Philip Roth

Roth's narrator, Neil , in goodby Columbus takes a vacation late in his summer of love w Brenda - a vacation at her fam house in short hills - this really dates the story back to the days when travel was out of reach for most people - still for Neil this seems like and edenic opportunity tho I still wonder whether Brenda let alone Neil would be so sexually avid on her fam home. In any case his vacation gets turned on its head when Brenda's bro , Ron, the jock gentle Jewish giant w the taste for montalvani classical stringed orchestra announces he's getting married to his g friend , Harriet. Potemkin clan goes into full management mode planning big wedding and it's obv that Neil is in the way. Once again he's the outsider intruder and observer. Prob never again has a Roth Barr been such an outsider chronicling a life not his. Some great scenes here - particularly Ron coming in to Neil's room and his awkward attempt to make conversation and the fam informing Neil that Ron joining fam biz Potemkin Sinks but starting at $200 a month - he'll have to work his way up - while n struggling for a tiny raise in a job he hates. N notes that Ron has wanted to b a gym teacher but curtly told - he has responsibilities now. And clearly n can see what his course in life wld b w Brenda - selling sinks and in thrall to dad and eventually to Ron - and it's clearly not a course he will peruse - and we c here for a menu Roth too at a crossroads decoding where his life can go - how to b a writer how to bear responsibilities to fam but also to self.

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