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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Could have been a five star book except it was too cluttered. The heart of it, the story, was so engaging, so passionate, so engrossing. But to get to it, you have to muck through endless small talk with a narrator of no importance. Had this been simply story, it would have been perfect.
The Swede is living the American Dream. He owns a small business, married a beauty queen, lives in the suburbs. He loves his only child, spoils her with affection and attention, and wants nothing but the best for her. He is a tolerant, liberal minded man who rarely, if ever, loses his temper. So, how did it go so wrong? How could it all be a facade? That's the story. That's the prize.
The Swede is living the American Dream. He owns a small business, married a beauty queen, lives in the suburbs. He loves his only child, spoils her with affection and attention, and wants nothing but the best for her. He is a tolerant, liberal minded man who rarely, if ever, loses his temper. So, how did it go so wrong? How could it all be a facade? That's the story. That's the prize.
There is no nuance to this review whatsoever, it is just the way I feel.
What is the opposite of recommending a book? That's what I'm doing here. I don't even want to say any of the things I don't like about it, because I don't want anyone to be intrigued by how horrible it sounds and even hate-read it. Just spare yourself, okay?
What is the opposite of recommending a book? That's what I'm doing here. I don't even want to say any of the things I don't like about it, because I don't want anyone to be intrigued by how horrible it sounds and even hate-read it. Just spare yourself, okay?
Very intense in spots. I started off in fits and starts, but last 100 pages or so flew by.
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Questo è saper scrivere. La trama, per quanto affascinante e oscura, passa in secondo piano eclissata dallo stile di Roth.
Primo approccio con l'autore, sicuramente non l'ultimo.
"Puoi cercare di tirar fuori tutto quello che hai dentro, ma allora non sarai altro che questo: vuoto e solo anzichè pieno e solo."
Primo approccio con l'autore, sicuramente non l'ultimo.
"Puoi cercare di tirar fuori tutto quello che hai dentro, ma allora non sarai altro che questo: vuoto e solo anzichè pieno e solo."
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
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
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fabulous work of American lit. It fits perfectly in the canon of Steinbeck, McCullers, Fitzgerald, even Hemingway. The themes are familiar and welcoming. Here we have the great obsession, which is becoming increasingly British too, more's the pity, with living a comfortable life, materially replete, but at the same time, anaesthetised, numb to reality. This principle is personified as Seymour 'Swede' Levov, whose calm, laid-back, Johnny Appleseed approach to life is belied by those who share his world. The Swede is like an old cart horse who plods unknowingly along while the world beneath the surface becomes increasingly complex and angst ridden. Hw is a nexus of tranquillity at the heart of a storm of repressed rage.
Roth writes brilliantly, and nowhere is this more evident than in his handling of dialogue. The natural and fluid expression of thought and feeling is so accomplished. Whole worlds are contained in the lightest exchange. At the heart of this novel is the chimera of the American Dream. It is that trick of the mind that can only be maintained at the cost of blindness to the suffering of others, as much in the small world of family as the larger, more complex, but ultimately equally reactive world of politics and social change. The Swede's gradual and painful awakening is America's too. Herein is the brilliance of the novel, because the Swede is America. He does everything possible to fit, everything within the scope of his prodigious powers of adaptation, to look the part, but it is at the cost of everything authentic and meaningful in his life. Of course this allegory is true for us all, whether we are American or not, so perhaps we should talk here about Westernism, rather than Americanism. The Western Dream has a price, but we do not see it. And when we have seen it, it is already too late because everything we have 'won' has already been tainted by it.
I loved this novel and will be reading more Philip Roth as a result.
Roth writes brilliantly, and nowhere is this more evident than in his handling of dialogue. The natural and fluid expression of thought and feeling is so accomplished. Whole worlds are contained in the lightest exchange. At the heart of this novel is the chimera of the American Dream. It is that trick of the mind that can only be maintained at the cost of blindness to the suffering of others, as much in the small world of family as the larger, more complex, but ultimately equally reactive world of politics and social change. The Swede's gradual and painful awakening is America's too. Herein is the brilliance of the novel, because the Swede is America. He does everything possible to fit, everything within the scope of his prodigious powers of adaptation, to look the part, but it is at the cost of everything authentic and meaningful in his life. Of course this allegory is true for us all, whether we are American or not, so perhaps we should talk here about Westernism, rather than Americanism. The Western Dream has a price, but we do not see it. And when we have seen it, it is already too late because everything we have 'won' has already been tainted by it.
I loved this novel and will be reading more Philip Roth as a result.
The prose is quite good, but on the whole it's one of the most serious cases of white elephant art I've ever seen.