Enter Roth

Expect reams of newsprint to be devoted to Philip Roth and his new Exit Ghost very soon. These will range from the devoted to the contemptuous (did someone say Kakutani?) to the what's-all-the-fuss-about-anyway? Here, for a start, is Adam Kirsch: "Even if the prose...is a little wan, and the observations of contemporary life a little cranky (Mr. Roth has discovered the cell phone, and he is not pleased), this ruthless honesty makes it a vital book, and a worthy conclusion to the Zuckerman series."