Everyman

By: Philip Roth

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

There is no more decorated American writer living today than Philip Roth, the New York Times best-selling author of American Pastoral, The Human Stain, and The Plot Against America. He has won a Pulitzer Prize, two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, two PEN/Faulkner Awards, and numerous other distinctions.

The hero of Everyman is obsessed with mortality. As he reminds himself at one point, "I'm 34! Worry about oblivion when you're 75." But he cannot help himself. He is the ex-husband in three marriages gone wrong. He is the father of two sons who detest him, despite a daughter who adores him. And as his health worsens, he is the envious brother of a much fitter man. A masterful portrait of one man's inner struggles, Everyman is a brilliant showcase for one of the world's most distinguished novelists.

Listen to an interview with Philip Roth on Fresh Air.

©2006 Philip Roth (P)2006 Recorded Books, LLC.

Critic reviews

• 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award, Fiction

"Roth continues exercising his career-defining, clear-eyed, intelligent vision of how the psychology of families works." ( Booklist)

"This is an artful yet surprisingly readable treatise on...well, on being human....Through it all, there's that Rothian voice: pained, angry, arrogant, and deeply, wryly funny." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Our most accomplished novelist. . . . [With Everyman] personal tenderness has reached a new intensity." ( The New Yorker)

A very rich and complicated story.

Where does Everyman rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very high; not the best.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Everyman?

The thinking and musing about death not too far away.

What does George Guidall bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He sounded like the main character might sound.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was disturbing.

Any additional comments?

It was very very good from a literary standpoint and and it was emotionally moving. It stuck in my mind for a long time. I couldn't stop thinking about it; about impending death and remembrence.

What do you regret?

An introspective look into the foibles and joys of a man. His estrangements and attachments. He looks back from the end of life vantage point with regret and sympathy. The book is a downer in that each scene is a hospitalization.

Old age isn't a battle. Old age is a massacre.

The older I get, the more tolerant I get of Roth's later novellas. I remember thinking when I read one ten plus years ago that they were simply indulgences. Roth throwing off and idea and turning it into a novella. Why couldn't he go back to writing his great novels. Now, as I read some of his last several novels these last several months. Older now. I think I might understand. They aren't as robust as his great novels of the 1990s. But they are still pretty fantastic. They are memoirs. They are ... reflections of life prior to death, life in anticipation of death, life contemplating death. They are the murmurs of a man standing on the edge of the abyss.

There were certain parts of this novel that seemed to touch aspects of my own life. I too had a brother who seemed to have perfect health. My older brother could fail to brush his teeth for a year and not get a cavity. He rarely had a headache, a fever, a cold. He was an Army Ranger and later a decorated helicopter pilot. I was the opposite. Flat feet, pigeon-toed, diabetic, rheumatic, thyroid issues, bad teeth, Marfan syndrome, heart issues, struggling with pain nearly every day of my life.

There seems to exists in brothers that share this weird imbalance a measured shadow. At one level there is care and concern and on another level an almost hero worship that easily slides (at times) into a jealousy and enviousness that makes one empathetic to Cain.

Anyway, this is a very human novel about loneliness, aging, relationships, memory and death. It isn't perfect and far from Roth's best, but it is still very good and FAR better than 'he Humbling'

Superb

As one of America's preeminent writer's, Philip Roth sets the standard for depth and insight in his novels, and "Everyman" is a worthy addition to his canon. Without judgement or irony, Roth takes us into life's struggle with demons and angels. Roth unfolds, not so much a story, as an observation, capturing the pain of life in such of peace, if not happiness. Whether this speaks to the universal human condition I cannot say, but as a someone who walks with those who are struggling with their live's meanings, I can say that Roth gives something to reflect upon with every turn of the page. This should be required reading.

Unblinking Existential Portrait of a Man

Roth has written yet another brilliantly full-blooded character in this engrossing story of a man at the end of his life. Examining his own history, his family, his friends and his choices the protagonist is revealed as flawed and vibrantly real person. Who isn't. This is great writing, great literature and the story is filled with tension and release, making ita terrific listening experience. Highly recommended.

Existential bourbon on rocks

Wow, this book sneaked up on me. Philip Roth traces the life of a single, anonymous ‘everyman,’ starting at his funeral and then, as if rewinding a videotape, bringing him back to life to reveal the man’s lifelong health problems and big-brother envy, lustful escapades with a hot Danish model at the peak of his advertising career, and the heartbreaking loss of his one good marriage. In the end, we see a humble, resigned, observant, willing, stubborn, sad, mentally capable man still filled with so much love (and lust) but few people left to give it to. I judge great fiction in part by how much I end up thinking about my own life and the lives of the people around me while reading it. I was often forced to pause while my mind careened off to my own thoughts and life, and the lives of my aging parents. Despite so many poor choices, Philip Roth’s 'everyman' is a decent man, but in the end, decency is not enough. Death, decay, and uncertainty still await us all.

too short

A very important writer, but the book leaves a bit to be desired. I thought more about the book after I finished it, thoughts of mortality and what we are all doing about it, so in that sense perhaps it was better than I rated it.

Execellent

As a man in his sixties, I identified with a lot of what happened to the main character. I found the book very interesting, in spite of all the flashbacks to the past. The narrator did a good job, reading the text from the perspective of an older man.

Everyman, again.

2nd or 3rd time over 10 years. Have e book too. Both the book and the narrator are golden to me. Any students who can provide analysis?

Great narration of a gem of writing

Masterful. Brilliant! Philip Roth never fails to understand the human condition, and he consistently gets it right.