Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I remember this book very well, it was a very rewarding venture off the road of non-fiction reading I typically stick to. Each story deals with the problems and concerns of secondand third-generation assimilated American Jews as they leave the ethnic ghettos of their parents and grandparents and go on to college, the white-collar professions, and life in the suburbs where they suffer alienation and self-doubt. This is not a life experience I have had, but Roth touches universal chords and I can still relate to the wistful, sad nostalgia of "Goodbye, Columbus" coming from the record Brenda's brother listens to about his years as an athlete at Ohio State University. I don't know bout the alienation experienced by the assimilated Jew, but I can relate to the existential panic and frutstration with religious inconsistencies that causes Ozzie, without thinking, to run to the roof of the synagogue where he threatens to jump.
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