American Pastoral
by Philip Roth
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Book Summary Information
Author: Philip RothEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-02-03
ISBN: 0375701427
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of American Pastoral
Book Review: "That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong."
Summary: 5 Stars
"What on earth is less reprehensible than the life of the Levovs?" That is the question that Nathan Zuckerman asks in Philip Roth's American Pastoral. This is one of his best novels (I've always preferred the elder Roth to the younger Roth). It tells the story of "Swede" Levov ("rhymes with `love'"), the classic all-American boy: athletic, stunningly handsome, smart, patriotic, moral, diligent, eager-to-please. Levov was one a childhood hero of Zuckerman. One day, in his seventies, the Swede asks to meet with Zuckerman about writing the story of his father's life. Over dinner, Levov strikes Zuckerman as hopelessly banal. "I was wrong," Zuckerman says. "Never more mistaken about anyone in my life."
Like The Human Stain, this novel is somewhat metafictional; Zuckerman has a passing acquaintance with a remarkable man and decides to write a novel about him. He is upfront with the reader that he is making the particulars of this story up - guessing about what he can never know. But that is neither here nor there. What the novel is ultimately about is the arbitrariness of life - the Swede does everything right but is hit by a catastrophe so random that no one could have predicted it. Whether or not that is the fault of "America" is up to the judgment of the reader.
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