American Pastoral

by Philip Roth

Paperback, 423 pages

English language

Published March 17, 2016 by Vintage.

ISBN:: 978-1-78470-645-6
OCLC Number:: 958098110

(33 reviews)

'Swede' Levov is living the American dream. He glides through life sustained by his devoted family, his demanding yet highly rewarding (and lucrative) business, his sporting prowess, his good looks. He is the embodiment of thriving, post-war America, land of liberty and hope.

Until the sunny day in 1968, when the Swede's bountiful American luck deserts him.

The tragedy springs from devastatingly close to home. His adored daughter, Merry, has become a stranger to him, a fanatical teenager capable of an outlandishly savage act of political terrorism that plunges the Levov family into the political mayhem of sixties America, and drags them into the underbelly of a seemingly ascendant society.

Rendered powerless by the shocking turn of events, the Swede can only watch as his pastoral idyll is methodically torn apart.

32 editions

Paranoid Fish reviewed American Pastoral by Philip Roth (The American Trilogy, #1)

a very unreliable narrator

5 stars

A story within a story. I liked how the frame story flows seamlessly into the actual narrative, which in turn is a completely fictionalized biography by the narrator about an acquaintance about whom he actually knows very little, except that his daughter (presumably) committed a terrorist attack. As if the author is taking a double distance, a very unreliable narrator, very postmodern. Along the way, you also learn all about how leather gloves are made. A great book.

Bridgman reviewed American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Review of 'American Pastoral' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

An epic is a long narrative poem that uses heightened, dignified language to tell the story of a heroic figure. The Iliad, Paradise Lost, things like that. It's a good definition, but after reading [a:Philip Roth|463|Philip Roth|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399886959p2/463.jpg]'s Pulitzer Prize winning 1997 [b:American Pastoral|11650|American Pastoral|Philip Roth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1504801263l/11650.SY75.jpg|598119], I felt I had read an epic, though maybe it would be more accurate to call it a family saga. (Yes, I know I'm being dumb because the title states its literary genre and that pastorals portray life in the countryside, particularly that of shepherds, in a simple and idealized way, but the title is meant to be ironic.)
I have way too many unread books lying around, and I could have chosen easily from a dozen that I'd enjoy reading as much as this one, but I chose this because it the horrible terror attacks had recently been carried out in Israel, and Roth wrote so brilliantly about American Jews. I'm not Jewish and other than having a few friends who are, I have no stake in Jewish affairs in America or elsewhere, but Roth's writing is so good that it doesn't matter.
You will learn a lot by reading this book, which takes place during the turbulent times of the 60s and 70s. We seem to think that current times are the most divided, violent, and dangerous ever. American Pastoral reminded me that they are not.
You'll also learn about American manufacturing and Jainism.
18:07

Ikwezi reviewed American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Review of 'American Pastoral' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Grindingly depressing...and really? The last third of the book takes place over the course of one evening and builds up to nothing? I guess I am a philistine