"Goodbye, Columbus" is, honestly, without the standard hyperbole so many people slab into reviews such as this, one of the best novels I have ever read. It was written by a twenty-five year old man who was only going to get better (as his work from the mid-1980s to the present firmly establishes) yet here we have the wisdom of our great American gods. It is a beautiful story, funny and painful and filled with truths anyone in those recent post-college, still-not-finding-one's self perspective could learn and grow from. I love this story, and it is filled with agonizing self-analytical material that shows who it is we are dealing with, the intellect and the passion, the savagry and the wit. There are not too many single stories of American authors I could recommend more highly than this book, in particular the five page sequence from which this story gets its title. It is haunting and true, one of the rare glories of English in narrative form. If for nothing else, get this book to read this lovely novella. It is, profoundly, a masterpiece (not a term I use lightly either, being the bitter cynic I am--check out other reviews I've written--I can get rather mean)>

Among the other stories, the most celebrated is "Conversion of the Jews", and for good reason. This is another gorgeously written tale about self-discovery and the agony of those questions all beginning with 'Why?' Here is a story questioning faith, questioning the idea of God or a higher power that has been transformed into such a makeshift mythology by all the varying faiths, why bother, it asks, what is the point and is it real and who are we and why are we here and why why why why why? This is a great story.

Sadly, this collection is begun with the two tales I have so widely praised. The remaining stories are good--very good, in fact, but following up "Goodbye, Columbus" and "Conversion of the Jews", something is lost as they are unable (quite understandably--what 25 year old author is going to maintain such sustained greatness? It took Roth 27 years to return to this passion in "The Counterlife", and then he expanded from there, getting better and better progressively, and never looking back)to keep up the fascination. Now this is not to say there is anything wrong with these other stories. Had they been all there was in this collection I would have looked back with nodding approval and said, "Hey, this guy is going somewhere." But they are not the first two stories and are almost awkwardly placed as an aftermath of a developing great author. Get this book urgently, and read them all. Just don't allow yourself to be soured by the slightly lesser material following the first two masterworks.


I've Lived This Story   December 20, 2002
 15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Goodbye, Columbus is the story of Neil Klugman from poor Newark and Brenda Patimkin from an upper-crust family in Short Hills and their relationship over a summer. Neil relates the story of his love for the beautiful Brenda, a love in which the two share little in common. He presents his hopes and dreams and his ultimate realizations about the state of the world and about himself. The novella is ultimately a beautiful, complex coming-of-age story which it seems everyone goes through.

Goodbye, Columbus is one of the best books I have read. It was so realistic and easy to relate to. I think that I have had a relationship similar to every one related in the novel. There are so many great insights to be found here. The novella isn't a difficult read, but one should definitely be aware of a lot of the symbols (such as the title, the fruit, the lions, and the uncle at the wedding) to glean the most from it. I will also say a word about the short stories. All of them, particularly "The Conversion of the Jews," were wonderful. They alone would make the book worth five stars; they just seem to get forgotten because of the masterpiece the opening novella is.


Goodbye, Columbus   October 31, 2004
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Goodbye, Columbus is a coming of age story, a summer romance between a poor boy and a wealthy girl. Many themes that were to show up in much more detail in his later works are presented in embryonic form in this novella, his first major work. Being Jewish in America, sex, class boundaries, the American Way: All Roth subjects, all handled with intelligence and compassion.

Neil is the typical poor Jewish boy enamoured with Brenda, the classy, self-assured, rich girl. He shows a rare spark of confidence when he calls her for a date after first meeting her at a swimming pool, when she accepts and they meet, he finds that he really doesn't know what to do from there. But, they bumble through the beginnings of a relationship, mutually attracted physically, diametrically opposed socially. Neil has a few 'poor' ideas and thoughts that Brenda cannot relate to, while she accepts such luxuries as a maid or 'getting her nose fixed' with such ease and complacency that we - and Neil - are amazed. Over the summer, their relationship develops further, with the typical ups and downs of love colouring the journey.

Neil is the 'I' character of the story, and it is through his point of view that we watch the story unfold. However, even though the story is in first person, there is never much of his personality revealed through contemplative thought or reflection. Instead, we learn who he is from the way he interacts with Brenda and others, and from the way he studies the events in which he is involved. By the end of the novella, we (mostly) understand his motives and ideas, and though, admittedly, it is a little difficult to imagine Neil existing outside the scope of the novel, that actually plays into the theme of the story. Neil is searching for meaning, for a reason to keep on existing, and he considers that in Brenda, he has found it. Whether this is true or not becomes a large focus in the novel, particularly when, later on, she repeatedly reveals to him that she is in fact her own person, with her own ideas, and that sometimes they won't mesh with his.

