American Pastoral

One of my book groups chose American Pastoral by Philip Roth for our August discussion.  I don't have a lot to say about this book.  We all agreed that the 423 pages could have been 200.  My goodness, what a wordy man Philip Roth was. And the point of the book?  Everyone is searching and striving for a good, meaningful life. Okay, having said this, the reviews for the book are praising it to the heavens.


It is the story of Swede, an all American boy, and how his life went from being a star athlete, admired by all, to being the owner of a glove manufacturing plant, to being the husband of Miss New Jersey of 1949, to one day having his whole life turned upside down when, in 1968, his sixteen year old fanatical daughter's act changed everyone's life forever.

I really enjoyed the core story in the book, but the pages and pages describing one thing killed my enthusiasm.  We deducted that because he was Philip Roth, no editors would confront his writing!