I like almost any book I read, but this is a rare exception. This book dragged on and on with no real point. The big "secret" is revealed at the beginning of the book and the story dies after that. Save yourself the money and find a better book to read.
Rating:
Summary: Heavy Stuff, but well worth the time
Review: My brother and Law and I both picked up this book simultaneoulsy, and upon finding this out some 100 pages in, both said the same things: Whoa, this is not easy reading. Then 1 week later-"Adam, I'm struggling", which I echoed. Well, It took a solo european journey to find the reading time to immerse into the book, and upon completion of the last sentence, I got that special feeling of wonder and satisfaction that I think we all look forward to-the book resonates.I have read Roth before, and was not expecting fluff. The reason the book is tough is not due to the vocabulary, but because various plot developmpments are examined with such depth, from varios perspectives-thus the book can be slow moving. When the protagansit, a college professor, tries in his own mind to defend his use of a word he used in class, which upon misinterpretation and distortion, leads to his resignation, three pages are spent on definitions of the word, uses of it, exapmles of it. This is one way in which the book is "deep". But within these various "diving sessions", there is incredible insight. If you are reading for merely plot development, this can be frustrating(go read Grisham) However, the book does contains an out of the blue shocker, early in the book (unless you've already read certain reviews and knew of ther revelation). I knew of the shocker, but it didn't detract much. But, if you are caught unaware, the revelation is so sneakily revealed that you'll find yourself going back a few pages and asking yourself if you missed something. The book is a portrait of one man from several vantage points of time, place, and character. The last 1/3 of the book picked up the sometimes laborious groundwork, and rolled on to amaze me. The scene where a troubled vietnam vet has to, as therapy, survive a meal in a chinese resturaunt, is both hillarious, tension packed, yet also enlightening and thus troubling with regard to the plight of war vets. The final scene on a frozen lake is beautiful, also riveting. I like to read to be enlightened, broadened, but of course entertained. As they say in England, from where I just arrived, "At the end of the day" this book did all three.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the great American novel...
Review: I thought that the premise of the book was fascinating but I could not help feeling that Roth wrote this novel with the goal of writing THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL. Well, sadly, it falls short. The characters are unlikeable and with the exception of Coleman Silk, not well defined. There are two characters who are introduced right at the end of the book and it's not clear to me why they appear in the story at all. Many of the characters are too lightly drawn. All that said, the book did have some positive qualities. Roth's description of how Coleman's secret evolved was masterful and very credible. I would have enjoyed the book much more had Roth focused his energies there. I found the Faunia/Les Farley story much less interesting or engaging. After all of the glowing reviews I had read, I was disappointed in The Human Stain.
Rating:
Summary: A Reader
Review: I have to say this book plodded and plodded repetatively along. I was never able to identify with the characters and sincerely did not like this book. I'm sure to some, who could identify with the characters it was great - but I found it boring to the end.
Rating:
Summary: perfect metaphor for the clinton years
Review: Another wonderful book from Roth, without question one of the great novelists ever produced by this country. This is not quite as impressive as "American Pastoral," the first work in this Roth trilogy that to my mind is one of the truly great novels I have ever read, but it's powerful nonetheless. There are so many secrets and contradictions built upon one another that at the end you're left to wonder whether all the deceit was necessary. By the characters, not the author. And in this era of self-righteousness, where everyone seems to know just exactly how everyone else should live his or her life, Roth constructs a powerful and furiously angry polemic that illustrates the enormous cost of all this piousness and hypocrisy. Read it and weep. And marvel at his insight and extraordinary command of the language. I only hope he can continue to produce such art for many more years.
Rating:
Summary: One of HIS best, one of OUR best
Review: This is not only one of Roth's best novels, but one of the best that America has produced in the last decade. As an avid Roth fan, and English professor, I feel comfortable recommending this novel to everyone who admires, and takes pleasure in, good writing. Like American Pastoral, The Human Stain combines everything that is great about Roth and leaves out everything that isn't. It combines the traditional storytelling of his first few novels, the humour of many of his works, and the skill Roth has developed over the past 50 years. It isn't a technical wonder--like The Counterlife--but it's much more human, readerly and enjoyable. There's a haunting, elegiac mood that envelopes this novel, despite its frequent comic interludes, recalling American Pastoral and even The Great Gatsby.
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