The story of the seduction of a lesbian by an aging stage actor, which includes an eye-watering scene with a green dildo, has won Philip Roth the dubious honor of a place on the shortlist for the Literary Review’s bad sex in fiction award.  The Pulitzer prize-winning Roth makes the line-up for The Humbling, in which the aging actor, Simon, converts Pegeen, a lesbian, to heterosexuality. The Literary Review singled out a scene in which Simon and Pegeen pick up a girl from a bar and convince her to take part in a threesome. Simon looks on as Pegeen uses her green dildo to great effect.

The shortlist

Paul Theroux for A Dead Hand
Nick Cave for The Death of Bunny Munro
Philip Roth for The Humbling
Jonathan Littell for The Kindly Ones
Amos Oz for Rhyming Life and Death
John Banville for The Infinities
Anthony Quinn for The Rescue Man
Simon Van Booy for Love Begins in Winter
Sanjida O’Connell for The Naked Name of Love
Richard Milward for Ten Storey Love Song

(via)