Reaons why I hate the first section of Sabbath's Theater

This brings us to the issue of Philip Roth. Because many of his books are so great and even in the not so great there are almost always great passages and sections, we or at least I overlook some of the tasteless and boorish passages in his better works - but what about Sabbath's Theater? I read it when it was new, that is, 27 years ago, and was repulsed by some of it and amazed and moved by other sections, most notably the section near the end when the protagonist, Micky Sabbath, visits his childhood home in Asbury Park, N.J. I picked the novel up again, having read in a recent Roth interview that it's possibly his favorite among his novels (it was also touted in a recent NYer review of Roth's nonfiction). Once again, I'm repulsed by the first section, for at least three reasons: First, the sexuality is so overdone, so over the top - who can forget the scene of Sabbath "mourning" over Drenka's grave? - that it's almost comical without actually being funny at all; second, this is so obviously an idiotic male fantasy - the overweight, white-bearded, unsuccessful, unattractive 64-year-old man in an abundant sexual relationship with an eager, ridiculously compliant, sexy younger woman; third, whether you buy into the Sabbath-Drenka relationship at all, you can't help but feel that this rutting couple is incredibly cruel to Drenka's hard-working husband - it's one thing to pursue illicit pleasure but another altogether to do so w/ cruel intent toward an innocent spouse (Sabbath's wife is a complete nonentity, btw); fourth, Sabbath isn't content w/ just Drenka but has to hit on very young, vulnerable women as well (seeking a partner in a threesome, at one point) and has a history (which cost him a teaching job) of sex w/ a minor - at one time some could overlook these character flaws but here's reading the novel today we cannot laugh off Sabbath's crude and perhaps even criminal behavior; fifth, Sabbath and Drenka have been carrying on an affair for 14 years in a small community in what appears to be the Berkshires - and spouses don't know? They must know, but maybe they don't care? This is a third-person narration so maybe we can have a clue as to what others think about these two? All that said, I will read farther into the novel, as I believe Roth pulls back from the sensationalism of the first section and moves on to other more salubrious matters.

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