American Pastoral
Philip Roth · 1933–2018 · USA
Why it matters
Swede Levov, all-American success, watches his daughter bomb the local post office: the sixties detonating inside one family. The crown of Roth's late run: the American century as tragedy.
At a glance
tragedypsychological novelfamily saga
Difficulty 6/10slow pace423 pagesNested narration and digressive meditation extend an otherwise realist family tragedy.
Deep dive
Nathan Zuckerman never actually knew the Swede — every scene of his ruin is Zuckerman's invention. What does it mean that Roth's American tragedy is, admittedly, a guess?
Where to go next
Philip Roth · 1959Goodbye, ColumbusLvl 4Medium pace
Philip Roth · 1969Portnoy's ComplaintLvl 5Fast paced
Philip Roth · 1995Sabbath's TheaterLvl 6Medium pace
Saul Bellow · 1964HerzogLvl 7Slow burn
Joshua Cohen · 2021The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous FamilyLvl 6Medium pace
Bernard Malamud · 1957The AssistantLvl 5Slow burn