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This book was chosen for my randomized list this year. I can't say I was excited to read it based on the title, cover art, and ŷ������ blurb, but it turned out better than I expected.

In this short novella, the main character, a literature professor, considers his situation in comparison to The Nose and The Metamorphosis after he literally transforms into a 155 pound human breast overnight. I wonder if I would have gotten more from this book if I had already read those, but since I did know a bit about them at least I was able to understand the references. Of course, there's plenty of discussion about sex, the man does turn into a breast, but in general I found that part to be fairly amusing. I'm sure there's supposed to be a deeper consideration here of how a person's situation impacts their identity and sanity, but sometimes it was just too ridiculous to consider more deeply from my perspective.

1 star

WTH is this? UGH... I hated this novella. I understand it is a commentary much like The Nose and The Metamorphosis (Roth told us that so many times I wanted to scream). But I didn't like anything about the book. It wasn't funny. It wasn't feminist. It wasn't interesting. I read it only because it is on Boxall's list of 1001 books to read before you die, and I question why I am even reading these books when I encounter one like this.

Kelly wrote: "1 star

WTH is this? UGH... I hated this novella. I understand it is a commentary much like The Nose and The Metamorphosis (Roth told us that so many times I wanted to scream). But I didn't like an..."

I hated it too.

What a bizarre little story, imagine Kafka’s Metamorphosis, but instead of a large beetle, the star of this short story wakes up one morning as an enormous breast. There is lots of existential crisis, as well as discussions of what make a person a person and an individual...and of course since he picked a breast, a discussion of sex and sexual stimulation. But really, I think I’m going to need the Cliffnotes for this one...🤨

Maybe he read Kafka and thought...a beetle is so old school, and insects are unsexy...now if he had transformed into a Breast that would be titillating! Think of the books that works sell!🤷‍♀��

3 Stars for me...the mental gymnastics are their, but really, go read Kafka, which the author mentions multiple times in the book just incase you missed the comparison.

***

The Breast follows in the footsteps of Gogol's The Nose, Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Kafka's Metamorphosis (and perhaps preludes Will Self's Great Apes): a man wakes up one day to realise he has been transformed into a female human breast. Over 75 pages, we follow his mental "tribulations" and his quest for the cause of his transformation. Not dissimilar in content as its more famous predecessors, it can be at times funny (yes), shocking (for some, not me) and a bit tedious. Maybe it's because I have already read the other four examples of metamorphosis novels, but I didn't really see what the (big) fuss was about. Interesting, but not compelling.

The Breast written in 1972. Read as BOTM September 2020. Random selection.
This is a short novella by Philip Roth and like Kafka and Gogol, the narrator becomes something else. He becomes a 155 lb female breast. While a cockroach is disgusting and a nose would be odd at least it doesn't require clothing, a breast is sexual and generally kept covered. I will quote, "Roth has a genius for making everything potentially beautiful and joyful filthy and disgusting. . . . Roth writes dirty books, not pornography." .... There is a good deal of sexual writing that I did not appreciate. The question is, did Roth write this to make some quick money, did he sit down and think, I can write something like Kafka and Gogol. Not long. Fast to the publisher. The Breast is concluded with a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo". The last line, "You must change your life." The breast is an object, a thing that really is just passive. It is not fully human. The breast cannot communicate much on how it feels other than arousal. To live life, you must become more that a statue, you must be active, make changes. Rating 2.5

The Breast is a short novella by Philip Roth that speaks to many of Roth's favorite themes such as the role of sexual desire in overwhelming rational thought, the nature of mental illness in a chaotic and "crazy" world, the role of audience or reader in criticism, particularly literary criticism, and the nature of humor in a "serious" world. The primary character's metamorphosis into a 155 lb human breast however was never able to rise for me into anything other than ridiculousness. Roth is brilliant and eloquent and I was kept mildly amused and engaged but I do not think this book needs to be on the 1001 list.

I read The Breast by Philip Roth with the group for the BOTM sep 2020. It didn't go over well, in fact it scared me to death and I had no idea what was happening or why I was reading this.
Two months later, I looked up the entry in the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Peter Boxall but I'm still not convinced. I probably wouldn't come down on it so hard if it weren't listed there but now I have to wonder why I/ we/ anyone should need this story in their brain.