What a bizarre book. Try to explain to anybody that the narrator has been turned into a 155 pound breast and then tries to tell what it feels like. He pays homage to Kafka, obviously, and Gogol, but beyond that, what to say. The narrator is David Kapeesh, however, whom I last saw as the narrator in the Dying Animal, so that lends more meaning to it. At least I know that he does not remain a 155 pound breast forever. Funny that he did not mention this episode in Dying Animal, though. The most touching parts of the narration come when David is trying to deny what has become of him and convince the doctors that it is nothing more than a psychotic episode that he will eventually snap out of. He's also concerned about keeping hold of his old life, especially as a professor of comparative literature and ponders the departmental politics of his predicament. He also dwells at length on the sexual feelings aroused in him by touch and the fact that he can only be aroused and not climax. It is outrageous and funny enough, but somehow it just never got around to making a point. It's a great exercise in style and narration, but little else that I can see.
Author: Roth, Phillip
Date Published: 1972
Length: 1 hr 50 min
Narrator: Colacci, David
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