"Zuckerman Unbound" is about a young Jewish novelist rather like Philip Roth who has just published a wildly successful book called "Carnovsky," which is rather like "Portnoy's Complaint." It's a fine idea: it gives Philip Roth an opportunity to play with celebrity, writers and readers, truth and fiction….

[Nathan Zuckerman, the young Jewish novelist, finds that like] his book, he has become everybody's property….

On the basis of their dual celebrity, a famous actress grants Zuckerman a night in her bed. The next day she stands him up in order to fly to Cuba to see her real lover, Fidel Castro. Zuckerman discovers that literature is not as potent as politics….

Alvin Pepler, the only other major character in "Zuckerman Unbound," has a photographic memory, which may be Mr. Roth's comment on reality unmediated by art. Alvin was the bona fide hero of a television quiz show until...