AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth

[DennisK]

The transformation Americans experienced during the 60's and beyond have been something I have been trying to understand – indeed, to define. Knowing how people lived from the 40's through the 50's leaves me staggering from the differences. I'm drawn to other perspectives – at least that is what I tell myself. To be truthful, I question if what I am really doing is looking for conformation for my own prejudices and beliefs, or am I looking for a true paradigm perspective concerning this subject. Weather I'm looking for conformation or a new truth, I suspect I will either find something of myself, or something of the truth. This leaves me winning in either case; so I will just follow my nose. If anyone else has read this book, and has some view of its story, I would really like to share our views.

American Pastoral is a story about a person who was privileged both genetically and, by way of his father's glove factory, financially. Handsome and wealthy, he had an ethics typical of the 40's and the 50's. He married a beautiful woman who was a pageant winner. They had a daughter who was extremely strong minded and opinionated. She was the kind of person who, upon latching on to an idea, hung on to it much like a pit-bull does to a bone. During the Viet Nam War, this led to a tragic event which pulled his wonderfully structured world apart.

Philip Roth wrote this book using long laboring sentences. For me, it wasn't a relaxing read. I don't know how one would think of this book as a source of entertainment. However even though it wasn't a fun book to read, it may be though of as a profitable one to read. It did leave me reaching for his I MARRIED A COMMUNIST. I do have his THE HUMAN STAIN in my nook, but that is his third book of this trilogy – next, I must read about his communist.