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American Pastoral

By Philip Roth

(145)

| Hardcover | 9780395860212

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Book Description

American Pastoral is the story of a fortunate American's rise and fall - of a strong, confident master of social equilibrium overwhelmed by the forces of social disorder. Seymour "Swede" Levov - a legendary high school athlete, a devoted family man, a hard worker, the prosperous inheritor of his fatContinue

Critics

American Pastoral

This great novel, the first of Roth's Zuckerman trilogy, begins with the narrator, Skip Zuckerman, bumping into his boyhood idol at a baseball game. The 'Swede' seems to Skip to embody everything that is wholesome, decent and heroic in American life. ... (read full critics)

bookgroup published on Tue, 14 Sep 2010

American Pastoral

American Pastoral Philip Roth Vintage Paperback 432 pages September 2005 Philip Roth won the Pulitzer prize for this riveting, quietly horrifying novel that shatters the idyllic illusion of America that its inhabitants once harbored. A commentary on ... (read full critics)

curledup published on Tue, 7 Sep 2010

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6 Reviews

2 people find this helpful

contemporary american fiction rarely draws my attention. most of the american writings i've come across are bascially news or business stuff. and there's always one thing in which i find quite funny. it seems to me they are so capable of writing longer than enough and recurring narration like extend ... (continue)

contemporary american fiction rarely draws my attention. most of the american writings i've come across are bascially news or business stuff. and there's always one thing in which i find quite funny. it seems to me they are so capable of writing longer than enough and recurring narration like extending a 500 words text to a 5000 ones. i was amazed to find the phenonmeon in the book.
in some online forum i was told philip roth is a great writer the greatest american writer ever. american pastoral is the one i decided to start with. there's something special with the narration and it is kind of captivating. but, but i just couldn't stop asking myself why i'm still reading the book in the course of reading the book. why should i be familiar with the political scene like 30, 40 years ago in another side of the world? why should i know so much so detailly about the misery and disappoinment of *that* generation in particular? seriously i try to grasp the universal sentiment in between the lines but i dun thk i was succeeded. i mean, u can always highlight something to talk about like what you did in your term paper. but i'm not doing my term paper so i won't stress this and highlight that and tell u how great i find the book is so as to align with what the critics suggest. i dunno if philip roth is anew to you, if so and u'd like to read his work, i won't suggest it as your first.

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fruit said on Jan 2, 2008 | Add your feedback

Crudele, sul fallimento di ogni umana perfezione e imperfezione.

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Andretwp said on Jan 31, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

I loved the background of the story more than the story of the Levov family itself. I had a hard time to keep on reading about the Swede, his wife, and his daughter. Nevertheless, the background tells of a pivotal moment in US history, when the old world with its certainties crumbled and everything ... (continue)

I loved the background of the story more than the story of the Levov family itself. I had a hard time to keep on reading about the Swede, his wife, and his daughter. Nevertheless, the background tells of a pivotal moment in US history, when the old world with its certainties crumbled and everything changed.

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Doppelganger said on Sep 8, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

So brave. Roth's writing is unwavering.

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Halfadrop said on Oct 30, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Boring!

This is one of the most boring books I have ever read. Couldn't even finish it; after struggling to read the first two sections, I gave up and got to the end reading one paragraph every ten or so to just get some idea of what he was talking about. Why people like and rate highly this book is beyond ... (continue)

This is one of the most boring books I have ever read. Couldn't even finish it; after struggling to read the first two sections, I gave up and got to the end reading one paragraph every ten or so to just get some idea of what he was talking about. Why people like and rate highly this book is beyond me. A very great disappointment.

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RumDoodle said on Oct 20, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Returning again to the voice of his literary alter ego Nathan Zuckerman, Roth is at the top of his form. His prose is carefully controlled yet always fresh and intellectually subtle as he reconstructs the halcyon days, circa World War II, of Seymour "the Swede" Levov, a high school sports hero and a ... (continue)

Returning again to the voice of his literary alter ego Nathan Zuckerman, Roth is at the top of his form. His prose is carefully controlled yet always fresh and intellectually subtle as he reconstructs the halcyon days, circa World War II, of Seymour "the Swede" Levov, a high school sports hero and all-around Great Guy who wants nothing more than to live in tranquillity. But as the Swede grows older and America crazier, history sweeps his family inexorably into its grip: His own daughter, Merry, commits an unpardonable act of "protest" against the Vietnam war that ultimately severs the Swede from any hope of happiness, family, or spiritual coherence.

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ambient pleasures said on Sep 12, 2006 about the Others edition | Add your feedback