Philip Roth, RIP

I've read a number of his novels. I don't need to pile on the praise, nor further highlight the limitations, such as the general absence of three-dimensional female characters. At his best, he was the best. My favorites are on many lists: The Ghost Writer, American Pastoral, The Human Stain. Among these, American Pastoral sticks with me most of all: Not so much the plot, the characters, the themes, or the prose – all brilliant to be sure – but the rage and the pain. It is a book that seethes like no other.