This potent little book may not be for someone approaching old age and death timidly or for the young and still immortal. It pulls back the curtain and reveals the nasty fact that, as we may be identified by our professions in our prime, in old age, we are the sum of our physical afflictions, and everyone is in for it.The book takes about two hours to read, and it's Roth story-telling stripped down to the bare essentials. He is feeling his own mortality, and, being a writer, is getting it off his chest with the tools that fit his hand best.Readers who allow themselves to be distracted by the fact that the protagonist cheated on his wives and made some bad marital decisions are either trying to lessen the impact of what Roth is telling them or just miss the point. It's like pretending that the New York Trade Center disaster is not as bad as it could be because some of the fatalities were people who cheated on their wives or on their income taxes.