American Pastoral
1998 • 434 pages
Ratings33
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings33
Average rating3.6
As the American century draws to an uneasy close, Philip Roth gives us a novel of unqualified greatness that is an elegy for all our century's promises of prosperity, civic order, and domestic bliss. Roth's protagonist is Swede Levov, a legendary athlete at his Newark high school, who grows up in the booming postwar.years to marry a former Miss New Jersey, inherit his father's glove factory, and move into a stone house in the idyllic hamlet of Old Rimrock. And then one day in 1968, Swede's beautiful American luck deserts him.
For Swede's adored daughter, Merry, has grown from a loving, quick- witted girl into a sullen, fanatical teenager—a teenager capable of an outlandishly savage act of political terrorism. And overnight Swede is wrenched out of the longed-for American pastoral and into the indigenous American berserk. Compulsively readable, propelled by sorrow, rage, and a deep compassion for its character.s, this is Roth's masterpiece.
--back cover
Series
8 primary books9 released booksComplete Nathan Zuckerman is a 9-book series with 8 primary works first released in 1974 with contributions by Philip Roth, Horia Florian Popescu, and 2 others.
Series
3 primary booksThe American Trilogy is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1997 with contributions by Philip Roth.
Reviews with the most likes.
This books is so profoundly sad. It is beautiful, it's atrocious. The prose is great. As is the whole portrayal of not just an American household, but I think a very Western household. Divorces and affaires, wine and prestige, achievement and disappointment.
However the whole speculative nature of the story is kind of weird, and was kind of off putting. The main character: Zuckerberg is writing the story of the ‘Swede' (who is the actual main character), and does so mainly based on assumptions he is filling in after eating a meal with him and finding out he passed away shortly after.
Most people in my book club did not enjoy reading this book. I'm not sure I did either, but it sticks to the ribs. It's trying to be a Great American Novel. I don't think it succeeds, but it's definitely a Very Good American Novel. The ending is bonkers.
Also: in a post-Trump world, I'd love to go back and read the paragraphs about the "indigenous American berserk." I bet that captured a real "the cruelty is the point" energy.
