American Pastoral

Rating:
Summary: good in the beginning; snore by the end.
Review: At the beginning of the book I was so absorbed that I couldn't put it down, but by the middle, it was just so unrealistic and boring. The women in this book are not portrayed well, at all, and there are so many misplaced scenes. I had a lot of high hopes for this book because I couldn't stop reading it, but in the end I didn't feel sorry for any of the characters.

Rating:
Summary: A long, long journey
Review: I admit that not being an American might exclude me from fully getting out of the book what Philip Roth put into it. Closing in on the last page, what remains in my mind is an epic story about a family and America in general, that drags on and on, that is so long that one could have cut out half of the pages and still would remember it as broad. Despite these drawbacks, Philip Roth's writing kept me reading on, curious to find out why the main character's daughter became a terrorist, what the root cause was that derailed this "American dream" family. Having finsihed the book, I am still wondering.

Rating:
Summary: The moral boomerang...
Review: In "American Pastoral", Philip Roth chooses the cultural paroxym of the late sixties to tell the story of a personal tragedy, but we're left feeling not so sure if the tragedy's genesis is the reprehensible actions of Merry Levov--the protagonist Seymour "the Swede" Levov's daughter--or the Swede's early near-deification in his small town, which leads to his cushy life spent on moral cruise control. In the end, this book is a gut-wrenching screed against both sides of the generational divide, one side seduced into an illusory American dream and the other, just as deluded, bent on destroying that dream. Inexplicably, Merry discovers the injustices of the world at fourteen and becomes obsessed with the Vietnam war. Quickly she comes to despise everything America and her father stand for and goes the distance in proving her convictions by becoming a terrorist. The Swede doesn't understand it all: the ingratitude, the blind hatred. But when the Swede encounters loathing for his way of life from his own brother...the answers he has used to explain Merry's violence just aren't that easy, and cannot be put down to transpersonal forces of a society in upheaval. Somehow he is responsible..."American Pastoral" is the first Philip Roth novel I've ever read, and on freshly encountering his style of narrative it put me off at times, because it seems wholly constructed on violating the cardinal rule (show, don't tell) of fiction writers. It's a book of telling, at times a discursive and self-flagellating monologue. The flashbacks and asides are just ladled on too thickly, and run on far too long, slowing down the thrust of the story. But perhaps this is to show how the Swede's life has ground to a spiritual and emotional halt. In all, it's an occasionally insightful and complex book, but loses its power as it comes to a middling end.


Rating:
Summary: The dark side of the American Dream
Review: Like no other country, America's greatest writers periodically produce wide scope, zeitgeist state of the nation novels that attempt to encapsulate an entire social commentary in one novel. For me, the best of these is Tom Wolfe's 'Bonfire of the Vanities'. But American Pastoral comes a close second. In this novel, Roth lavishly rips apart all that is wrong with orthodox, prosperous, middle class American life by telling the story of Seymour Levov 'The Swede', a Jewish, blonde, handsome high school athletic hero who marries Miss New Jersey, inherits his father's glove factory and settles down to domestic idyll in Old Rimrock, New Jersey.

What goes wrong? Everything. The Swede's daughter commits an atrocious act of political terrorism and the Swede's comfortable life is savagely blasted apart. How can this happen? The novel concludes with a rhetorical question- 'And what is wrong with their life? What on earth is less reprehensible than the life of the Levovs?'. What indeed? Roth goes into great depth into answering this question over the course of the preceeding chapters. He draws out the snobbery, narrow mindedness, peer pressure and teenage rebellions of affluent Americans with characteristic rich, subtle prose. The characters are portrated realistically and sympathetically. By the end of the novel, one is left in no doubt as to why The Swede's life went so catastrophically wrong. This probably is Roth's masterpiece and probably deserving of the Pulitzer Prize it was subsequently awarded.

Is it flawless? No, it could do with some judicious editing at times as sometimes the luscious, hard hitting prose is over verbose. But what editor would have the balls to go through the manuscript of such an established Writer as Roth and suggest swingeing cuts? And I am not an unconditional fan of the way Roth portrays the Jewish dimension in the novel. This is an important part of the plot, as the Levovs are a Jewish family, envious of WASP goyism. But at times I sense that Roth has somewhat of an axe to grind and his attempts to portray the anti semitism prevalent in East Coast America slightly distort this aspect of what is otherwise a brilliantly drawn and executed novel.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece . . . but wait . . . .
Review: Novels don't usually come with disclaimers but you could make the case for one here. I suppose it might read as follows:

Note: The following novel expresses the belief that man has no shelter from suffering and living the perfect life will not deliver you from evil. There is no inevitable grace.

