The Human Stain

The Human Stain

Philip Roth2010
Philip Roth’s brilliant conclusion to his eloquent trilogy of post-war America – a magnificent successor to American Pastoral and I Married a Communist It is 1998, the year America is plunged into a frenzy of prurience by the impeachment of a president, and in a small New England town a distinguished classics professor, Coleman Silk, is forced to retire when his colleagues allege that he is a racist. The charge is unfounded, the persecution needless, but the truth about Silk would astonish even his most virulent accuser. Coleman Silk has a secret, one which has been kept for fifty years from his wife, his four children, his colleagues, and his friends, including the writer Nathan Zuckerman. It is Zuckerman who comes upon Silk's secret, and sets out to unearth his former buried life, piecing the biographical fragments back together. This is against backdrop of seismic shifts in American history, which take on real, human urgency as Zuckerman discovers more and more about Silk's past and his futile search for renewal and regeneration. ‘An extraordinary book - bursting with rage, humming with ideas, full of dazzling sleights of hand'- Sunday Telegraph
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of Isabella Agostino
Isabella Agostino@bellaray
4 stars
Jul 24, 2024
Photo of Nelson Zagalo
Nelson Zagalo@nzagalo
5 stars
Sep 3, 2022
Photo of Katrina Wilson
Katrina Wilson@kwilson
4 stars
Jul 16, 2024
Photo of Sam
Sam@givemenothing
5 stars
Jan 8, 2024
Photo of A kabel
A kabel @me0wme0w
4 stars
Jan 8, 2024
Photo of lucinda ventimiglia
lucinda ventimiglia@lucinda
3 stars
Jan 8, 2024
Photo of Carmen Maria
Carmen Maria@carmen2611
4 stars
Dec 27, 2023
Photo of Lisa
Lisa@frowzled
5 stars
Aug 13, 2023
Photo of Houssine Benboubker
Houssine Benboubker@houssineb
4 stars
Apr 14, 2023
Photo of Ipek
Ipek@ataegina
5 stars
Mar 12, 2023
Photo of Matthew Royal
Matthew Royal@masyukun
4 stars
Feb 13, 2023
Photo of Vix
Vix@vixlalune
5 stars
Jan 11, 2023
Photo of Sang Park
Sang Park@sparky
3 stars
Jan 8, 2023
Photo of Joshua Line
Joshua Line@fictionjunky
4 stars
Dec 30, 2022
Photo of Laura Hurst
Laura Hurst@sunspawn
5 stars
Dec 11, 2022
Photo of Lia
Lia @liafrosio
5 stars
Nov 3, 2022
Photo of Roel Vandenhoeck
Roel Vandenhoeck@rovan
5 stars
Aug 31, 2022
Photo of Neta Steingart
Neta Steingart@neta_shin
3 stars
Aug 12, 2022
Photo of Erin Shannon
Erin Shannon@erinshannon42
3 stars
Aug 12, 2022
Photo of Kathy Rodger
Kathy Rodger @bookatnz
4 stars
Apr 20, 2022
Photo of Olivia Holmes
Olivia Holmes@oliviabh
5 stars
Mar 28, 2022
Photo of Elena
Elena@elle_bi
1 star
Mar 10, 2022
Photo of Robin M Cabana
Robin M Cabana@rmcabana
3 stars
Mar 2, 2022
Photo of Christopher McCaffery
Christopher McCaffery@cmccafe
4 stars
Feb 8, 2022