Everyman * bookray

by Philip Roth | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0224078690 Global Overview for this book
Registered by LenaLena of Hoevelaken, Gelderland Netherlands on 1/10/2007
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This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
12 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by LenaLena from Hoevelaken, Gelderland Netherlands on Wednesday, January 10, 2007
(uncorrected proof copy)

Philip Roth's twenty-seventh book takes its title from an anonymous fifteenth-century English allegorical play whose drama centres on the summoning of the living to death and whose hero, Everyman, is intended to be the personification of mankind. The fate of Roth's Everyman is traced from his first shocking confrontation with death on the idyllic beaches of his childhood summers and during his hospitalisation as a nine-year-old surgical patient through the crises of health that come close to killing him as a vigorous adult, and into his old age, when he is undone by the death and deterioration of his contemporaries and relentlessly stalked by his own menacing physical woes. A successful commercial advertising artist with a New York ad agency, he is the father of two sons who despise him and a daughter who adores him, the beloved brother of a good man whose physical well-being comes to arouse his bitter envy, and the lonely ex-husband of three very different women with whom he's made a mess of marriage. "Everyman" is a painful human story of the regret and loss and stoicism of a man who becomes what he does not want to be.;The terrain of this savagely sad short novel is the human body, and its subject is the common experience that terrifies us all.

Journal Entry 2 by LenaLena from Hoevelaken, Gelderland Netherlands on Wednesday, January 10, 2007
This book becomes a bookray:

Participants:
- monalisaa

Journal Entry 3 by wingmonalisaawing from Rijswijk (ZH), Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, January 25, 2007
I found this book in the mailbox today, thanks, LenaLena, I'm gonna read it immediately!
And I already thought it would be a good idea to put it on the forum again when I've read it, because I can't imagine there aren't a lot more readers interested in this book. So in due time we'll see.

Journal Entry 4 by wingmonalisaawing from Rijswijk (ZH), Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Saturday, February 17, 2007
A very well written book about (the fear for) sickness and death. The story is nicely woven by continually switching from present to past, and is by times terrifyingly realistic. A very interesting read!

And the next readers on the bookray are:

Banquo (Utrecht)
Gnoe (Utrecht)
Suzy26 (Delft)
afraberg (Amsterdam)
Fifna (Leiden)
EmEli (Leiden)
gerbie7 (Goor, Overijssel)
violoncellix (Groningen)
Frakke-Per (Rottumeroog, Groningen)
ana-b (Gouda)
Eline64 (Zoetermeer)

And that's the end of this ray.

Journal Entry 5 by wingmonalisaawing from Rijswijk (ZH), Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, February 22, 2007
Het boekje gaat morgen op de post naar Banquo.

Journal Entry 6 by Gnoe from Utrecht, Utrecht Netherlands on Sunday, March 11, 2007
Special delivery from Banquo. Will read as soon as possible but not immediateley... Soon!

Update 15-04-2007
An incredibly beautiful story - Philip Roth is a great writer! I am going to get myself a personal copy of this book.

Thanks for sharing, LenaLena and monalisaa! Now it's on it's way to Suzy26; I hope she'll enjoy it as much as I did.

(BTW: have you read Patrimonium by Roth? That's also very beautiful!)

Journal Entry 7 by Suzy26 from Delft, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Friday, April 20, 2007
Received by mail today. Thank you very much for your postcard, Gnoe! As soon as I am done with my current ringbook I'll start on this one. It sure looks promising.

Journal Entry 8 by Suzy26 from Delft, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Monday, April 30, 2007
p.155: Had he been aware of the mortal suffering of every man and woman he happened to have known during all his years of professional life, of each one's painful story of regret and loss and stoicism, of fear and panic and isolation and dread, had he learned of every last thing they had parted with that had once been vitally theirs and of how, systematically, they were being destroyed he would have had to stay on the phone through the day and into the night, making another hundred calls at least. Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre.

Little gem of a story about one man's struggle to come to terms with his own mortality. Starting off with the protagonist's funeral, the story follows up on his youth, his marriages, his children and the problems with his health. The protagonist has a very realistic view on life which was quite refreshing to read. Roth's writing style was very much to my liking anyway. Thanks for sharing this book with us, LenaLena and monalisaa!

Update May 1, 2007: book is on its way to afraberg.

Journal Entry 9 by afraberg from Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, May 3, 2007
The book arrived safely at my home today.
Thank you very much Suzy26 for sending, I'll start reading tomorrow.

Journal Entry 10 by afraberg from Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Sunday, May 6, 2007
What a beautiful story! Not really a very happy read, but it gives you something to think about.
Thank you very much for sharing Monalisaa!

Tomorrow I put this book in the mail, on its way to Fifna.

Journal Entry 11 by wingFifnawing from Voorburg, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Arrived safely today, thanks Afraberg!

Journal Entry 12 by wingFifnawing from Voorburg, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Monday, June 4, 2007
Well this is indeed not a very happy story, but nonetheless a beautifully written one. Thanks for sharing, LenaLena and monalisaa!

