Call It Sleep : A Novel (Paperback)

from cherish

As a general fan of turn-of-the-century stuff, I really wanted to like this book. It would have been much better if Roth had cut out about half of the length of the book. On the other hand, it wasn't so bad that I literally could not finish it, so that's a plus. It's just that none of the charact...

from whitewavedarling

This was an entertaining read at first, but I have to say that the farther I got into it, the less I cared about finishing it. Simply, I just wasn't particularly interested or engaged, and the central character isn't particularly sympathetic or engaging. In the end, I read it, and I appreciated t...

from TheAmpersand

Okay, I'll admit it: when I picked this up at Borders, I thought I was buying a Phillip Roth novel. After finishing "Call it Sleep," I rather wish that I had. I guess it pays to read the cover carefully. "Call it Sleep" is a rather obvious American Jewish gloss on Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist ...

from Citizenjoyce

Such a fascinating study of Jewish immigrants to the US in the early 1900's. What a shame it was marred with an obsession with sex. There's a reason I stopped watching Woody Allen movies after he screwed his step daughter. There's more to life than sex and compliant women placating their violent ...

from SeriousGrace

Told from the perspective of six year old David Schearl, Call It Sleep relates the hardships of immigrant life in turn of the century gritty New York City. In the prologue, David and his mother arrive from Austria to join her abusive and angry husband. This is the of the few times the narrative i...