"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 the producers forced him to give way to a prototypical WASP who had to be fed the answers. Mr. Roth seems to be saying that authenticity is not always dramatic.

Pepler pursues Zuckerman, first fawning on him and then accusing him of stealing his life for his book. This is the jealousy ordinariness feels for fame. Though he is an ingenious symbol, Pepler is too monolithic, too quickly comprehended, and that is a weakness in the book. Except for Pepler, Zuckerman contends only with himself much of the time, and while Mr. Roth manages this with wit and grace, it is generally true that we are most appealingly ourselves when we are with someone else.

Mr. Roth's voice is convincing and emotionally charged. It is just a bit too easily recognizable, though, like a trademark. It seems to be pitched just a little too high up in the sinuses, too reedy with ironic incredulity. Mr. Roth is old enough now to be past some of these astonishments. It may be time for him to start talking from the diaphragm.