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Title: A minor achievement
Review: Nowhere near as good as Roth can be. Although it contains flashes of great writing the overall experience is pretty tedious. In addition to the Vietnam war vet cliche discussed in other reviews the attempt to intergrate the Monica Lewinsky scandal into the fabric of the narrative calls to mind Joe Eszterhaus' horrible "American Rhapsody." The story itself is very disorganized and given the basic premise -- a light skinned black man passing for white accused of making racially loaded comments -- there is a surprising lack of irony. Needed to be revised, but when you're Philip Roth what editor is going to have the guts to send you back to the drawing board?
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