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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-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
It sucked and wasn’t going anywhere
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is the most layered one of Roth that I read of him so far. It is impossible to describe what this book is all about, so I can present only the main layers.
American Pastoral revolves around Seymour Levov, a white man of Jewish origin who seems to have his act perfectly together: in his youth a celebrated baseball and basketball player, married to his beautiful wife Dawn (an ex-Miss New Jersey), he's a successful businessman (who took over his father's glove factory in Newark), an involved and concerned father, and in general a really amiable man. Behind that facade however Seymour, or the Swede as he is called colloquially, hides a great personal drama which is related to his daughter Merry; in her puberty she completely derailed and got actively involved in deadly terrorism acts against the Vietnam war and against the capitalist system. Until the end we see Seymour intensely struggling with the question of what he has done wrong, and what he could have done to prevent the tragedy.
The Swede is the victim of blind fate that strikes in a seemingly unjust way. In that sense, there are nice parallels with Greek drama and with the biblical Job-story. "He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach — that it makes no sense. And when that happens the happiness is never spontaneous again. It is artificial and, even then, bought at the price of an obstinate estrangement from oneself and one's history. The nice gentle man with his mild way of dealing with conflict and contradiction, the confident ex-athlete sensible and resourceful in any struggle with an adversary who is fair, comes up against the adversary who is not fair — the evil ineradicable from human dealings — and he is finished. He whose natural nobility was to be exactly what he seemed to be has taken in far too much suffering to be naively whole again. "
Roth gives gives evidence of a lot of empathy, both for the position of the concerned parent as for that of the rebellious daughter. But he also mercilessly describes the wrong self-image that these ‘normal’ people appear to have, and suggests that they also are guilty, because they too much wanted to accommodate to the American model, and they did this in such an extreme way that they lost everything.
This brings us to the broader context: that of the shattering of the American dream (here called ‘American Pastoral’). The Levovs belong to a family of East-European jewish immigrants that in 3 generations managed to become respectable Americans, fully going up in the American dream, and that period has now unmercifully come to an end: "Three generations. All of them growing. The working. The saving. The success. Three generations in raptures over America. Three generations or becoming one with a people. And now with the fourth it had all come to nothing. The total vandalization of their world." The story of the unhinged daughter Merry gets a perfect parallel in the violence of the social and racially discriminated African Americans, in the riots that at the end of the 1960s smashed half Newark to smithereens. Inevitably Roth brings with it a portrait of the turbulent sixties, and explores the background of the radicalism of young people and minority groups.
And finally there is a typical Roth-twist: the whole story of Seymour Levov is told by Roth's alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, based on scarce information elements. Somewhere around page 150, almost unnoticed the transition is made: until then Zuckerman is the principal character, but then he jumps to the seemingly 'objectively' told life story of the Swede, with lots of interior monologues. By the very chaotic way of storytelling and the open ending the alert reader can be aware that here actually a third narrator is speaking and not Seymour himself, and so you get the impression that Zuckerman (a.k.a. Roth) uses the life story of the Swede to put personal elements in it. This gives this book an extra (postmodern) layer.
Now, is this a successful book? It’s difficult to answer that question. What Roth has done with the character of Seymour Levov is nothing short of masterly, and partly that is also the case with his wife Dawn, a much stronger figure than seen at first sight (although she remains in the background). But circling around them are characters who happen to be much less convincing, with the very caricatured father Lou Levov as absolute cliché, and even the rebellious daughter Merry is not credibly painted. Then there’s also the habit of many American writers (Irving is another example) to develop certain background aspects in such detail, that they become really annoying; in this book that’s the case with the perfectionist passion of Seymour and his father for the glove manufacturing; pages and pages on end we get information on how gloves are manufactured; of course this serves a particular purpose, but it is just too much.
Though it's not perfect, ‘American Pastoral’ for sure is a major work of American literature. Roth has shown us what it is to be human, and he has shown us we also need literature to really be human.
American Pastoral revolves around Seymour Levov, a white man of Jewish origin who seems to have his act perfectly together: in his youth a celebrated baseball and basketball player, married to his beautiful wife Dawn (an ex-Miss New Jersey), he's a successful businessman (who took over his father's glove factory in Newark), an involved and concerned father, and in general a really amiable man. Behind that facade however Seymour, or the Swede as he is called colloquially, hides a great personal drama which is related to his daughter Merry; in her puberty she completely derailed and got actively involved in deadly terrorism acts against the Vietnam war and against the capitalist system. Until the end we see Seymour intensely struggling with the question of what he has done wrong, and what he could have done to prevent the tragedy.
