Goodbye Columbus was a critical success for Roth, winning the 1960 National Book Award and earning a name for him as a talented up-and-coming young writer. Still, the book was not without controversy, as certain elements in the Jewish community took issue with Roth's less than flattering portrayal of some of his characters. The short story Defender of the Faith, about a Jewish drill sergeant who is exploited by three shirking, co-religionist draftees, drew particular ire. When Roth in 1962 appeared on a panel alongside the distinguished black novelist Ralph Ellison to discuss minority representation in literature, the questions directed at him soon turned into denunciations. Thus the charges of self-hatred that have dogged Roth throughout his career have their origins from its very beginning. And it is often speculated that the wildly obscene comedy of Portnoy's Complaint was Roth's defiant reply to his early Jewish critics.
In 1969 the novel was made into a critically well-received film of the same name.