THE HUMBLING - Philip Roth

I was a little disappointed by this novella (140 small pages). Of course, I loved all of the Rothian things: great sentences, hair-raising sex scenes, lots of ironic self-reflection, etc. Ultimately, though, it ended up sounding like the recent raft of novels focusing on 60ish men losing their talents "so late in their careers." Like the protagonists in Richard Ford books (THE SPORTWRITER, et. al.), they all seem to be the victims of scheming ex-wives and libidinous young sexual athletes, as they schloss around trying to find themselves.

Simon Axler is such a man. He is a famous and successful actor of stage and screen known around the world, but he can no longer act (a metaphor if I've ever heard one). He hooks up with the lesbian daughter of a couple with whom he used to do summer stock. Simon does his level best to "cure" her of her sexual prediliction and she does her level best to "open him up" as it were.

He ends up with his ragged old heart broken and she ends up with a bi-girl they pick up in a bar. At the end of the novel he perfectly acts the part of a bitter old man committing suicide. It was the best thing for him actually. His therapy was going no where.