I Married a Communist

English language

ISBN:
978-0-375-70721-6
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3 stars (4 reviews)

Radio actor Iron Rinn is a big Newark roughneck lighted by a brutal personal secret from which he is perpetually in flight. An idealistic Communist, an uneducated ditchdigger turned popular performer, a six-foot, six-inch Abe Lincoln look-alike, he emerges from serving in WW2 passionately committed to making the world a better place and winds up instead blacklisted and unemployable, his life in ruins. I Married a Communist is the story of Iron Rinns denunciation and disgrace. It is also a story of cruelty, humiliation, betrayal and revenge - an American tragedy as only Philip Roth can conceive one - fierce and funny, eloquently rendered and deadly accurate.

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Review of 'I married a communist' on Goodreads

1 star

Abandoned. I'm hit or miss with Roth. The only consistency I can find is I like anything of his that I've read which was published after 2000: The Human Stain, The Plot Against America, and Everyman. Anything of his I've read which was published before that date is either mediocre or bad.

This novel had a very circular narrative, and I just couldn't care less about the protagonist. It's possible it could've worked as a novella, but it really felt like Roth was struggling to fill the pages--more so than usual, if you are familiar with his already verbose style.

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