"The Human Stain" by Philip Roth

Philip Roth, one of the greatest writers alive, remains one of my personal favorite authors. For his outstanding  work he received many awards in his lifetime, but is still waiting in the line to get his Nobel Prize. Roth has written a lot over the years, and just recently he announced that he is retiring, what caused a considerable stir in the literary world. His best known works include "Portnoy's Complaint (1969)," "American Pastoral (1997)," "I Married a Communist" (1998), "The Human Stain" (2000), "The Plot Against America" (2004). Just recently I finished two books in a row, first "A Plot Against America" and now "The Human Stain."
"The Human Stain" is a book about a seventy-year-old classics professor Coleman Silk living in 1990s New England. There is the whole Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in the background, but most importantly there are intriguing themes of modern-day racism, love affairs, illiteracy, feminism, race and many more.

The way Roth writes about all these things makes you wonder where does he get all his brilliant ideas from. In this story there are more skeletons in the closets you might possibly imagine. One cannot call it an enjoyable read (as there are too many important themes written about to enjoy the story), but nevertheless, "The Human Stain" is gripping, witty, and tells you more about the great American society than you ever wanted to know. Recommended to all those who always wanted more from literature.

The book was adapted as quite a successful film starring Anthony Hopkins as Coleman Silk, Nicole Kidman as Faunia Farley (lover of Silk's) and Gary Sinise as Nathan Zuckerman, the narrator, Ed Harris as Lester Farley (Faunia's ex-husband) and Wentworth Miller (as young Coleman Silk), directed by Robert Benton.

A review from "The New York Times"
A review from "The Guardian"

Wentworth Miller as young Coleman Silk