Rating: 
Summary: I loved this strange book
Review: Philip Roth has written a devastating indictment on the decadethat strangely enough he had a role in creating. His chronicle ofNewark's demise is the most interesting part of this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: American Pastoral is a heartbreaking triumph.
Review: Philip Roth's American Pastoral is an exilarating tour-de-forceby a great novelist at the height of his powers. The life of Seymour"Swede" Levov as seen by seen by Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's ofter alter-ego, is surely one of the greatest tragedies in modern literature. "Swede" is a throroghly good man who strives constantly for the happiness of his loved ones. His qualities as a character heighten the tragedy as he experiences trials of biblical proportions. This book touches on many themes and points in post-war American history with such detail ,eloquence and sympathy that it should be considered a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: A beautifully written and important book.
Review: "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:
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: A beautifully written and important book.
Review: "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: 
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: 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: 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.
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: 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.
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