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| Plot Summary of Portnoy's Complaint |
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"PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT has been first published in 1969. Alexander Portnoy is a jewish boy who has lived most of his childhood in the Newark jewish neighborhood of New-Jersey. He was a brilliant student admired by his parents. But Portnoy, from his childhood on, has been obsessed by women and sexuality. The clash between his secret thoughts and the morals of his jewish education is too violent. Soon Guiltiness and Rebellion are fighting a terrible battle in his mind. A masterpiece."
Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar
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"This is a story about Alexander Portnoy, a Jewish boy with a big nose and big ego who loves sex. Unfortunately, he was brought up in an extremely strict household with high expectations, and as a result has strongly conflicting feelings regarding the world of sex. Portnoy has a strong sex drive, and though there is nothing more that he wishes for but a normal, loving family with kids, he knows he could never settle down because of his wandering libido. He loves kinky sex but feels guilty doing it, and relates this problem through several anecdotes regarding his early childhood and teenage years, hoping to help the doctor reach a conclusion about his problem."
Suzie, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Portnoy's Complaint |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1960's-1970's
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Kids:
- religious influences
Inside culture (main char)
- religious Jew
Kind of sex:
- really kinky sex!!!!
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society)
- American Northeast
If story of urban/rural...
- Big city life
Ethnic/regional/gender life
Yes
Loving/sexing?
- girl chasing
Taboo sex story?
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- politician/elected ruler
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- obsessed
- emotionally unstable
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
- Jewish
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
- Genius
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
Age:
- 60's-90's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 1 (None)
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- Israel
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Misc setting
- sewers/subways
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- touching of anatomy
- licking
- orgies
- lesbians!
- actual description of hetero sex
- descript. of female anat. (the big B's)
- descript. of female anat. (the big V)
- rape/molest (yeech!)
Lot of foul language?
Yes
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog
- mostly dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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