Roth debunks images and leads you farther and farther into a world where beauty cannot shelter a person from a pervasive ugliness that drifts all over the globe. Even little New Jersey towns with quaint names like "Old Rimrock" where cattle graze and houses from the Revolutionary War sit among fertile fields are not immune. Somehow, amidst this American Pastoral, a "gentile Jew" cannot find his paradise even if it is far away from the sweaty streets of Newark where he grew up within site of factories and cluttered neighborhoods where all the non-Wasps lived. Yes, "Swede" Levov was the hope of his generation of Newark Jews because he looked (and acted) like one of the Wasps (and did so effortlessly). And this "gift" was supposed to guarantee him happiness (happiness meant being more than you were when you were born). Here we have the ultimate myth: This is America! Shed your skin and no longer be ugly, unlikeable or poor and wanting. When you really "make it" you somehow become immune to all of the indecorousness that is the life of most people. You could become one of Horatio Alger's self-made and nevermore worry about your worth or status (the insecurity of most, especially the minority). And where else but America is there such privilege and you too can be privileged, never to suffer the way the rest of the world suffers?

But no, not here. Not anymore, anyway. There is plenty of suffering in the "American berserk" to derail all of the good-willed fantasies of all of the smart and hardworking and handsome Americans out there. The lesson here is that no one is safe (anymore?) from the dangers that lurk in the nethers. Are those evils wrought by the devil aiming to destroy man? Or are they simply absurdities on the loose, with no more concern for their victims than the asteroid for the planet it meets? That is for you to decide, but Roth certainly offers his opinion.

A fascinating book.

Rating:
Summary: Sixties at their worst
Review: One of the knocks on this book, even from reviewers who have liked it, is that it trivializes the rebellious spirit of the 1960s through the screeching lunacy of Merry Levov. There were countless examples of logical, righteous protest, they argue, and by showing only the thoughtless Merry and her equally deranged companion, Rita Cohen, and the ingratitude of black rioters in Newark, Philip Roth comes off as someone who missed the decade altogether, perhaps in seclusion doing research for Portnoy's Complaint.

I think, however, that Roth's one-maybe-two-dimensional portrayal of Merry and the other revolutionary forces of the '60s was precisely the point. This novel was not so much about the turbulent '60s as it was about the disintegration of the '50s. The story is narrated by Nathan Zuckerman and told through the (imagined) eyes of Swede Levov, both of whom graduated high school before 1950. Roth is not only concerned with the collapse of the Swede's American dream, but also with his assimilation into American society, his pursuit and eventual attainment of the American dream -- all typical characterstics of the '50s. The Swede had no concept of the attributes which we typically ascribe to the '60s. He was too busy worrying about how to make the perfect lady's dress glove. The reason Roth did so much research and wrote in such painstaking detail about the glove industry was to tell the reader precisely what Lou and Swede Levov's lives revolved around. Since the Swede is the only character whom we see others through, of course he isn't going to question himself for being concerned with such things as D rings and piece rates. It's up to the readers to draw the inference that maybe, just maybe, the Swede is out of touch and too concerned with materialism and achieving the perfect life. This is not necessarily a terrible thing by itself.

What Roth aims to do is not to paint a 100 percent historically accurate portrait of the '60s, but instead to illustrate what a horror the '60s looked like to someone who was not a participant in the counterculture movement -- to someone who had something to lose. The best way to do that was to take the worst of that counterculture movement -- self-absorbed adolescents who raged against their successful upbringing in order to conform to the growing popularity of the rebellion -- and spill it onto the page, to show how berserk this decade was to someone who was in no way trained for it. To show how justified, cool-headed and rational some parts of the '60s revolution were would have detracted from an integral theme of the book, as imagined by the Swede: He learned "the worst lesson that life can teach -- that it makes no sense."

Also, keep in mind that Zuckerman is the book's narrator, and he is imagining nearly all of the story. He is trying, somehow, to make sense of the Swede's tragedy. It's possible that Merry really had a few more redeeming characteristics than is written, and than Jerry Levov says she did. The best way to make sense of tragedy sometimes is to say the whole world is crazy, and maybe that's what Zuckerman did, turning Merry into a raving lunatic in order to show that there was nothing the Swede could do to save her or himself. What Roth has done, with Zuckerman's help, is something along the lines Tim O'Brien talked about in his novel The Things They Carried -- to create a story that is emotionally true, if not entirely factually true.

