Search - American Pastoral

This is his masterpiece. Roth is the master of exactitude. All the nuances and events are there for a reason. If you've never read Roth, I strongly recommend this one.

I thought it was a bummer. So many
dynsfunctional people, so little time.

I'll preface this by saying that this is a challenging novel, but if you allow yourself to get pulled in, you will be blown away by its depth. I sympathized with the protagonist as much as I ever have for a fictional character. My only criticism is the ending, which I don't think did this book justice.

Beautiful book. This is rich and completely deserving of the Pulitzer.

This book moved slowly for me, but it was a National Bestseller written by Philip Roth (author of The Human Stain).

Philip Roth's 22nd book takes a life-long view of the American experience in this thoughtful investigation of the century's most divisive and explosive of decades, the '60s. 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.

Good read, took me a bit to get into it, but the main character and his daughter are very interesting. good for relationships b/t the generations.

Wonderful.

This book is considered Roth's masterpiece, for which he earned the Pulitzer Prize.

Not Roth's best

Pulitzer Prize winner. Emotional, intelligent and heart wrenching!