American Pastoral

Rating:
Summary: American Pastoral- Book on tape
Review: While the novel is extremely well written, it drones on and on and in the end is very disappointing. We have to sift through many ideas and counter ideas but never learn what happens! Who was Rita Cohen? He goes on and on about her- yet we stay mistified. What happens to Merry? Does she die of starvation? Does she go to jail? We don't know. What about his life after Dawn? The plot is very thin and the commentary about american life is very thick. I didn't disagree with any of his ideas but instead thought, "so what"? In this story it seemed that the problems of the United States caused the problems of the hero. Not believable. Here is what we come away with: Mr. Roth is very bitter about the United States. Voila. Dull!

Rating:
Summary: High school English teachers will use this book ...
Review: yea, it's that good.

What do the great novels require?
They require complete, well-developed characters, which this has. They require a decent plot, complete with twists, joys, and sorrow; again, a check-mark for this book. They require a theme; don't be fooled by the other reviews, the greatest strength of this novel is its theme. Another thing I find the best books have: a primary 'hobby' or skill so to speak, which a main character dwells upon, that ultimately serves to weave the story together; in this case: glovemaking (!)(?).
Finally, the text must be readable. I am a simple man. I prefer the simple text of Hemingway and the Russians; certainly no more complex than Fitzgeral. Of these here tenets, the prose of this novel is somewhat difficult to get through, though not insurmountable.
Additionaly, literary techniques: here one character transforms into another midway through the novel.

The theme and the prose: two archenemies, in this case, that work together to form a great novel. You see, the theme is both obvious and hidden; more accurately, there exist deeper meanings and examples of the same theme: the decline of our pastoral American lives. Wade through the mud, but watch where you're going or you may miss something. Reading the other reviews, I see this is the case.

The decline of American society. So obvious to some, yet debateable to others. The decline of the city of Newark, hollowed by the loss of ethnic homogeneity and pride, now racked with racial tension, poverty, and, above all, high corporate income taxes :) The decline of the family: children lost to a wayward media and the rabid pace of exchanged ideas, and of course the philandering betrothed.

Who stands up to these evil forces but the main character Swede, and his father. Swede attempts to survive his ordeal through Grace (yeah- that sort). His father, at the end, in the climax, and last we see of him, while trying to wean an alchoholic from her brew, has been stabbed in the eye by this devolved serpent of society, one of several that populate the novel- this one a drunkard, transformed such because she is married to a spiritually devoid adulterer and materialist.

There is not much more to say. Character and plot development, repleat with the character's [author's] reflections of which there are many, though slow and steady and yet interesting, are based around a family made wealthy by the business of glovemakeing, and chronicle this familiy's dissolution.