At its core, this novel is an allegory, with the Swede representing the all-too-perfect 1950s and Merry the tumultuous, unexplainable '60s. In order to get across the full effect of this gulf, Roth had to show the '60s at their worst.

Rating:
Summary: Philip Roth is the voice of my generation
Review: Paradise (remembered and imagined) -- the first section of American Pastoral -- is a gift from Roth to all of us with memories of that time and place, America of the 50's and the 60s. Dare "outsiders" (a Jewish sports hero and marine; a Catholic "Miss New Jersey"--)contend for the American dream. Of course Roth says no. What's wrong with the book, though is that all the characters (even Rita Cohen) are just as verbal, intelligent, thoughtful, yes extraordinary, as Roth alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, thus unreal in their fictive roles. Would a good editor have dared suggest that the over-the-top vitriol of rita Cohen (the serpent in the garden or whoever tempted saint whomever) could be done without. Also, with respect for roth's expertise in the glove trade, he is no melville, and gloves are not whales: nor is the Swede a bard. Finally, this is an important restatement,lest we forget,of a familiar message and I am glad for the opportunity to have heard Nathan's voice again.

Rating:
Summary: Another Roth Classic
Review: Philip Roth is undoubtedly a genius. The power of his intellect, the beauty of his language, the sheer relentless narrative of his novels is remarkable. American Pastoral (the first in a trilogy followed by I Married an American Communist and The Human Stain) chronicles the Jewish American immigrant experience, the boom post-war years in which "The Swede" Levov inherits his father's self-made legacy and, whilst obeying all the rules, somehow finds his life unravelling. The narrative covers 50 years and is stitched together like one of the Swede's Newark Maid gloves. But there are no kid gloves for our hero, no easy answers to the big questions facing the ex-high school sports star with the ex-Miss New Jersey wife who together somehow produce a psychopathic daughter. How could the 50s spawn the 60s, Vietnam, Watergate, Deep Throat? The Swede has no idea and we are left to watch and ponder as his life cracks beneath him. Along the way we are treated to Philip Roth's discourses - on baseball, beauty pageants, a father's loving description of his pre-adolescent daughter, even the process of glove manufacturing. As always, they stud this book like literary diamonds.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: Roth's multi-layered prose can stretch a single sentence on and on for nearly a page, creating an urgency in the description of a thing or activity, even if it appears to be insignificant. This writing style is what makes the book so compelling. While some issues are left unresolved (such as, what happens to the daughter in the end?), it doesn't result in an unsatisfying experience, just in more curiosity about the characters.
The way the author sets the novel up is in an unchronological way, so he gives you a bit of information at a time, which is part of what makes you keep reading--you're never sure when another piece of the puzzle will be revealed. He sets the reader up so that, just when you think you know everything that's going on in a character's head, another memory or conversation pops up that changes things and complicates the story (in a good way).
It's a very long novel, and it took me awhile to really get into it, but once I did, it was hard to put it down. Much of the writing is exposition, not conversation or "action" per se, so if this is not your kind of writing, you may find it frustrating.
Roth captures perfectly the schizophrenic identity of American culture in the '60s, when it was split between anarchic social revolution and the scrubbed-clean postwar era image of the decades before. While, in the end, it feels like he has painted a rather bleak portrait of family life and our society and what it means to be an American or Jewish or from a "good family", it is a very interesting book that presents vastly different perspectives on life and is supporting by great writing.

Rating:
Summary: One of Roth's best
Review: This is one of Roth's best novels. The story is told with great narrative power, the characters are drawn with great sympathy and understanding. The question the moral question of the novel is how the All- American boy who does everything right , and seems to make it all work has his life turned upside down and his daughter become a political radical completely estranged from what her parents stand for. The novel is long and I could have done without the prolonged description of the glovemaking industry. Its good to know that a twentieth century novelist can write a nineteenth century novel, but it does not seem to me of vital necessity. All these writers filling their books with factual descriptions of some particular industry seem to be imitating Melville's whale industry stuff, and seeking a kind of grand status as chroniclers of the whole society .Balzac in Bayonne, and Tolstoy in Teaneck are just not necessary. So I found the whole thing a bit long but there was much compensation. I will point to what for me is the best part of the novel and it seems to me one of the funniest and best pieces of American writing I know. Roth's description of his high- school reunion was for me the most poignant and funny part of this work. And here I would just say that despite all my reservations about so many different sides of Roth, political religious etc. I still find him to be the funniest writer I have ever read and as his best unbeatable. This work contains some of that Roth very best stuff, and I could not more highly recommend it.