Philip Roths award-winning first book instantly established its authors reputation as a writer of explosive wit merciless insight & a fierce compassion for even the most self-deluding of his characters. Goodbye Columbus is the story of Neil Klugman & pretty spirited Brenda Patimkin he of poor Newark she of suburban Short Hills who meet one summer break & dive into an affair that is as much about social class & suspicion as it is about love. The novella is accompanied by five short stories that range in tone from the iconoclastic to the astonishingly tender.