Brenda, on the other hand, remains a complete mystery to both the reader and Neil. Because we are never allowed to see her thoughts, and because her and Neil have such a different social background, she is someone who we try to understand, but inevitably fail. At times, Neil will say or do something and she will become upset, or tender, or both, and Neil will be so confused that he simply accepts. This can be frustrating for the reader, because Brenda is an appealing character, and it would be nice for him to have the gumption to search deeper within her for meaning and thought, but unfortunately he rarely does. Interestingly, this doesn't come off so much as a failing on Roth's part as an author, but Neil's as a character.

As stated above, the typical themes and ideas that Roth was to develop more fully in his later works are present here. There is the same easy insight into the mundane reality of life, and the same simple joy in, say, eating a piece of fruit or swimming in a pool. Goodbye, Columbus is a story that focuses on one single idea, that being the summer romance between two people that could not have a relationship in any other situation, and it explores it in a remarkably fulfilling way. Admittedly, the very Jewish quality of the writing and ideas may not be as identifiable for a non-Jewish person, but speaking as a man of no faith, I didn't find it to be all that much of a problem. Also, the casual racism towards African-Americans may be off-putting, but again, it didn't upset the flow of the novel.

To conclude, what Roth has done here is to introduce himself as an author, and for a twenty-six year old, it is an impressive introduction. Having read other works of his, I would recommend it as a good starting point. If you like Goodbye, Columbus - and I am quite certain everyone would - then you will love his later works. If not, not. And at only 140 pages, it is worth everyone's time to check out.


Hello Young Lovers   September 8, 1997
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

In Goodbye, Columbus, Philip Roth weaves a tale about the assimilation of the American Jew which reached its height in the 1950's. As outward displays of anti-semitism began to decrease, the Jewish community faced a moral crisis. How much of our heritage need we or should we retain in this "golden land". The message of Philip Roth in all of his works, but especially his inaugural one, is that American Jews have payed a price for acceptance. They have traded in their ghetto mentality for a ticket to the American Dream. While many would welcome such a transformation, Roth unabashedly condemns it. In the character of Brenda Patimkin, we are presented with the archtypical "Jewish American Princess" materialistic yet vulnerable. Neil Klugman is exactly the opposite, the symbol of the "old-world" Jew who lives with his Aunt and Uncle in the city. Despite their differences Brenda and Neil eventually fall in love only to discover that their inner attitudes are the diametric opposites to their outward characteristics. It is Brenda who is concerned in a old fashioned sense about what her parents think of her pre-marital affair. In Goodbye, Columbus Roth describes the foibles and makeup of the Jewish American community which, like Newark, was coming apart at the seams in the middle of the twentieth century. H.Brookman-Elizabeth, New Jersey


The best book ever written about Newark?   December 2, 2002
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

The book's brilliant.

Here's one thing that's not in the book that perhaps sheds some light on understanding the title: Across the street from the Newark Library, where the lead character works, is a park containing a statue of Christopher Columbus.

After reading this book many years ago, I was puzzled by the title. The "Columbus record" scenes to which the title refers did not seem as climactic and important to be highlighted. The Columbus record belongs to a second tier character, and yes, while the scene undergirds themes of coming of age and loss, the scene just didn't seem to be that important. But when you tie that coming-of-age theme to the statue of the explorer across from the lead character's workplace, where Neil no doubt ate lunch regularly, then you realize that Goodbye, Columbus, is Philip Roth's Goodbye to Berlin.

(I refer especially to the last scene in Berlin, in which all the characters in Isherwood's novel are having a picnic...no big deal, until you realize they are Jews and homosexuals and intellectuals and everyone else who, if they fail to get out, will be doomed shortly by the Third Reich. And all of it is left unsaid, the history is left to comment on the work on its own.)

In Columbus, the stakes are lower but analogous. The lead character is going to leave Newark ... he still works there, but he's going to say goodbye to that statue across the street, by extention the city. It's all unsaid but after the lead character gets out of Newark, the construction of I-78 will mean the beautiful neighborhood where Neil and his family lived will be torn apart; after that, Newark faces a particularly corrupt administration that starts the flight of businesses and sets the stage for the three days of devastating riots in 1967 (the ruins of which stood for more than 20 years) and the flight of half the population from the city.

Goodbye to Columbus was written while the forces that destroyed Newark were inchoate, but it only means that in this case, Roth was prescient.