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Liked It4 of 5 members found this review helpful “There are not enough superlatives for American Pastoral. I finished the novel profoundly shaken and in awe of this man’s talent. Roth seizes upon one of his familiar themes – the eternal warfare between the generations – and mines it so deeply, amplifies it so artfully and so...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Like everything else by Roth, this novel is flawed. Swede Levov's daughter, Merry, is given a far too simplistic portrayal, and the famous phrase, 'indigenous American berserk' sums up Roth's vapid, simple-minded take on the counter-culture. Worse yet, he gives a simple-minded account of...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Philip Roth's 22nd book takes a life-long view of the American experience in this thoughtful investigation of the century's most divisive and explosive of decades, the '60s. Returning again to the voice of his literary alter ego Nathan Zuckerman, Roth is at the top of his form. His prose is carefully controlled yet always fresh and intellectually subtle as he reconstructs the halcyon days, circa World War II, of Seymour "the Swede" Levov, a high school sports hero and all-around Great Guy who wants nothing more than to live in tranquillity. But as the Swede grows older and America crazier, history sweeps his family inexorably into its grip: His own daughter, Merry, commits an unpardonable act of "protest" against the Vietnam war that ultimately severs the Swede from any hope of happiness, family, or spiritual coherence.”
North Shore Country Day School English-10 wrote this review 5 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Beautiful and heartbreaking.”
Yvette Y wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“one of the best books I''ve ever read! He is an amazing writer.”
Emanuela N wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“"American Pastoral" tells the story of Seymour "The Swede" Levov, a Jewish boy from a Newark neighborhood whom, despite his heritage, embodies the all-American boy; excelling at sports and academics. The Swede is a local hero during the time of WWII. To Nathan Zuckerman, the stories narrator and former schoolmate of the Swede, things don't appear to have changed much for the Swede years later when their paths cross again. The Swede still seems to embody the all-American and all the accompanying successes, but with time Zuckerman uncovers and relates the story of the Swede and his downfall.
Alex D wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
”“Like everything else by Roth, this novel is flawed. Swede Levov's daughter, Merry, is given a far too simplistic portrayal, and the famous phrase, 'indigenous American berserk' sums up Roth's vapid, simple-minded take on the counter-culture. Worse yet, he gives a simple-minded account of Newark's urban degradation, without taking into consideration the effects of such institutional racism as the infamous practice of 'block busting,' which did as much as the rise of gang violence to make inner cities unlivable... This is a novel that attempts to have the scope of a European novelist like Balzac, by a man so clearly bounded to a white, male, jewish, bourgeois point of view that he is incapable of such scope. Intellectually I hate this book. It seems to say, 'yes, things are that simple,' when they're not. Nonetheless, it is so eloquent that you forgive its defects, at least while you're reading it.
Ry R wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
That said, don't make the mistake of thinking this novel puts Roth in league with Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and James. Sooner or later we'll see this book clearly for what it is, and we'll realize it's a minor classic, if it's a classic at all.”
“The point of this book seems to be that no matter how good you try to be, you can be broken. There are a lot of different interesting angles to this book, but overarching and ending the book is that love and a desire to do good will be trumped by the hate and desire to destroy of everyone else. Most books leave you with some hope. This one does not. ”
Craig V wrote this review Monday, November 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“some philip roth books go too far over the edge. this is not one of them. there was something slighly missing from it, but still, i loved it.”
steve t wrote this review Saturday, November 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“On one level, a Job story; on another a meditation on what's important in life. A good story.”
Julian W wrote this review Tuesday, October 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This is a GREAT post modern novel. The non-linear time line coupled with the struggle between generations make this Roth novel a real page turner.”
Gemi wrote this review Wednesday, October 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I feel like I stepped up my game with this book.
Kate S wrote this review Tuesday, October 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Roth tells the story of "Swede" Levov, the All American, Jewish boy next door that pursues and captures the American dream, only to have it all blow up in his face. Literally.
We should all be reading books of this nature more often. It refuses to let us look away from the idealisms and false expectations Americans have grown up with.
And this, my friends, is the quote that sold me right off the bat:
"You fight your superficiality, your shallowness, so as to try to come at people without unreal expectations, without an overload of bias or hope or arrogance, as untanklike as you can be, sans cannon and machine guns and steel plating half a foot thick; you come at them unmenacingly on your own ten toes instead of tearing up the turf with your caterpillar treads, take them on with an open mind, as equals, man to man, as we used to say, and yet you never fail to get them wrong. You might as well have the brain of a tank. You get them wrong before you meet them, while you're anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you're with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them all wrong again. Since the same generally goes for them with you, the whole thing is really a dazzling illusion empty of all perception, an astonishing farce of misperception. And yet what are we to do about this terribly significant business of other people, which gets bled of the significance we think it has and takes on instead a significance that is ludicrous, so ill equipped are we all to envision one another's interior workings and invisible aims? Is everyone to go off and lock the door and sit secluded like the lonely writers do, in a soundproof cell, summoning people out of words and then proposing that these word people are closer to the real thing than the real people that we mangle with our ignorance every day? The fact remains that getting people right in not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that, well, lucky you."
--Philip Roth, American Pastoral”
