Operación Shylock es una novela rigurosamnte autobiográfica basada en hechos rigurosamente falsos. Philip Roth está en su cazsa de Connecticut, recuperándose de una grave crisis mental inducida por el consumo de un fármaco, cuando lo llaman por teléfono desde Israel para decirle que Philip Roth está en Jerusalén haciendo propaganda de la nueva doctrina del Diasporismo, según la cual los judíos de origen europeo deben regresar a Europa, que es su verdadera casa, abandonando Israel. Entre ambos Roth se plantea una descomunal batalla, que ha de terminar con el rotundo triunfo de ninguno de los dos, con ayuda de la OLP y el Mossad. . ( )

An especially clever Philip Roth novel with elements of suspense and humor. A terrific read. ( )

It is interesting to note the drastic slow down in my reading; this book - which I would have read in 3-4 days tops a few years ago - took me over 3 weeks. I blame having an 8 month old and having a Wii.

Review Proper:
I first read Roth in a short story class in college - only about 7 or 8 years ago, and while I enjoyed the story that I read, I didn't follow up on it. In 2005 I came across one of his books in a book store, recognized the name, and bought it. In the 3 years since, I've read all but one or two of his books. In actuality, in 2005-2006 I read all but a few of his books, and then decided to slow down and save the rest for later.

All of that is to say that I really enjoy Roth's books. I enjoyed this one no less than the others. This one is fairly similar in style to his later books, but it has all of the identity muddling of his middle period. You're left with the question of, "who is Roth the author and who is Roth the character?"

It is tempting to speculate whether any of the story may have actually happened, but I don't think that that is a fruitful avenue.

The thing that I really love about his writing is that it is really writing about writing. The supposedly amputated last chapter is a good example.

This has been a fairly poor review. Reading really good writing like Roth's makes me painfully aware of my own very poor writing ability. ( )

Sa scrivere questo ragazzo, sa scrivere anche quando l'argomento è lo scrivere e lo scrittore, il doppio, la realtà, la finzione, Philip Roth. Non c'è un libro di Philp Roth che io abbia abbandonato, rimane nel tuo immaginario più, molto di più di quello che pensi. ( )

An excellent work by an excellent writer. I can say more. Roth confronts his double in the Jewish homeland of Israel using the Demjanjuk nazi war crimes trial to discourse on the state of Israel--from both pro and con viewpoints and also on the Jewish diaspora. After his impersonator has made noise in Israel suggesting a return of European jews to their European roots in effect saving them either from 1) being overrun and exterminated in a second holocaust or 2) being part of a country that has lost all moral credibility having saved itself from annihilation by going nuclear against its enemies the real Roth is reluctantly drawn over to Jerusalem to confront his double. Many twists and turns abound--his being manipulated by an old Palestinian friend from his college days in Chicago and by agents from the Mossad. Having a short time before these events been a victim of a bad prescription that led nearly to a mental breakdown Philip is feeling more than a little fragile, confused and paranoid. Confrontations with ideologues of all stripes including his double--a dead ringer cancer patient and former private detective with a drop dead gorgeous former anti-semite girlfriend abound between disertations on the politics and enmities of the region. Roth strives to maintain reality with some shred of objectivity.

One of the most humorous of Roth's works. I'm not sure any other American writer could pull this off with the same elan. Maybe Nathan Englander. It moves along nice and easy from beginning to end with hardly a hitch. There's nothing at all to complain about in terms of ambition, plot, execution or language. For a 400 page work--everything is essential--there is no wastage. For someone who has never read Philip Roth--this would be a good one to begin with. ( )