Literary Fiction · DarkA sixty-four-year-old former puppeteer, out of work and in crisis after the death of his lover, thinks about suicide
Sabbath's Theater
by Philip Roth
A former puppeteer's life comes apart after the death of his longtime lover
Mickey Sabbath is a 64-year-old puppeteer who no longer has a job, and he goes after prostitutes, affairs and casual sex. He enjoys manipulating the women around him. The loss of Drenka, his lover and wingman of many years, sets off a crisis in a life he already thinks of as a failure. In his low state, Sabbath considers suicide, and his mother's ghost urges him on.
More about this book
Who
Mickey Sabbath, a former puppeteer, his lover Drenka, who has died, and his mother, who appears as a ghost.
World
The life and thoughts of one out-of-work puppeteer.
What makes it different
Sabbath is said to be modeled on the painter R. B. Kitaj. Harold Bloom called the book Roth's masterwork, while Michiko Kakutani found it distasteful.
Feel
Raw, dark and comic. It won the 1995 National Book Award for Fiction.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- Sabbath's TheaterWikipedia