Audiobook. Very good book. Roth's story of his father's final years. Late 80s dying from a "benign" brain tumor. Also about making sense of one's parents, growing old as well. I finished this book on Tuesday night and woke Wednesday morning to the news of Ted Kennedy's death from a "malignant" brain tumor. Roth is such a good writer and this book is a labor of love. The final images of this book keep playing and replaying in my mind. Leaves me thinking about my own parents, about mortality, about a good end. ( )

Philp Roth again shows why he is one the greatest living American writers. This is a touching tale of his father's life from the perspective of his final days after discovering a brain tuimor. Anyone who has dealt with the health issues of a declining parent will quickly relate to this book. Roth is touching and very human in his role as caregiver for his father. He pulls no punches in is struggle with medical decisions, care givers and his father's decline. His graphic depiction of his father's bathroom accident is something everyone can relate with but few would descibe with such detail. Overall this is an excellant story. There's no happy ending but their seldom is with the reality of death. ( )

Moving memoir surrounding Philip Roth's father -- the life of Herman and his slow decline while battling a brain tumor. Though I read this several years ago, many of the scenes and vignettes have stayed with me since. Occasionally upsetting, it did come across as real, heart-felt glimpse of Roth's life. ( )

It is surprising that a novelist as entertaining as Philip Roth could write a memoir as dull as this. Not particularly illuminating about fathers and sons or anything else. Read some of the good novels; skip this. ( )

This is Philip Roth's account of his father, Herman Roth, and his fight with a malignant brain tumor. The reader learns through Philip and his conversations with his father the experiences that helped shape him into the defiant, stubborn, charming and irascible man he is, and witnesses how father and son approach his inevitable death. Roth is a complex and multi-layered writer, but this is one of his most accessible works. ( )