Portnoy's Complaint was my first introduction to the wild world of Phillip Roth. The book is essentially a first-person monologue, supposedly taking the form of a patient telling his life-long problems to a psychiatrist. His problems: sex and all that entails, and a heavily instilled sense of Jewish guilt.

Alexander Portnoy, the book's narrator, is an established humanitarian in his mid-30's. However, the two themes of his life, sex and his Jewish upbringing, never allow him to feel happy in life. Instead he finds himself alone, wanting sex but not commitment, still hopelessly tied to his ever fretful parents, and trying to find his way out of the hopeless cycles he sees himself repeating. His rambling, often highly humorous monologues reveal stories of the young narrator(mostly dealing with fantasy and masterbation, coupled with subsequent guilt) as he makes his way through an perpetually miserable childhood.

As he begins to grow (keep in mind the narrator continually leaps around in his own personal timeline) his neurosis only seem to amplify. He finally finds the sex he's always seeking, but never the emotionally stable relationship he almost subconsciously needs. He has nicknames for his various girlfriends: The Pumpkin, The Monkey (so named for choosing to eat a banana while watching Portnoy sleep with a prostitute), etc. The Monkey turns out to be what the narrator thinks he has been waiting for his entire life; namely, his sexual equal. They have a very healthy, even voracious sex life filled with experimentation and the like.

However, The Monkey is so far below him in the intellectual capacity that he begins to loathe her. In humorous good spirits he attempts to find examples of intelligence lurking beneath her idiotic facade, but mostly searches in vain. The Monkey might be his physical, sexual dream girl, but she's not what he's looking for. This is Portnoy's general complaint, though the author goes into somewhat more detail about the actual "disorder" (complete with a faux dictionary entry, introducing the book).

Portnoy's Complaint was one of Roth's earliest works (1967) and showcases much of the humor and acerbic wit that would fill many of his later works - though not necessarily the depth that many of them would contain. Yet, despite the many moments of humor and fun dispersed throughout the book, it ultimately left me feeling a bit unfulfilled as a reader. Fortunately, Roth knew enough to keep the book rather short, so the narrative style never really gets grating; still, I guess I was hoping for something a little bit more. Once I got to the end of the book, I was glad to have read it, but I don't know if I gained anything by having done so.

Recommended: Yes