WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • "A tough-minded, beautifully written memoir" (San Francisco Chronicle) about a son watching his elderly father battle with the brain tumor that will kill him—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Pastoral.
Patrimony, a true story, touches the emotions as strongly as anything Philip Roth has ever written. Roth watches as his eighty-six-year-old father—famous for his vigor, charm, and his repertoire of Newark recollections—fights the brain tumor that will kill him. The son, full of love, anxiety, and dread, accompanies his father through each fearful stage of his final ordeal, and, as he does so, discloses the survivalist tenacity that has distinguished his father's long, stubborn engagement with life.
WINNER National Book Critics Circle Awards
"A tough-minded, beautifully written memoir.... It smacks of honesty and truthfulness on every page." —San Francisco Chronicle
"A deeply resonant portrait of a father and son.... Roth has looked past all comfort and condolence to find the truth—about himself and his father; about death and the fear of it; and about the absolute vulnerability to which love condemns us all." —Chicago Tribune
"In a cunningly straightforward way, Patrimony tells one of the central true stories many Americans share nowadays.... Such telling is a marvel of artful wit and vigor.... It is the triumphant art of the literal ... the gloriously pragmatic, unpredictable genius of Philip Roth's narrative gifts." —The New York Times Book Review
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • "A tough-minded, beautifully written memoir" (San Francisco Chronicle) about a son watching his elderly father battle with the brain tumor that will kill him—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Pastoral.
Patrimony, a true story, touches the emotions as strongly as anything Philip Roth has ever written. Roth watches as his eighty-six-year-old father—famous for his vigor, charm, and his repertoire of Newark recollections—fights the brain tumor that will kill him. The son, full of love, anxiety, and dread, accompanies his father through each fearful stage of his final ordeal, and, as he does so, discloses the survivalist tenacity that has distinguished his father's long, stubborn engagement with life.
Awards
WINNER National Book Critics Circle Awards
Praise
"A tough-minded, beautifully written memoir.... It smacks of honesty and truthfulness on every page." —San Francisco Chronicle
"A deeply resonant portrait of a father and son.... Roth has looked past all comfort and condolence to find the truth—about himself and his father; about death and the fear of it; and about the absolute vulnerability to which love condemns us all." —Chicago Tribune
"In a cunningly straightforward way, Patrimony tells one of the central true stories many Americans share nowadays.... Such telling is a marvel of artful wit and vigor.... It is the triumphant art of the literal ... the gloriously pragmatic, unpredictable genius of Philip Roth's narrative gifts." —The New York Times Book Review
