History Literature / AmericanPastoral

Tropes include:

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Discussed: one of Zuckerman's classmates, Mendy Shulik, spends much of the time at their reunion discussing their childhood masturbation habits, particularly asking his friends which women in their class they preferred masturbating to. Zuckerman (who spends much of the reunion catching up with a girl he had an unrequited crush on) finds it obnoxious, dismissing Mendy as "still a horny seventeen year old" despite being in his mid-60s.

->''"He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense."''

* UnreliableNarrator: Nathan Zuckerman (although it is easy to forget that he's the one narrating the story, as he disappears as a character at some point during the 3rd chapter). Having access only to some of the bare facts of the Swede's life, and confronted with his apparent "blankness", Nathan Zuckerman claims concerning his story that he "dreamed a realistic chronicle", and speculates at some point about the objections that the Swede's brother would make.

* ShoutOut: Several to UsefulNotes/LeoTolstoy, particularly ''The Death of Ivan Ilyich''; Zuckerman compares the Swede's life to Tolstoy's protagonist, who lives a happy, satisfying life but dies forgotten by everyone. Roth even paraphrases ''Ilyich'' in the novel's final chapter.

* ADateWithRoseyPalms: Discussed: one of Zuckerman's classmates, Mendy Shulik, spends much of the time at their reunion discussing their childhood masturbation habits, particularly asking his friends which women in their class they preferred masturbating to. Zuckerman (who spends much of the reunion catching up with a girl he had an unrequited crush on) finds it obnoxious, dismissing Mendy as "still a horny seventeen year old" despite being in his mid-60s.

* ADateWithRosyPalms: Discussed: one of Zuckerman's classmates, Mendy Shulik, spends much of the time at their reunion discussing their childhood masturbation habits, particularly asking his friends which women in their class they preferred masturbating to. Zuckerman (who spends much of the reunion catching up with a girl he had an unrequited crush on) finds it obnoxious, dismissing Mendy as "still a horny seventeen year old" despite being in his mid-60s.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Dawn, the Swede's wife, briefly became famous as a model and beauty pageant contestant in her early 20s. She deeply resents how it makes people unable to take her seriously, and (it's implied) short-circuited her plans to become a music teacher. Besides the obvious of [[spoiler: Merry's disappearance, a big part of her mental breakdown comes from her facing how much her life has been defined by her appearance, to the point where she undergoes a face lift to overcome her depression]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Much is made in the movie of the fact that Merry has trouble making friends in her little town, which begs the question where did she come by her radical leftist political ideas and New York friends. [[spoiler:She got them from her therapist, who has connection with the radical movement]].

Adapted into a [[TheFilmOfTheBook feature film]] in 2016. Creator/EwanMcGregor directed and starred as Levov; also in the cast are Creator/JenniferConnelly and Creator/DakotaFanning.

Considered by many to be one of Creator/PhilipRoth's greatest works, ''American Pastoral'' chronicles the life of Seymour "the Swede" Levov, the hero of a Jewish neighborhood in [[{{Joisey}} 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 UsefulNotes/VietnamWar.

Considered by many to be one of Creator/PhilipRoth's greatest works, ''American Pastoral'' chronicles the life of Seymour "the Swede" Levov, the hero of a Jewish neighborhood in [[{{Joisey}} 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 VietnamWar.

* {{Author Avatar}}: The narrator, Zuckerman, is thought to be a version of Roth himself, though he's actually a very minor character.
* {{Aw Look They Really Do Love Each Other}}: A non-incestuous father-daughter instance occurs when [[spoiler: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 trouble starts again]].
* {{Godwins 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.
* {{UnreliableNarrator}}: Nathan Zuckerman (although it is easy to forget that he's the one narrating the story, as he disappears as a character at some point during the 3rd chapter). Having access only to some of the bare facts of the Swede's life, and confronted with his apparent "blankness", Nathan Zuckerman claims concerning his story that he "dreamed a realistic chronicle", and speculates at some point about the objections that the Swede's brother would make.

* {{UnreliableNarrator}}: Nathan Zuckerman (although it is easy to forget that he's the one narrating the story, as he disappears as a character at some point during the 3rd chapter). Having access only to some of the bare facts of the Swede's life, and confronted with his apparent "blankness", Nathan Zuckerman claims that his story is a "realistic chronicle" he "dreamed", and speculates at some point about the objections that the Swede's brother would make.

* {{UnreliableNarrator}}: Nathan Zuckerman (although it is easy to forget that he's the one narrating the story, as he disappears as a character at some point during the 3rd chapter). Having access only to some of the bare facts of the Swede's life, and confronted with his apparent "blankness", Nathan Zuckerman claims that his story is a "dream[s] a realistic chronicle", and speculates at some point about the objections that the Swede's brother would make.

* {{UnreliableNarrator}}: Nathan Zuckerman (although it is easy to forget that he's the one narrating the story, as he disppears as a character at some point during the 3rd chapter). Having access only to some of the bare facts of the Swede's life, and confronted with his apparent "blankness", Nathan Zuckerman claims that his story is a "dream[s] a realistic chronicle", and speculates at some point about the objections that the Swede's brother would make.

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 [[{{Joisey}} 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 VietnamWar.

* {{Aw Look They Really Do Love Each Other}}: A non-incestuous father-daughter instance occurs when [[spoiler: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 ItGetsWorse again]].