Portnoy's Complaint

Portnoy’s Complaint is a 1969 novel by American author Philip Roth. The novel is presented as a continuous monologue in which the protagonist Alex Portnoy speaks to his therapist about his difficult relationship with his family, his country, and sex. The novel’s explicit and comedic depiction of sex caused controversy on release though Portnoy’s Complaint was later heralded as one of the greatest English language novels of the 20th century. The novel was adapted into a film in 1972.

Roth was an established author before Portnoy’s Complaint was published; his first book, Goodbye, Columbus, won the 1960 National Book Award. Portnoy’s Complaint was his fourth novel, and the controversy surrounding it caused his fame to skyrocket. Roth had a prolific writing career and won dozens of awards for his books, including the inaugural Franz Kafka Prize in 2001 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Roth passed away in 2018 at the age of 85.

This guide was written using an eBook version of the 1994 First Vintage International Edition of Portnoy’s Complaint.

Content Warning: Portnoy’s Complaint depicts antisemitism and an attempted rape.

Plot Summary

Alexander Portnoy is a deeply neurotic, young, Jewish man. In Portnoy’s Complaint, he describes his neuroses to his therapist, Dr.