Journal Entry 13 by EmEli from Voorschoten, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Monday, June 11, 2007
I just discovered the book in my mailbox! I still have some other ringbooks waiting but I'll try to read it as soon as possible.

Journal Entry 14 by EmEli from Voorschoten, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Saturday, June 30, 2007
Beautiful, this is a very good story! I loved it, even though it is a tad bit sad.

I am going to pm gerbie7 for his/her address.
Edit 30/6: I already brought the book to the mailbox.

Journal Entry 15 by gerbie7 from Goor, Overijssel Netherlands on Monday, July 2, 2007
Found this book when I arrived home today. It's been a while since I participated in a ring/ray. As soon as I finished the book I am reading, I will start this one. Certainly looking forward to reading it, after having read The Plot Against America last year.

Journal Entry 16 by gerbie7 at BookRing in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, July 26, 2007

Released 16 yrs ago (7/26/2007 UTC) at BookRing in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

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Vanochtend de laatste bladzijden gelezen, vanmiddag op weg naar de volgende lezer.

Journal Entry 17 by wingvioloncellixwing from Groningen, Groningen Netherlands on Friday, August 24, 2007
I received this book already some weeks ago but apparently forgot to journal it. Excuse me! I'm almost finished reading it & it will probably travel further tomorrow.

Later the same day:
Finished the book. It was a light read in spite of its heavy subject matter. The scenes that stand out for me are the protagonist's meeting with one of his painting students, the most talented one who has to stop because of unbearable back pain, in his old people's village by the sea; and his meeting with the grave-digger who had painstakingly dug his parents' graves years before.


Nothing could extinguish the vitality of that boy whose slender little torpedo of an unscathed body once rode the big Atlantic waves from a hundred yards out in the wild ocean all the way in to shore. Oh, the abandon of it, and the smell of the salt water and the scorching sun! Daylight, he thought, penetrating everywhere, day after summer day of that daylight blazing off a living sea, an optical treasure so vast and valuable that he could have been peering through the jeweler's loupe engraved with his father's initials at the perfect, priceless planet itself -- at his home, the billion-, the trillion-, the quadrillion-carat planet Earth!


On to Frakke-Per, who is the next on this ring.

Journal Entry 18 by Frakke-Per from Rottumerzijl, Groningen Netherlands on Saturday, August 25, 2007
Got the book - and will read it, soon.

Journal Entry 19 by Frakke-Per from Rottumerzijl, Groningen Netherlands on Thursday, August 30, 2007
The theme of mortality appeals to me, but still, the book did only in spurts, small ones - for example the dialogue with the gravedigger. Most of the time, I couldn't get interested in Everymans main character.
The book will travel further to ana-b

Journal Entry 20 by Frakke-Per at on Thursday, August 30, 2007

Released 16 yrs ago (8/30/2007 UTC) at

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Journal Entry 21 by ana-b from Gouda, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Sunday, September 2, 2007
Zaterdag per post ontvangen van Frakke Per.

Journal Entry 22 by ana-b from Gouda, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Monday, October 1, 2007
I really enjoyed reading this story. Beautifully told, but always there remains a distance between the reader and the main character.

Journal Entry 23 by ana-b at on Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Released 16 yrs ago (10/3/2007 UTC) at

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Ik stuur het boek vandaag per post naar Eline64.

Journal Entry 24 by Eline64 from Zoetermeer, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Sorry voor het late melden maar ik had het een beetje druk. Afgelopen week heb ik dit boek van ana-b ontvangen. Het moet nog even op de tbr-stapel maar daarna zal ik het, omdat ik de laatste in de ray ben, snel op reis sturen. LenaLena en Ana-b bedankt voor het ringen en opsturen

A beautiful book. I read it with much pleasure although it's a very sad story

Journal Entry 25 by gerbie7 from Goor, Overijssel Netherlands on Wednesday, October 31, 2007
A bit late, but I'd still like to post my review:

Philip Roth – Everyman (07-051)

“The Plot against America” was the first book I read by Roth and I was really impressed. This ring book was a good opportunity to get more familiar with Roth, often praised, every year a favorite to win the Noble price for literature.

The story about the Jewish main character going through life until he finally dies, as he himself predicted at reasonable old age, does not appeal to me as much as ‘the plot’ did. It was certainly a nice book to read, I’m glad I have. It was fun to see how human the character was, with all his flaws, with his ability for self reflection, but it didn’t hit home as I hoped.

Probably me I guess. The next Roth book is already on my shelf. It’ll have to wait a bit though. Other books to be read first.

Number: 07-051
Title: Everyman
Author: Philip Roth
Language: English (US)
Year: 2006
# Pages: 184 (9173)
Category: Fiction
ISBN: 978-022407-8690

Journal Entry 26 by Eline64 at Coogee Beach Hotel in Coogee, New South Wales Australia on Monday, August 25, 2008

Released 15 yrs ago (8/21/2008 UTC) at Coogee Beach Hotel in Coogee, New South Wales Australia

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in the lobby of the hotel

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