Deception indeed

 

Spanish edition.

Deception (Engaño) by Philip Roth.

I am kind of shocked... for the wrong reasons. I had heard a lot of praise for Roth, I was expecting something very good from this book. Later I read a comment from a reviewer that you should not read this as a first book from Roth… Opsie. It is not that we should expect every book from an author to be good, it is just that I found it very annoying and the image I made in my mind of Roth was: insufferable.

Ok ok, let me explain, I am sure he was a lovely dude, but some snobbish books I just can’t handle, my eyes get cramped from rolling them up again and again. How snob? In a New York Times review, it says that the book reads as a play for a select minority, brilliant people (*rolling eyes uncontrollably*). Sure, Roth was very cheeky, super-duper smart (I guess) and such, but I couldn’t find it in the book. Yeah, yeah, the book title having double meaning, soooo meta… come on. Personally, I find those kinds of parameters pointless, books are much more, for me at least.

Maybe by picking this book first I spoiled a bit the future readings of his masterpieces, I am going to let some time pass to try some of the more praised ones. I give my high regards to that nice reviewer that recommends choosing some other book to start Roth.