Everyman by Philip Roth is a poignant meditation on mortality, illness, and the fragility of human life. The novel opens at the funeral of its unnamed protagonist, a retired advertising executive, then traces his life in reverse. From his boyhood in New Jersey, working in his father's jewelry store, through three failed marriages, estrangement from his children, and a series of grave medical ordeals, the narrative unflinchingly examines aging and bodily decline. As friends and lovers die around him, the protagonist confronts humanity's universal fate with raw honesty. Roth's spare, unsentimental prose delivers a powerful reckoning with death itself.
