American Pastoral by Philip Roth – Reviewed by Guy Portman
‘The Swede’ Seymour Levov is a towering, athletic blond-haired Jew with striking good looks. The affable high school baseball phenom seems destined for a career in the big leagues, but instead he opts to join his father in the family’s glove-making business. ‘The Swede’ proceeds to make a fortune, marry a beauty queen, purchase a luxurious home and have a daughter. But when his only child commits a terrible act, our protagonist’s idyllic life is irretrievably shattered.
In the aftermath of the incident, this once seemingly perfect man is burdened by strained relations with his wife, extended family and neighbours. The dire situation leads the now regretful Seymour to question everything from his values and morals to where he went wrong as a father.
The novel is in essence an elegy to the death of The American Dream. It embodies how the prosperous post-war years saw the nation become a manufacturing powerhouse, propelled by a migrant population intent on achieving success through hard work; only for this fleeting moment in history to disintegrate into industrial decline, resentment and social division. The author juxtaposes this with the daughter’s downfall and its message that perfect parents do not guarantee perfect children.
Much of this elegiac tome is devoted to detailed character exploration, which takes the form of extensive internal dialogue and endless digression. While this approach could be argued to be effective, the lack of first-hand action and constant repetition does have the consequence that traversing American Pastoral is somewhat arduous, though not unrewarding.