The Swede is the victim of blind fate that strikes in a seemingly unjust way. In that sense, there are nice parallels with Greek drama and with the biblical Job-story. "He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach — that it makes no sense. And when that happens the happiness is never spontaneous again. It is artificial and, even then, bought at the price of an obstinate estrangement from oneself and one's history. The nice gentle man with his mild way of dealing with conflict and contradiction, the confident ex-athlete sensible and resourceful in any struggle with an adversary who is fair, comes up against the adversary who is not fair — the evil ineradicable from human dealings — and he is finished. He whose natural nobility was to be exactly what he seemed to be has taken in far too much suffering to be naively whole again. "
Roth gives gives evidence of a lot of empathy, both for the position of the concerned parent as for that of the rebellious daughter. But he also mercilessly describes the wrong self-image that these ‘normal’ people appear to have, and suggests that they also are guilty, because they too much wanted to accommodate to the American model, and they did this in such an extreme way that they lost everything.
This brings us to the broader context: that of the shattering of the American dream (here called ‘American Pastoral’). The Levovs belong to a family of East-European jewish immigrants that in 3 generations managed to become respectable Americans, fully going up in the American dream, and that period has now unmercifully come to an end: "Three generations. All of them growing. The working. The saving. The success. Three generations in raptures over America. Three generations or becoming one with a people. And now with the fourth it had all come to nothing. The total vandalization of their world." The story of the unhinged daughter Merry gets a perfect parallel in the violence of the social and racially discriminated African Americans, in the riots that at the end of the 1960s smashed half Newark to smithereens. Inevitably Roth brings with it a portrait of the turbulent sixties, and explores the background of the radicalism of young people and minority groups.
And finally there is a typical Roth-twist: the whole story of Seymour Levov is told by Roth's alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, based on scarce information elements. Somewhere around page 150, almost unnoticed the transition is made: until then Zuckerman is the principal character, but then he jumps to the seemingly 'objectively' told life story of the Swede, with lots of interior monologues. By the very chaotic way of storytelling and the open ending the alert reader can be aware that here actually a third narrator is speaking and not Seymour himself, and so you get the impression that Zuckerman (a.k.a. Roth) uses the life story of the Swede to put personal elements in it. This gives this book an extra (postmodern) layer.
Now, is this a successful book? It’s difficult to answer that question. What Roth has done with the character of Seymour Levov is nothing short of masterly, and partly that is also the case with his wife Dawn, a much stronger figure than seen at first sight (although she remains in the background). But circling around them are characters who happen to be much less convincing, with the very caricatured father Lou Levov as absolute cliché, and even the rebellious daughter Merry is not credibly painted. Then there’s also the habit of many American writers (Irving is another example) to develop certain background aspects in such detail, that they become really annoying; in this book that’s the case with the perfectionist passion of Seymour and his father for the glove manufacturing; pages and pages on end we get information on how gloves are manufactured; of course this serves a particular purpose, but it is just too much.
Though it's not perfect, ‘American Pastoral’ for sure is a major work of American literature. Roth has shown us what it is to be human, and he has shown us we also need literature to really be human.
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I picked this for book club with my sister, who may never forgive me, but it was kinda worth it because this book has so much to offer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault
An earth-rattling broadside against the American Dream. There is something very ancient about the set-up here, which sees a noble hero brought to his knees by fate as a result of a fatal flaw. Picture a Mickey Mantle-type having his life absolutely ripped apart by circumstances beyond his control and understanding. Readers who find the unnecessary crassness of the opening sections off-putting are encouraged to push through it, as these sections are quickly forgotten. An utterly fantastic novel.
5/5
5/5
7/03 I wish I had words for how much I'm enjoying this, and how intense it is. Few authors control my reading speed and pace like Roth.
10/20 Funny how on page 88 I was in love with the book, because a hundred pages later I was so affected by the tragedy played out that I had to put it down. Time to pick it back up again.
10/20 Funny how on page 88 I was in love with the book, because a hundred pages later I was so affected by the tragedy played out that I had to put it down. Time to pick it back up again.
muddled
the swede's point of view trends negatively as the novel progresses. do we feel sorry for him? do we support him? i am not so sure Philip even knows for sure. the narrative left me at an impasse.
kudos to Philip for making a high school reunion one of the more interesting things i have interacted with for the calendar year
the swede's point of view trends negatively as the novel progresses. do we feel sorry for him? do we support him? i am not so sure Philip even knows for sure. the narrative left me at an impasse.
kudos to Philip for making a high school reunion one of the more interesting things i have interacted with for the calendar year