Philip (1998) Paperback, American Pastoral by Roth

A slow, difficult read that's nonetheless rewarding. Fans of the argument that the U.S. no longer makes anything, much to the country's despair, will be heartened by the sanctity of industry in this book. Everything else, however, that comprises your moral compass will be challenged. Have fun!

American Pastoral was one of the memorable books for our club. We actually began the discussion in the car on the way to our hostess' home, continued through wine and appetizers through dinner. We had some very divergent opinions on "Swede" and his reaction to the book's events. The book also prompted a good discussion on whether the individual can change, parenthood, the Vietnam war as compared to the war in Iraq, and the context of religion in our lives.

This review is for the Kindle version. Wow, lots of terrible OCR errors. I don't know how many times I saw like 15 for is or words with extraneous spaces. There was almost a mistake per page. You can understand what you are reading, but for a great book like this you would expect them to proofread it a time or two.

This book is entirely improbable. I went to college in NYC in 1968. Mark Rudd and sds had shut down Columbia that spring. The weathermen were formed the next summer to use violence to protest the war's incomparably greater violence against the Vietnamese. There were no bombings in February 1968 and it is ridiculous to picture a 16 year old girl in wealthy rural NJ committing an act like that. I knew dozens of radicals during those years and no one like the twisted revolting daughter in the book. The few unbalanced people I met were most likely fbi informers or provocateurs. The bombings that did happen later were not intended to kill, although a few people did die.

The story of the Swede is an outstanding, outstanding read.

I really, truly enjoyed the way in which Roth creates a world of ambiguity and circumstance... of best intentions gone awry, and how good people in small worlds may still be shown to be painfully ignorant. I've recommended this to many friends, and will likely read again.

Love the book, very insightful. What is up with all the typos? Seriously, I have found this to be true for several digital books, but this one was horrible. The cost of these books is much too high for the consumer to be happy with the purchase. Whomever is responsible please get it together.

Disappointing in several ways.
Certainly Roth is too smart for his own good and seems to have a strong desire to be weird and outre, rather than penetrating – so much so that there is a lot of drizzle here but not much rain. For a start if the writer were half as good at describing how people come about as he is at how gloves are made this would have been a great book, one that would actually deserve a Pulitzer. I think it got the latter because those who decide such things wanted to make sure everyone knew that they followed along with Pastoral. The book is full of slide-in agenda so maybe that was what they liked.
But no matter, I don’t think Roth really gets the 60s and the seismic shift between the GIs and boomers, who although the same in terms of nationality, blood, location, etc., came from totally different circumstances and thus became totally different people. One raised in privation, depression, global hostility and where the next meal was coming from, hence had a survival-critical mindset, and one raised in provision, prosperity, peace and largesse, hence survival solved. One without choice, internally driven by external trouble, and one externally provided for, looking for trouble and finding it internally. We all have to have a game don’t we, whether it’s depression and Japanese or not a cloud in the sky – and circumstances make us decide which game it will be, whether it’s about our own survival or, as in Merry’s case, about someone else’s. She could afford what the GIs couldn’t – idealism, and is thereby driven by the old vision of to get an omelet you have to break the eggs, but as usual with Left-wing solutions you get no further than broken eggs. Roth’s repetitive side-swipes against the political Right reveals that he has more in common with Merry than he would ever admit; he uses the pen, she uses bombs.
Roth is not out of his depth on writing but he is on cause and effect which is what the 60s chasm is really about – a generation on one side, another on the other, but he’s obviously as mystified as his hero on the issue. Is that the point of the book? I don’t know, but he’s big on effects, which are cited in the extreme here, but not on causes, where he’s as shallow as the Swede in fact.
A long drizzle here but, as is usually the case with drizzle, not much to see.

This book is so rich in description, character, and historical events that it truly is a wonder. A very realistic portrayal of the difficulty of achieving the American dream. A complicated story that you cannot stop reading. If you grew up in the 50s and 60s you will relate to the characters. If you are younger it will perhaps help you understand what life was like for the boomers and their parents.

American Pastoral was an American delight. While I am getting accustomed to sloshing around in my reading boots to Philip Roth's extravagant use of language, I I become enticed by the way he slices the "onion" of the character by peeling, slicing, chopping, reconstituting, mashing, and then doing it all over again and again.
It helps that I was born and brought up in a similar neighborhood in Boston and at a similar time period. t is easy to relate to his environment. However, I think that if I were not Jewish I would be overwhelmed by his descriptive powers and extraordinary use of language. Instead of my practice of skimming over pages to locate the plot lines, I luxuriated in the prose page after page. I read this novel after reading I Was A Communist and Nemesis. It may be easier to read Roth if you immerse yourself in his style.

Deep fabulous book by this master story teller. It resonated with me for personal reasons but is full of angst and deep feelings about family dysfunction and power struggles, against a background of the sixties as the cultural revolution we experienced as a result of the Vietnam War. Compelling read. I bought all three books of the Zuckerman trilogy at one time from the store as Kindle downloads; just starting the second; can't wait!

I really expected to like this book. I really WANTED to like this book.

I typically read two books per month and it took me four months to slog through this. I kept thinking about what a great concept it had, but it was horribly bogged down by a narrative that just wanted to dominate the microphone. You know the guy who starts a presentation and just can't stop talking? This book is like that. I fantasized about how good the book would have been if Cormac McCarthy had been Roth's editor, then it would've been stripped down to a nice, 50-page short story.

So glad I'm done with it, if only to be done. Now I can get to the rest of the backlog on my nightstand.

Probably Roth's masterpiece. A portrait of America in the sixth decade of the twentieth century and the dissolution of the promise of the American Dream. Swede Levov is as tragic a hero as Oedipus and Hamlet.

Roth wrote in a manner which constantly pulled at my heart. Descriptions which terrified and sent chills through out my soul. It is impossible to determine the storyline which swirls in uncontainable examples of reality vs fantasy. Does all good have to be bad? Is it wrong to do good? Or is it all an illusion?

A master piece. A very intriguing story about the perfect American family until their daughter becomes a political activists and blows up a post-office. The phycological analysis of the motives and way of thinking of the characters is splendid. At the same time the some more general problems of the United States of America through the 20th century are discussed as well.