I am re - reading Portnoy's Complaint...What a great book.

[Brainstormy]

9. Revisiting Portnoy

That's very interesting. I first read it in the late sixties myself, disguised by a Reader's Digest so my grandmother wouldn't catch me. Thinking back I realize I probably needn't have bothered with the subterfuge but the book seemed SO outrageously, explicitly sexual. Pretty exciting stuff, I thought. Very adult. I continued, off and on, to read Roth in college and grad school but didn't pick up Portnoy again until a couple of years ago. My bookclub is working its way through the Modern Novel 100 Greatest List, and we got to Portnoy. With a single exception, everyone thought it was juvenile, gratuitous, and mostly silly. I was of that opinion myself. Something had happened to the storyline, I guess--the whole misunderstood Jewish kid shtick thing seemed tired, and the sex, self-sex, and smut talk had lost its appeal, too. Mostly, I'd just gotten old. I find it interesting, though, how revisiting a book after many decades brings you to an entirely new read. Glad you liked it, tho. It's not on that "100 Greatest" list for no reason.