Rating: 
Summary: Vintage
Review: The title story, Goodbye, Columbus is everything you expect from this great writer. The interaction and dialogue between the main character and his aunt is extremely funny. A must for Roth fans. The five short stores are all worthwhile reads. I've read "Defender of the Faith" before and enjoyed it very much. "Epstein" and "The Conversion of the Jews" are just as good.
Rating: 
Summary: classy first book
Review: Though definitely not his best work, _Goodbye, Columbus_ is an impressive first effort from one of the best authors of the second half of this century. Throughout the book one can sense the style Roth was creating for himself, and though this book doesn't exhibit that breathless virtuosity of prose, that mastery of the English language, of his later books, it's still a nice read.The novella _Goodbye, Columbus_ is a love story and a quiet meditation on a different type of "class struggle," and a better example of Roth's style -- not to mention a better story -- than his next two books, _Letting Go_ and _When She Was Good_. The first of the five stories, "The Conversion of the Jews," is a bit sick, but entertaining for that very reason. The middle three stories are a bit lackluster, but the book ends in high style, with "Eli, the Fanatic," a story that manages to be both a moving story about conflicting loyalties (the goyim or the Jews) and a hilarious portrait of a nervous breakdown. I would not recommend this book to those just starting to read Philip Roth (try the Zuckerman Bound trilogy instead), but for anyone wondering where Roth's career started, it's an excellent book.
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