Letting Go

by Philip Roth Narrated by Luke Daniels

Overview

The first full-length novel from one of the most renowned writers of the twentieth century, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Pastoral, tells the story of a mid-century America and offers “further proof of Mr. Roth's astonishing talent.... Letting Go seethes with life” (The New York Times).

Published when Roth was twenty-nine and set in Chicago, New York, and Iowa city, Letting Go presents as brilliant a fictional portrait as we have of America in the 1950s defined by social and ethical constraints and by moral compulsions conspicuously different from those of today.

Newly discharged from the Korean War army, reeling from his mother's recent death, freed from old attachments and hungrily seeking others, Gabe Wallach is drawn to Paul Herz, a fellow graduate student in literature, and to Libby, Paul's moody, intense wife. Gabe's desire to be connected to the ordered “world of feeling” that he finds in books is first tested vicariously by the anarchy of the Herzes' struggles with responsible adulthood and then by his own eager love affairs. Driven by the desire to live seriously and act generously, Gabe meets an impassable test in the person of Martha Reganhart, a spirited, outspoken, divorced mother of two, a formidable woman who, according to critic James Atlas, is masterfully portrayed with “depth and resonance."

The complex liason between Gabe and Martha and Gabe's moral enthusiasm for the trials of others are at the heart of this tragically comic work.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The protagonist of Roth's first full-length novel vicariously explores the angst of love and marriage. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

Letting Go is further proof of Mr. Roth's astonishing talent…. Its emotional tension is nerve-racking, its psychological insight convincing. Mr. Roth has a phenomenal ear for colloquial dialogue. He is an effective storyteller…. Letting Go seethes with life.… The most talented novelist under 30 in America.” —The New York Times

"A first novel of awesome maturity." —James Atlas

"A rich book, full of incident, wry and sad and even in its most desolating scene somehow amusing." —Elizabeth Hardwick, Harper's

"[Roth] has the finest eye for the details of American life since Sinclair Lewis." —Stanley Edgar Hyman

DECEMBER 2009 - AudioFile

Philip Roth has written a number of novels that can fairly be called masterpieces, but his first is not one of them. It far exceeds most first novels but only hints at the coming glories of THE GHOST WRITER, AMERICAN PASTORAL, THE HUMAN STAIN, and others. Narrator Luke Daniels strives mightily, but not excessively, to bring out every emotional nuance of the text, and mostly does well by it. However, when the characters lack New York accents, the dialogue can be a bit confusing. Nonetheless, Roth's fans should not miss this taste of the master in his youth. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940191475271
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	09/03/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged