A review by claire_fuller_writer
Nemesis by Philip Roth

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.