The Human Stain – Philip Roth

Summary:

This is the third book in Roth’s trilogy, exploring American life.

Main Characters:

Nathan Zuckerberg: The narrator, he is an author who has lived in the Berkshire hills for the past five years.

Colman Silk: The retired dean of classics from Athena, the main subject of the novel

Faunia Farley: Silk’s 34 year old lover, illiterate, abused, and is a janitor at Athena College.

Minor Characters:

Les Farley: Faunia’s ex-husband, a very troubled Vietnam Vet.

Delphine Roux: Young, ambitious rising academic, and enemy of Silk.

Plot:

The year is 1998, the backdrop being Bill Clinton’s impeachment. The theme is partly the sanctimonious attitude adopted towards the affairs of others, and the prurience that also underlies it. American culture, and how easily spurious charges of racism can destroy someone, is also addressed.

Zuckerman meets Silk when the latter literally bursts through his door, demanding that he write Silk’s story. Silk has had a traumatic couple of years, first retiring under a cloud (he used the word “spooks” when referring to two students who had never once attended his classes – he used it in the spectral sense as he had never seen them, they (two black students) alleged he used it as the archaic epithet as applied to African Americans.

Following this, Silk loses his wife to a stroke, and blames the college for her untimely death.

Silk begins an ill-advised affair with the much younger faunia, which gives ammunition to the ambitious but highly immature and lonely Delphine Roux, who believes he is the latest in a long line of men who have abused this defenceless woman. Roux never actually asks Faunia what she thinks.

Over the course of the novel, we see Silk as a young man, and we become privy to the secret he was to carry unto his death, save for only a precious few whom he told. Silk excelled in everything he did, from boxing to academics.

We also get the history of the other characters, and we explore the deep trauma that Les went through, the demanding world of high-achievement and stifling social expectation that Delphine was born into, and also the ruination of the beautiful little girl that Faunia was.

The author has, as his real target, the moral attitudes prevalent in today’s America. Sex, race, choice, intrusion – those who do not conform to the norm are ruthlessly cut from the herd, and must fend for themselves.

The word “spooks”, innocently spoken but pounced upon by those with an agenda, undoes everything Silk worked for, undoes all his sacrifices, destroys all the good he ever did. The sad reality is, that it was a storm in a teacup, and would have passed, but he resigned before it did.

What I Liked:

• The questions you are left with, most importantly (for me) – what is an authentic life, and did you do the most with what you had?
• The echo of the classical Aristotelian Greek tragedy, where the man of power falls due to his own flaws. However, here Colman did not recognise his errors.
• The Les character was, for me, the best of the lot, in terms of definition, and getting into his head.

What I Didn’t Like:

• The characters felt like a trope – much older guy and younger woman, raging ex-husband suffering from PTSD, disapproving society.
• The author is very loquacious, long intelligent sentences that frankly left me a little cold, and took away from the pace of the story.
• The constant jumping between narrators – takes getting used to as can happen mid-chapter.

Overall:

It is a good read, but takes focus. You do not have to read the preceding two to get this, and the writing is powerful. However, I didn’t feel connected to many of the characters. The descriptive passages are very strong, but as noted above he does tend to ramble.

A good book, from a highly regarded and influential author, but would only rate a three star for me.