Rating: 
Summary: Goodbye characterization
Review: Goodbye Columbus is not a really good book, it does not matter if this is an award winning story, the lack of characterization and the main character makes this book a failed attempt of feeling sympathetic about him. This is the story of a summer love, the protagonist, Neil Klugman is a kid who mets Brenda Patimkin, a girl of upper class that falls in love with him, but Neil is always making fun of her and her social class, sometimes being even mean to her. For this reason, the reader can never like him. The setting of the novel is great, but flaw is the protagonist and his attitude and that is not good, because when you begin to read the novel, the expectations are high, but in the end it dissapoints.
Rating: 
Summary: Goodbye, Columbus
Review: Goodbye, Columbus is a coming of age story, a summer romance between a poor boy and a wealthy girl. Many themes that were to show up in much more detail in his later works are presented in embryonic form in this novella, his first major work. Being Jewish in America, sex, class boundaries, the American Way: All Roth subjects, all handled with intelligence and compassion.
Neil is the typical poor Jewish boy enamoured with Brenda, the classy, self-assured, rich girl. He shows a rare spark of confidence when he calls her for a date after first meeting her at a swimming pool, when she accepts and they meet, he finds that he really doesn't know what to do from there. But, they bumble through the beginnings of a relationship, mutually attracted physically, diametrically opposed socially. Neil has a few 'poor' ideas and thoughts that Brenda cannot relate to, while she accepts such luxuries as a maid or 'getting her nose fixed' with such ease and complacency that we - and Neil - are amazed. Over the summer, their relationship develops further, with the typical ups and downs of love colouring the journey.
Neil is the 'I' character of the story, and it is through his point of view that we watch the story unfold. However, even though the story is in first person, there is never much of his personality revealed through contemplative thought or reflection. Instead, we learn who he is from the way he interacts with Brenda and others, and from the way he studies the events in which he is involved. By the end of the novella, we (mostly) understand his motives and ideas, and though, admittedly, it is a little difficult to imagine Neil existing outside the scope of the novel, that actually plays into the theme of the story. Neil is searching for meaning, for a reason to keep on existing, and he considers that in Brenda, he has found it. Whether this is true or not becomes a large focus in the novel, particularly when, later on, she repeatedly reveals to him that she is in fact her own person, with her own ideas, and that sometimes they won't mesh with his.
Brenda, on the other hand, remains a complete mystery to both the reader and Neil. Because we are never allowed to see her thoughts, and because her and Neil have such a different social background, she is someone who we try to understand, but inevitably fail. At times, Neil will say or do something and she will become upset, or tender, or both, and Neil will be so confused that he simply accepts. This can be frustrating for the reader, because Brenda is an appealing character, and it would be nice for him to have the gumption to search deeper within her for meaning and thought, but unfortunately he rarely does. Interestingly, this doesn't come off so much as a failing on Roth's part as an author, but Neil's as a character.
As stated above, the typical themes and ideas that Roth was to develop more fully in his later works are present here. There is the same easy insight into the mundane reality of life, and the same simple joy in, say, eating a piece of fruit or swimming in a pool. Goodbye, Columbus is a story that focuses on one single idea, that being the summer romance between two people that could not have a relationship in any other situation, and it explores it in a remarkably fulfilling way. Admittedly, the very Jewish quality of the writing and ideas may not be as identifiable for a non-Jewish person, but speaking as a man of no faith, I didn't find it to be all that much of a problem. Also, the casual racism towards African-Americans may be off-putting, but again, it didn't upset the flow of the novel.
To conclude, what Roth has done here is to introduce himself as an author, and for a twenty-six year old, it is an impressive introduction. Having read other works of his, I would recommend it as a good starting point. If you like Goodbye, Columbus - and I am quite certain everyone would - then you will love his later works. If not, not. And at only 140 pages, it is worth everyone's time to check out.
Rating: 
Summary: I've Lived This Story
Review: Goodbye, Columbus is the story of Neil Klugman from poor Newark and Brenda Patimkin from an upper-crust family in Short Hills and their relationship over a summer. Neil relates the story of his love for the beautiful Brenda, a love in which the two share little in common. He presents his hopes and dreams and his ultimate realizations about the state of the world and about himself. The novella is ultimately a beautiful, complex coming-of-age story which it seems everyone goes through.Goodbye, Columbus is one of the best books I have read. It was so realistic and easy to relate to. I think that I have had a relationship similar to every one related in the novel. There are so many great insights to be found here. The novella isn't a difficult read, but one should definitely be aware of a lot of the symbols (such as the title, the fruit, the lions, and the uncle at the wedding) to glean the most from it. I will also say a word about the short stories. All of them, particularly "The Conversion of the Jews," were wonderful. They alone would make the book worth five stars; they just seem to get forgotten because of the masterpiece the opening novella is.
Rating: 
Summary: Unexpected
Review: I had to read this book for a college class, and it was not what I expected. I liked "Defender of the Jews" but not the main novella, "Goodbye Columbus."
