Philip Roth - American Pastoral

Quick summary: American Pastoral is one of Roth's many "Zuckerman" novels, which use the character of Nathan Zuckerman, himself a writer, as a narrative frame for the (imagined) life of Seymour "the Swede" Levov.  The novel first recounts Zuckerman's idealized memories of the Swede from their childhood, during which the Swede was the star of about any sport at school.  Zuckerman meets the Swede again at a ball game and later at a restaurant; the former encounter leaves him with the remaining impression that the Swede still leads a charmed life.  However, after a meeting at a restaurant (requested by the Swede), Zuckerman is somewhat puzzled about the reason for the lunch and wonders whether the Swede still leads the ideal American life.  Later, at a high school reunion Zuckerman meets Jerry Levov, the Swede's younger brother, who reveals that the Swede's daughter was the one who bombed a post office as a means of protest against the war.  After his conversation with Jerry Levov, Zuckerman pens a novel in which he imagines the deterioration of the Swede's ideal life from the inside out.

I will start by saying that I place this book among my favorites on the list so far.  Roth's prose in and of itself is a major reason for undertaking a good reading of this novel.  If you are a skimmer, this one might force you to slow down and smell the roses, or it might frustrate you.  When I say Roth can write, I don't mean in the way that David Foster Wallace can write (you'll eventually see a blog on Infinite Jest); unlike DFW's prose, which springs out of some sort of manic obsession, Roth is so controlled, much like the exterior of the Swede's ideal life.  As the lives of the Levovs spin out of control, Roth's prose loosens and seems to wander, but Roth is still in control of every word.  This is good writing, and you can feel it.

Beyond the writing, I love this book for its construction and its relationship with the past.  It's Proust's attempt to regain an idealized past, but with the backdrop of the fading American dream.  (Zuckerman even explicitly references the madeleine scene from Proust as he contemplates his reunion experience).  The Swede's generation is the generation eager to fight the good fight in WWII, the generation that seemed to know right from wrong.  However, as much as the Swede seems to lead the American dream (ex-pageant winner of a wife, a house in the country, the owner of a successful business), the American Pastoral that Roth offers up is an illusion.  Most of the Swede's story takes place during the Watergate era, when the US was being ripped in half by politics and a war that would just not end.  History and personal tragedy are woven together in magical storytelling that leaves you wondering if things really were better "back then" or if the American dream itself is simply a thinly veneered façade. 

I haven't read it yet, but Revolutionary Road is on the list, and it seems to me that Roth's novel is similar in that it eats away at the American pursuit of happiness.  Whereas Yates' novel plucks the feathers from the 1950s goal of perfection, Roth uses the intersection of the dreams of the Greatest Generation and the failure of those dreams in the turmoil of the 60s and 70s.   It gives me some insight into how my grandparents must view the world from whence they came.  It's control meets chaos, and the result is brilliance.  I love it.