I Married a Communist
A tale of love, betrayal, and political turmoil
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:1st Aug '19
Should be back in stock very soon
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£9.99(9780099287834)
This compelling novel delves into the life of Ira Ringold, exploring themes of ambition, betrayal, and the political climate of America. I Married a Communist is a powerful narrative.
In I Married a Communist, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Philip Roth explores the complexities of 30s and 40s America through the life of Ira Ringold. Once a ditch-digger in New Jersey, Ira rises to fame as a radio personality during the 1940s, embodying the American Dream. His journey is marked by ambition and the pursuit of success, but it is also fraught with challenges that test his character and relationships.
As Ira marries the glamorous Hollywood actress Eve Frame, their initial bliss quickly turns into turmoil. The publication of Eve's scandalous exposé not only tarnishes Ira's reputation but also reveals the darker undercurrents of their lives. Accused of being a communist sympathizer, Ira faces betrayal from those he once considered friends, leading to a profound estrangement from his family and loved ones. The narrative captures the tension between personal aspirations and the political landscape of the time, reflecting the societal shifts that define postwar America.
Roth's narrative is a gripping exploration of love, loyalty, and the devastating impact of public perception. I Married a Communist is not just a tale of individual downfall; it is a poignant commentary on the era’s complexities, making it a significant piece in Roth's trilogy of postwar America, alongside American Pastoral and The Human Stain.
A passionate and coruscating American tragedy * Financial Times *
Knotted with energy, barely wasting a scene or word in its cracking velocity * Mail on Sunday *
One of the great political novels of our age; a card-carrying Shakespearean tragedy with New Jersey dirt beneath its fingernails -- Xan Brooks * Guardian *
Quintessential Philip Roth * Sunday Telegraph *
A magnificent novel of ideas, a disquisition on the fallout of the death of ideology * Observer *
Roth explores our expedients and tragedies with a masterly, often unnerving, blend of tenderness, harshness, insight and wit...a gripping novel * New York Times Book Review *
Roth remains as edgy, as furious, as funny, and as dangerous as he was forty years ago * New York Review of Books *
I Married a Communist proves that, following the success of Sabbath's Theater and American Pastoral, he remains on extraordinary form... Wonderful storytelling and characterisation * Guardian, Books of the Year *
The McCarthy era has faded, eerily, into nostalgia, just as Capitol Hill produces its own 90s version of witch-hunt and communal obsession with enemies of the state, and perversions of justice perpetrated in democracy's name. Roth avoids nostalgia by making his narrator an active, if unwitting participant in the original drama, caught up in political currents and counter-currents he did not comprehend at the time * Lisa Jardine *
Roth’s conflicted, many-layered characters give this work memorable force * Guardian *
ISBN: 9781784875558
Dimensions: 197mm x 130mm x 23mm
Weight: 248g
352 pages