June 8, 2006

Eluding death is the central issue of life for Philip Roth\’s nameless leading character in his newest novel, \”Everyman\” (Houghton Mifflin). A thrice-married and divorced retired advertising executive, Roth\’s lonely everyman wants to keep on with the messy business of his life — \”he didn\’t want the end to come a minute earlier than it had to\” — even as friends get sick and die around him, and his own body\’s failings persist. \”Old age,\” Roth writes, \”isn\’t a battle, it\’s a massacre.\”