The Breast by Philip Roth

I first met David Kepesh a few years back - way back when I was still in college. My creative writing professor, Rene Saldana, Jr. turned on to reading a John Gardner collection of essays on writers and writing. He discusses Philip Roth's novel, in which David Kepesh wakes up one day to learn he has become a giant breast. I jumped onto the internet and bought the first copy I found that was inexpensive. Hardback. Good price. Moving on.

I read it then continued on to reading The Professor of Desire and The Dying Animal. Both equally wonderful reads.Nothing, however, compares my first experience reading The Breast.

Last week, I reread the novella for the second time. And like Kepesh states, when you read a favorite novel later in life, you find things you didn't see before. I never questioned Kepesh's transformation. I read the novel rather literal. Here was a man who followed his lustful instincts in life who gets transformed into a breast. No big deal. 

The question I find myself asking, was Kepesh just crazy?

I won't go into too much detail because it's such a short book, but it's a must read for fans of The Metamorphosis.

The Breast is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.