Rating: 
Summary: Odyssey of a Jewish intellectual in vietnam war era America
Review: What happens to, and around Bruce Gold, a middle age Jewish professor teaching English literature in a Brooklyn college, during his short association with the White House. It could be read on many levels and from serval perspectives: a satire of Henry A. Kissinger; a parody of "Eastern liberal establishment"; a farce of the White House politics and politicians; a documentary of Jewish experience in America; a novel of American social life in (post) vietnam era. Family, work, career, life, death, desire, love, sex, races, religion, politics, truth, they are all there. A touching story that makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time, a delicious dish sweet and bitter simultaneously, the best gourment food for thought.The ending is not very satisfactory to me, the return of Dr. Gold to his cultural and family roots is hasty, forced and out of character, this might be more due to the nature of the book, including the need of every book to have an end, than anything else. Some sexual contents are unnecessary, comparing their counterparts in "Catch 22", they give a feeling of Heller playing pranks on readers. Or is that part of satire ?
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