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jay_the_hippie's review against another edition
4.0
The third section of the book really surprised me. I did not expect the story to go there. It follows logically, but it goes really dark. So bleak. It’s interesting to read about the polio epidemic while we’re in the middle of the COVID pandemic. Maybe not escapist... more like seeing his things turned out with a different disease many years ago. Maybe I learned things.
thingtwo's review against another edition
4.0
This is a delightfully simple novel, not an epic like Roth's Zuckerman series, but a straight forward simple tale of a young man who believes he is the cause of his neighborhood's polio epidemic. Roth's story builds the way a story should; things keep getting worse and worse for the poor Bucky Cantor, until the absolute worst thing that could happen does.
This book will be used, before long, in English Literature classes across the country, as an example of a perfectly told story. Roth is a writing genius, still.
This book will be used, before long, in English Literature classes across the country, as an example of a perfectly told story. Roth is a writing genius, still.
jeannemixon's review against another edition
5.0
Such a sad book. Begins with the summer of 1944, during World War II, when Newark is gripped with an epidemic of polio. No one knows what causes the disease and there are no cures besides the dreaded iron lung. At the center of the story is a man, Bucky, 23 years old, who today we would say suffers from toxic masculinity -- he is a PE instructor completely obsessed with the physical He is an ideal -- believes in hard work, honesty, integrity, discipline, kindness and love -- and his belief system is shattered by his inability to know how the disease is spread and why children suffer the most. Roth with his hyper realistic style captures what it was like to be a child in Newark at the time -- eating hotdogs at Syds, playing at the local rec center, suffering in the heat before air conditioning. He describes families fleeing Newark for the Jersey shore and children fleeing to privileged summer camps in the Poconos. Bucky not only struggles with the inability of his code of manhood to adapt to the tragedy of disease (which is like a war with an invisible enemy), but also his anger at a God who would allow children to suffer. The book flies by and at times feels like a polemic. The characters are definitely constructed to make certain points and allow Roth to make certain counterpoints, but in the end you really feel for Bucky trapped in his inflexible physical and theological straitjackets.
leasttorque's review against another edition
5.0
Reading this in the time of COVID gave this historical novel based around a major polio outbreak during WWII an added resonance.
“It’s important that neighborhood life goes on as usual—otherwise, it’s not only the stricken in their families who are victims, but Weequahic itself becomes a victim.”
“The alternative isn’t to lock [the children] up in their houses and fill them with dread.”
“This is America. The less fear the better. Fear unmans us. Fear degrade us. Fostering less fear—that’s your job and mine.”
And this from a physician, even as hospitals are already running out of iron lungs.
There were sirens in the distance...
Sound familiar? And thus the magnitude of the tragedy increases.
But this is not just a book about an epidemic. Or a trip through the author’s childhood. Or a reflection on being Jewish in America and the role of God and religion, the Greek ideal for body and mind and the impossibility of maintaining it. It is the heartbreaking story of Bucky Cantor, man of duty. More cannot be said without spoiling, but I will add that Catholic guilt serves as a perfectly adequate stand-in for Bucky’s own life history.
“It’s important that neighborhood life goes on as usual—otherwise, it’s not only the stricken in their families who are victims, but Weequahic itself becomes a victim.”
“The alternative isn’t to lock [the children] up in their houses and fill them with dread.”
“This is America. The less fear the better. Fear unmans us. Fear degrade us. Fostering less fear—that’s your job and mine.”
And this from a physician, even as hospitals are already running out of iron lungs.
There were sirens in the distance...
Sound familiar? And thus the magnitude of the tragedy increases.
