American Pastoral

by Philip Roth

Paperback, 423 pages

English language

Published Jan. 8, 1998 by Vintage Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-375-70142-9
OCLC Number:: 750764700

(33 reviews)

As the American century draws to an uneasy close, Philip Roth gives us a novel of unqualified greatness that is an elegy for all our century's promises of prosperity, civic order, and domestic bliss. Roth's protagonist is Swede Levov, a legendary athlete at his Newark high school, who grows up in the booming postwar.years to marry a former Miss New Jersey, inherit his father's glove factory, and move into a stone house in the idyllic hamlet of Old Rimrock. And then one day in 1968, Swede's beautiful American luck deserts him.

For Swede's adored daughter, Merry, has grown from a loving, quick- witted girl into a sullen, fanatical teenager—a teenager capable of an outlandishly savage act of political terrorism. And overnight Swede is wrenched out of the longed-for American pastoral and into the indigenous American berserk. Compulsively readable, propelled by sorrow, rage, and a deep compassion for its character.s, this …

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