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American Pastoral

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Author: Philip Roth
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$15.00~~
Buy Used: $1.58
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New (60) Used (216) Collectible (4) from $1.58

Seller: green_earth_books
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

241 reviews

Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st, First Edition
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.9

ISBN: 0375701427
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780375701429
ASIN: 0375701427

Publication Date: February 3, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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•	ISBN13: 9780375701429
•	Condition: New
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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
Philip Roth's 22nd book takes a life-long view of the American experience in this thoughtful investigation of the century's most divisive and explosive of decades, the '60s. Returning again to the voice of his literary alter ego Nathan Zuckerman, Roth is at the top of his form. His prose is carefully controlled yet always fresh and intellectually subtle as he reconstructs the halcyon days, circa World War II, of Seymour "the Swede" Levov, a high school sports hero and all-around Great Guy who wants nothing more than to live in tranquillity. But as the Swede grows older and America crazier, history sweeps his family inexorably into its grip: His own daughter, Merry, commits an unpardonable act of "protest" against the Vietnam war that ultimately severs the Swede from any hope of happiness, family, or spiritual coherence.

Product Description
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 longer-for American pastoral and into the indigenous American berserk. Compulsively readable, propelled by sorrow, rage, and a deep compassion for its characters, this is Roth's masterpiece.

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 1-5 of 241

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Overrated July 24, 2010
FrenchText (New York, NY United States)
I've read most of Philip Roth's novels but not in order of publication. I came to this one late and find it hard to understand why it received so much praise. The writing is overblown and pompous. The allegorical drive to make the characters stand for the underside and disillusionment of America in the 1960s means that the characters collapse under the weight of everything they're supposed to symbolize. All the female characters are monsters -- that's the word the narrator and characters use over and over again -- but not interesting monsters. And we learn far more than we need to do about the details of glove manufacturing. There are definitely some interesting ideas here, but the book never comes together as a fully realized, well-crafted novel. If you want to read mainstream Roth, I recommend giving this one a miss and reading THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA, or better yet, pick up ZUCKERMAN UNBOUND, an unsung masterpiece.

2 out of 5 stars

American Pastoral July 4, 2010
Esther B. Bates (Buffalo, NY)
I am wading through this book because a book group to which I belong will be discussing it. The book is overly long and tedious, but you can't skip sections because you never know when a sentence or two will come along that finally moves the story forward. When Roth gets back to the story, rather than getting bogged down in details about the decline of Newark, about manufacturing gloves, and other side issues, the story is quite gripping and very upsetting. It it based on real events, but engenders little sympathy for the participants in the riots of the 60's & 70's and their families.
I think he had enough naterial for a long short story or perhaps a novelette, but insisted on stretching it out over 423 pages.

2 out of 5 stars

Ideas/Themes are there, poorly executed, poor standard for Pulitzer May 27, 2010
EM
Unbelievable that this would win a prize, let alone the Pulitzer. Quality in modern writing is just not there, I couldn't imagine such poor quality being published years ago.

The idea and theme were excellent and should have produced a wonderful novel. I found though this was poorly written, it was like the author didn't want to work at it and thought he could get away with it - at times it was rambling. Characters were poorly drawn, most notably Merry.

4 out of 5 stars

Very Slightly Disappointed (3.5 Stars) May 16, 2010
Richard Pittman (Toronto, ON Canada)
Philip Roth is truly a unique and outstanding writer. It is somewhat of a travesty that he has yet to win the Nobel Prize For Literature.

I was really looking forward to American Pastoral which is the first Zuckerman novel that doesn't focus primarily on Nathan Zuckerman. It focuses on the seemingly charmed life of Seymour "Swede" Levov, a hero from Zuckerman's Newark. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize and is considered by many to be if not Roth's greatest novel then certainly one of the greatest.

For me, there are long periods of brillance in the story. Levov is living the American Dream. He is a tremendous athlete, a good person and a very successful businessman. For much of his life, he does not seem to have a misstep. He marries Miss New Jersey and they have a wonderful daughter.

Suddenly, the American Dream goes south as Levov's daughter is not the perfect All American girl. She turns into an overweight, angry girl with a stuttering problem. She is very, very angry about the Viet Nam War. Even though Swede is also against the war, she has disdain for his cozy, comfortable life. The Levov world falls apart when the daughter, Merry, bombs a local store, killing someone and then goes underground.

Swede Levov's pain and story is wonderfully told. Despite his daughter's crimes, he loves her and longs to save her. He is very nostalgiac about the perfect daughter of childhood. Despite dealing with the tragedy as well as he can, Swede never recovers. He has always had an accomodating character and done the right and sensible thing but the pain and sorrow eat him up inside.

Swede's brother, Jerry, is a perfect contrast in that he is outspoken, goes against the grain and lives life as he feels like it. His moments of telling Swede the way it is are very strong.

This is creative, heartwrenching and well written story of a perfect 1950s man lost and disoriented by the turmoil of the 60s. Roth describes the 60s in a very simplistic way intentionally as this is Swede Levov's perspective.

Again, I'll restate that American Pastoral has rich themes, typical Roth humour and interesting and unusual characters and situations.

Unfortunately several Amazon customers who have given negative reviews are correct in pointing out what I think is a significant flaw. The book really becomes tedious in points. Roth is extremely repetitive and looks at the same events from many different perspectives. This works for awhile but ultimately American Pastoral becomes a chore to read.

Roth is a wonderful writer and as much as it makes me feel like a Philistine, I have to say, he could have cut out 50 pages from this novel and it would have worked a lot better.

I definitely recommend it. Even if you find it tedious, there are lots of truly wonderful moments in the novel.

1 out of 5 stars

terrible smell March 8, 2010
Frances E. Peterman
2 out of 16 found this review helpful

I had to throw this book away as soon as I opened it. I t smelled of a mildewed, musty basement and was just awful to even touch. Sorry for the bad news. First time this has happened and I might not try used again. Fran P

Showing reviews 1-5 of 241

1 2 3 4 5 6 ...49 Next »

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