But this is not just a book about an epidemic. Or a trip through the author’s childhood. Or a reflection on being Jewish in America and the role of God and religion, the Greek ideal for body and mind and the impossibility of maintaining it. It is the heartbreaking story of Bucky Cantor, man of duty. More cannot be said without spoiling, but I will add that Catholic guilt serves as a perfectly adequate stand-in for Bucky’s own life history.
claire_fuller_writer's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. It wasn't until the end of this novel about a fictional outbreak of polio in Newark in 1944, that I began to really enjoy it. Although the story about Bucky Cantor, a sports teacher whose young students begin to succumb to polio, and who leaves them to go and teach in what is a much safer location was interesting, I wasn't sure that the narrative structure worked for me. It's told from the point of view of one of his students who relates Bucky's story as though it is Bucky himself narrating, including his innermost thoughts. Why and how the young man is able to do this, is made clear towards the end of the novel, but I always felt at one remove during the earlier parts, and I'm not sure why Roth didn't just let Bucky tell it himself.
rexlegendi's review against another edition
4.0
Nemesis was één van de boeken die getipt werden om te lezen tijdens de coronapandemie in maart 2020. Na [b:De pest|50876556|De pest|Albert Camus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567800008l/50876556._SX50_SY75_.jpg|2058116] en [b:De grote angst in de bergen|44159439|De grote angst in de bergen|Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551362798l/44159439._SY75_.jpg|6169953] was ik wel even klaar met het onderwerp, maar ik ben blij dat ik het anderhalf jaar later alsnog gelezen heb.
Nemesis speelt zich af in een joodse gemeenschap in Newark tijdens de zomer van 1944. De 23-jarige Bucky Cantor is vanwege zijn slechte zicht afgekeurd voor de oorlog en moet tot zijn schande achterblijven. Om zich nuttig te maken zet hij zich als gymleraar verbeten in voor de toekomst van zijn leerlingen, die hem adoreren om zijn atletische vermogen en vastberadenheid. Ook zijn nieuwe roeping komt echter onder druk te staan, wanneer het poliovirus opduikt en de veiligheid van zijn leerlingen op het speelterrein niet langer gegarandeerd is. Roth schetst vervolgens een weergaloos beeld van de vertwijfelde Bucky, die stoeit met het dilemma dat zijn leven dreigt te veranderen.
Roth mag in zekere zin een heel Amerikaanse schrijver zijn, de manier waarop hij diepgang geeft aan zijn personages en in hun gedachten kruipt, maken zijn werk de moeite meer dan waard.
Nemesis speelt zich af in een joodse gemeenschap in Newark tijdens de zomer van 1944. De 23-jarige Bucky Cantor is vanwege zijn slechte zicht afgekeurd voor de oorlog en moet tot zijn schande achterblijven. Om zich nuttig te maken zet hij zich als gymleraar verbeten in voor de toekomst van zijn leerlingen, die hem adoreren om zijn atletische vermogen en vastberadenheid. Ook zijn nieuwe roeping komt echter onder druk te staan, wanneer het poliovirus opduikt en de veiligheid van zijn leerlingen op het speelterrein niet langer gegarandeerd is. Roth schetst vervolgens een weergaloos beeld van de vertwijfelde Bucky, die stoeit met het dilemma dat zijn leven dreigt te veranderen.
Roth mag in zekere zin een heel Amerikaanse schrijver zijn, de manier waarop hij diepgang geeft aan zijn personages en in hun gedachten kruipt, maken zijn werk de moeite meer dan waard.
His conception of God was of an omnipotent being who was a union not of three persons in one God-head, as in Christianity, but of two – a sick fuck and an evil genius.
ombraluce's review against another edition
5.0
"Devo dire che, per quanta compassione possa provare per il cumulo di calamità che gli aveva rovinato la vita, non si tratta d'altro che di stupida superbia, non la superbia della volontà o del desiderio ma la superbia di un'infantile, irreale interpretazione religiosa"
Già, quanti danni ha fatto a ogni singolo uomo e al mondo intero quel voler essere tutti di un pezzo che non è altro che incapacità di gioire del mondo, nella buona e nella cattiva sorte.
Un libro indimenticabile.
Già, quanti danni ha fatto a ogni singolo uomo e al mondo intero quel voler essere tutti di un pezzo che non è altro che incapacità di gioire del mondo, nella buona e nella cattiva sorte.
Un libro indimenticabile.
michellewaite1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5