A review by chrismichaels
American Pastoral by Philip Roth

4.0

Fun book, I have no clue what Phillip Roth’s political stance is from reading this book. He writes the Swede as like this dopey milquetoast liberal who came up during a time where America was the shit and is juxtaposed by his daughter Merry who’s so progressive even the most annoying Twitter lib would find her cringe. The Swede’s blind faith in American institutions seems so absurd like it must be satirizing of liberals. At the same time, Merry and her gang of leftists are also made out to be the most fucking annoying brain dead people, where like you want to agree with them and their beliefs, but they are cringe and rope innocent people into violence as a means of getting what they believe is right. I feel like based on these two characters, he shows that he thinks both sides are equally ridiculous. The Swede is a dope but Merry did make me want to rip my hair out by the end of the book.