Rating: 
Summary: Unfinished Short Stories
Review: "Goodbye, Columbus," by Philip Roth, is a series of short stories. Each story has it's own characters and plot. Roth begins with a story about man and women who fall in love. They experience many conflicts such as family matters and working habits. The second story is about a boy who is trying to discover how Jesus was established as a religious icon. His misunderstanding leads to a crisis on top of a building. The third story is about World War II and a man's perception of the war and his experiences. The fourth story is about a husband and wife who are struggling with marriage conflicts. The wife believes her husband is cheating on her because he develops an extraordinary rash. The fifth story is about two boys who are in high school and are learning about baseball and true friendship. They develop a friendship that lasts a life time. The last story is about a man and his pregnant wife. They struggle with money and job issues, but somehow they learn to deal with their obstacles in life when approached by them. The short stories all have similar aspects to them. Roth uses very descriptive diction to project a vivid image into the reader's mind and to create a romantic tone in the story. The stories are easy to follow and understand because of the use of straight forward word choice and descriptions of the characters. The reader may find that the stories are short and unfinished, but because of this, the reader is left with suspense and imagination.
Rating: 
Summary: There ought to be a law...
Review: ...that states that everyone should read this book. The title story is at once hilarious and heartbreaking. Roth is one of the most gifted writers America has produced, and this (his first book) proves it. I particularly admire Roth's ability to get the reader to sympathize and realate to characters they don't particularly like. It was a an unforgettable experience. Don't waste your time with the movie version though. A real disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: A fascinating look at a young man who is beginning to question his youthful ideals. Does he abandon his lower class family and everything he believes to marry into a wealthy family? It is beautifully written and very real.
Rating:
Summary: Neil and Brenda, sitting in a tree...
Review: A friend, who is an admirer of Roth's other works, especially American Pastoral, dismisses this as "sentimental nonsense." I argue that "Goodbye, Columbus" - the story itself, forget the five other stories (although they're good too) - is a classic. Certainly it is written in an autobiographical vein, and depends on its readers' emotions to be effective, but there is something more to this book. And I think lots of people miss that "something" when they say that "Goodbye, Columbus" is about "capitalism" or "social class" or even about secular Jews trying to find themselves - let alone each other - in our crazy, modern world. All of these critiques are right at some points, but they miss the crucial thing: "Goodbye, Columbus" is a love story, a very scary love story. If Roth gets anything right with Neil and Brenda, it is their absolute inability to communicate despite being two of the most educated people on earth. Neil thinks he's advancing the relationship - telling Brenda he cares - when he tells her to visit Sanger's clinic. He thinks by catering to her every whim that he's loving her. (What she thinks is unclear. The story is told from Neil's point of view and doesn't show Brenda to be particularly moral, or even thinking along such lines, at all.) And maybe in some perfect world, Neil would be right, his love would be made truly manifest in such things. But even he knows he's living a dream, at best. All that's left in terms of love in a world without commitment and tenderness is carnality, and that only goes so far... As I said, a classic. You'll have to read the book to find out if I'm right about it.
Rating:
Summary: Good call!!
Review: a very interesting debate about love of social classe
Rating: 
Summary: Good enough to buy
Review: After checking it out of the library, I found "Goodbye, Columbus" good enough to purchase for my personal collection. What a riot this book is in parts. I had a class in college where we read parts of it to "show what a chauvinist Roth is," but I really didn't get that impression when I read the *entire* novel. And the scene where Ron is listening to his graduation album just cracked me up. Don't remember enough about the short stories to comment with any authority, so I'll leave those alone.
Rating:
Summary: An easy and enjoyable read
Review: For a debut book, this is very good albeit somewhat predictable. Roth's style is easy to read and surprisingly humorous. The title story about a summer romance should hit home with a lot of people. I found the theme of love versus lust to be quite an interesting and realistic perspective. I think many of us could learn a valuable lesson here.
Rating:
Summary: A great book about young lust.
Review: Goodbye Columbus is a book centering around a young lustful relationship in which problems arise due to differences in social class and religion. It is an easy read and is a good choice for someone who wants to read something entertaining. It is best for mature readers who do not mind a sexual theme.
Rating: 
Summary: kind of bitter
Review: Goodbye Columbus is a book that shows reality about love. I really recommend it to everyone, specially the teenagers who want to learn a tough lesson about life. I think the deal with Neil and Brenda is that they were in love at some point of their lives but still their relationship was not so strong to handle a long distance relation, neither a problem with parents. Both were still immature, especially Brenda who could not take her own decisions because, as a little child, she was influenced by her parents, no matter what she felt. On the other side, Neil ran out of love so, at the end, he was not interested on fighting for their love. I believe that the idea of the story is sad but is still has some humorous parts that will make you enjoy the book at the same time it teaches you a lesson.
Rating:
Summary: Ingen a toda su...
Review: Goodbye Columbus is a good book about love, the lack of love and the gaps between society. It talks about the relationship between a middle class Jew and an upper class Jew. Phillip Roth exposes the differences between classes and uses the characters to show in a great manner the way of living and thinking of each part of the society. It also shows the lack of commitment that some teenagers may have and the problems that this may cause. Not to spoil the whole book for the readers the last thing that should be said is that the book is entertaining, even though some of the characters are not likeable; especially Neil. Everyone should read this book if they want to pass a good time and if they want to know about social conflicts.
| 
