Considered by many to be one of
Philip Roth's greatest works,
American Pastoral chronicles the life of Seymour "the Swede" Levov, the hero of a Jewish neighborhood in
Newark whom the narrator idolized in childhood and who still fascinates him. At the beginning of the story, Levov appears to be a one-dimensional personification of bland American decency, but then we learn a few things about him. For instance, his beloved daughter bombed a post office and killed a local doctor in order to protest the
Vietnam War.
Tropes include:
- Author Avatar: The narrator, Zuckerman, is thought to be a version of Roth himself, though he's actually a very minor character.
- Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: A non-incestuous father-daughter instance occurs when Swede and Merry reunite for the first time in five years. Despite all the terrible things that happened between them, they cry and hold onto each other and express their love... and then It Gets Worse again.
- Godwin's Law: During a dinner argument, Lou Levov compares pornography to the Holocaust. Slightly subverted in that he's a traditional Jewish man who lived through WWII (albeit in the United States) and understands how awful Hitler was.
- It Gets Worse: Pretty much the entire novel.
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