Sabbath's Theater - Philip Roth

Philip Roth's best novel. The character of Mickey Sabbath resembles Ignatius J. Reilly in both outrageousness and ability for depression, but Roth does a better job in rendering his character in realistic perspective than Toole did. Roth utilizes Mickey Sabbath as a character for outrageous adventure, but grounds his memories and reflections in real pain. Tool manages to make his account of Ignatius both fictional in adventures and character detail. Roth makes it a personal journey. It's always been known Roth's strong suit has been in character and psyche rendering. He's so good at it that some of his novels were lazy and only featured that talent. Roth extends himself by having so many imaginative adventures in this novel. Everything is sustained because the last thirty pages are just as insane as any other part of the novel. A Confederacy of Dunces goes past insane and heads toward absurd by the end but Sabbath's Theater at least keeps things grounded in a theoretical reality. The biggest shocks in the novel come from Mickey Sabbath's basic personality and viewpoint of life. In Sabbath's Theater Roth finds the perfect balance between character detail and fictional events. A great read.