Rating:
Summary: Great relationship story
Review: I have tried to read Portnoy's complaint and just couldn't get very far. I can't really remember why now. I thought this might be more accessible Roth and indeed it was. The title story just rings so true about a summer love. The people and their feelings are just dead on. The Conversion of the Jews was kind of bizaare though. I enjoyed the story and what Roth was trying to say about religion but just didn't understand Oscar all that well. The book as a whole piqued my cutiosity enough to hunt around the house for my copy of Portnoy's Complaint to try again. At least read the title novella it will keep you going through the rest of the stories.
Rating:
Summary: mean, concise, brilliant
Review: I like to read relationship-ey novels, and I was thinking that this relationship-ey novella would be a high end take on the impossibility of love, etc (plus I've been told good things about it). And that I'd feel classy after reading it. I do feel classy after reading it. It's a really excellent bunch of set pieces on a young summer romance. Roth does a great caricature: Brenda's worldly father, less-successful uncle, and Neil's crazy aunt are all very memorable and concisely drawn. And he does really precise scenes: it's kind of swimming pool, dinner, doctor, wedding, and we're done.
But since Roth's writing really economically and less evaluatively, the main characters were less clear. Brenda, the romantic object, gets some witty lines, but is otherwise treated semi-unfairly. It's really unclear, in the light of this century, how a fight over a contraceptive would be so important for a couple having plenty of sex - a fight where Brenda's implausibly portrayed as both self-hating and pretty sneaky. And Neil as unbearably arrogant. And why'd she like the paranoid, chip-on-his-shoulder, but also smugly superior kid-from-the-other-side-of-the-tracks? Also unclear - since Neil works in a library, it wasn't like he was rough trade or anything.
So it's very good in the particulars, but there's a hole in the center of this thing. I liked the Ghostwriter - an absolutely perfect novella - even better.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not enough
Review: I read the book and I was pleased with it. As I read through the book I always kept turning the page, but a moment came where the story was absolutly boring and nothing was happening. I would recomend the book if you have absolutly nothing more to read, if not, go and buy some other books that are worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Book
Review: I think this is a good book even though I enjoy reading other kinds of books (like science fiction.) However, what I found special about this one is that it is very realistic. The characters and the situations in the novel makes you feel this happened in real life. The book is about the summer romance between two teenagers: Brenda Patimkin (one rich girl) and Neil Klugman (a poor boy). Neil sees her for the first time swiming in a pool, and falls in love with her. After that, they begin to love each other romantically; but after awhile they start having problems with each other, which will make you wonder if they'll stay together as a couple (but that's for you to read.) I'd say it is an entertaining book; it has funny parts, sad parts, happy and romantic. I haven't read other Roth novels, but this one is very good written. If you enjoy realistic novels, then it's a good choice.
Rating: 
Summary: I wouldn't recommend this book....too much dam sex!
Review: I wouldn't recommend this book...I believe that Roth is too involved in the characters having sex than trying to get some sort of plot going....I didn't enjoy reading Goodbye, Columbus, but I did enjoy reading the short stories where it is not about sex but rather about religion. thank you for the short stories....
Rating:
Summary: "I'm dark"
Review: I'm not a huge fan of Roth at all, and when discussing him, I always seem to forget that he wrote these stories. It really does seem like the work of a different author; a brighter, more clever and inventive one; namely, younger. Maybe the mold of cynicism just set around him at a certain point as he aged, in which case Goodbye, Colombus stands as his first and last good work. First of all, the writing is first-rate modern American, a light but not overly breezy style, something like Bellow. Especially in the title story, the subtle humor is very effective, and he has a Salingerian gift for making the last sentence of a paragraph resonate. The themes, also, that continue throughout the stories are well-developed and intriguing; in 'Defender of the Faith,' he shows how a very convincing sociopath takes advantage of his Jewish identity and uses it as a weapon; in a story the title of which I can't remember, a young boy rebels against the oppressive Jewish instruction of his elders; then, later, in 'Eli the Fanatic,' Roth shows a man discovering solace in the stark rituals of traditional Judaism. The issue is examined from many angles. 'Epstein' is more suggestive of his later work and somehwat distasteful, very bleak, but a convincing portrait of an aging and frustrated Jewish man. 'You can't tell a man by the song he sings' is lighter and has little relation to the theme of Judaism, in case you were beginning to think Roth couldn't write about anything else. The title story is easily the best; the rest are just accesories. While the romance which it depicts never really seems justified (what does she see in him to begin with?), the writing is superlative and the characters interesting, and the semitragic conclusion more moving than it really should be. In this story, Roth displays a delicacy which is foremost among the things he inexplicably loses later on; he seems to like these characters, even the spoiled and decadent family, and stops to linger on minor details with a real zest for description. Reading these stories made me think I had judged Roth too quickly after reading only two of his books; I read another, and was disappointed again. Stick to this one.
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