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Title: American Pastoral : A Novel by Philip Roth ISBN: 0-375-70142-7 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 03 February, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (140 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Fascinating, gut-wrenching period piece
Comment: This is such a great book, and yet it is so hard to read. From a purely technical standpoint it is brilliantly executed -- as are all of Roth's books -- setting up conflict after conflict, crisis afer crisis, with a complete (and refreshing) lack of real resolution. Nothing trite here. But even the most technical and literate of readers will invariably get caught up in the complex, heartbreaking pathos of this book, exploring as it does the undoing of a family that, on its surface, would seem to define the truest essence of what it means to be American. The turbulence of late 1960s America serves as both a thematic foundation and a plot accelerant, and I have to say that I feel Roth deftly captured the spirit of the times: the anger, the naivete, the mindless adherence to shallow ideals (on all sides) and the radical and painful transformation of our mercurial culture. The examination of a life being gradually and irreversibly destroyed (that of the main character, Seymour Levov), and those around him who help to destroy it (principally his daughter, Merry, but also his wife, his "friends," and some mysterious secondary characters), is portrayed so expertly that I periodically had to put the book down because it was almost too much to bear. Nevertheless, this book is truly an epic piece of contemporary American literature, and absolutely deserving of the Pulitzer.
Rating: 5
Summary: A beautifully written and important book.
Comment: "American Pastoral" is a remarkable novel which canbe read and enjoyed on a variety of "levels."^M
Stylistically, Philip Roth's prose glides effortlessly between passages of sheer lyricism and Hemmingway-like reality. The characters of Swede Levov, his wife, Dawn, and their daughter Merry, --as well as other characters in the novel---are sharply etched and observed. The dialogue each of the characters speak is right on target and delineates their character without the author imposing his own "voice" upon the words they speak.^M
However, Roth's novel achieves the level of "art" in terms of social commentary and his view that America has somehow lost its soul and sense of direction. A decent, hardworking family--a family that has done its absolute best to raise their daughter to become the kind of person who reflects the best values our country represents---is totally destroyed when their daughter, Merry, becomes a terrorist and eventually lapses into madness. Roth's vision of the world is an extremely depressing if not a totally pessimistic one. Nothing that happens by way of historical or social events seems to make any sense. All is simply "chaos." What happens, simply "happens" and there is nothing one can do to stop the descent into a hell where nothing makes sense---where events totally overwhelm decent parents and their family's attempts to control them. ALL parents and families are not, of course, as Philip Roth describes them. But the trend away from traditional "values" and values which, apart from religion per se or political "correctness" have heretofore given our nation a sense of purpose and unity, are swiftly disappearing--as any, daily reading of contemporary headlines indicate.^M
There are a few minor "flaws" in Roth's novel. The scene in which Merry's friend, Rita Cohen, tries to seduce Swede Levov after visiting his factory, is a bit overdone and the crassness of the sexual encounter and the language spoken by Rita is out of keeping with the rest of the dialogue spoken by the character in the novel. One feels that the author has momentarily "lost control" of the scene and situation and sunk to a level that is out of proportion to the action which is taking place. ^M
The ending of the novel is a bit anti-climactic and does not leave the reader with a satisfying sense of plot resolution and fulfillment. But these are minor flaws indeed!^M ^M
"American Pastoral" is a deeply moving, often humorous, but most of all extremely disturbing novel. The author's descriptions of buildings, neighborhoods, and the effects which the riots of the sixties had on Newark and elsewhere throughout the country are graphically described. He captures the sights, sounds, and meanings of social upheaval and the people involved in the political events that take place as only a journalist and literary artist can.^M ^M
One may question the blackness of Roth's vision of an American gone astray---but one cannot question the humanity of his doomed family or the author's sense of compassion for the characters he has created and described. Never preachy or dogmatic, Philip Roth simply lets his characters speak as their destructive, nihilistic natures dictate.^M
The result is a novel that is, by turns, both immensely sad, often humorous, ferociously angry, but always intelligently written and conceived. It deserves to be widely read.
Rating: 3
Summary: Unpopular kid gets to take apart the football star
Comment: This book is about Swede Levov, the star of a high school in Newark. The first 125 pages is an excellent book, as Swede contacts the author for a meeting, and our narrator offers observations and speculates about Swede's life. Fine and good, maybe no Pulitzer, but a nice read. Then many bad things happen to Swede, far out of any real relation to reality, and we realize the author's agenda. In real life, he would be afraid of the Swede, a big, imposing guy. In this book as an author, he controls the character, and has the ability to inflict great cruelties upon him, and the book takes on an unreal aura midway through the book. Swede's daughter, a hippie, takes upon an unreal persona too. Books like a delicate balance deserve these prizes, this is a good book which deteriorates.
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Title: The Human Stain : A Novel by Philip Roth ISBN: 0375726349 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 08 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: I Married a Communist by Philip Roth ISBN: 0375707212 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 26 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri ISBN: 039592720X Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth ISBN: 0679756450 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 20 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon ISBN: 0312282990 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 25 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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