A review by deanna_rigney
American Pastoral by Philip Roth

4.0

Beautiful prose and excellent character development make this one great. The storyteller tells us his version of the life of a neighborhood icon, the great “Swede” Levov, all-around incredible athlete and good guy. The narrator takes one instance of tragedy in the Swede’s real life and incorporates it into his own fictional account, but what an account. The changes in America from the early 50’s to the late 60’s are prominent, with the fall of the idealized “American dream” in the forefront.