As an author’s latest work is being published, and will hopefully make his father proud at last, things are afoot. He’s about to learn what cancel culture is all about. I so enjoyed the interplay between Bailey and his father Burck during such a difficult time in the author’s life.

In reviewing this, I came to the people involved without prior knowledge - apart from Roth, of course. I had not heard about Blake Bailey or his father, so was able to read his version of events without having already consumed the material which led to what he calls his “cancellation.” Whatever this book is, it is certainly not a work of apology or accountability. It is, to some degree, an account of an often troubled relationship between a father and son. I found the most interesting and meaningful components of this book to be the references to the wisdom and insights of the author’s ex-wife.