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Title: Job in the '60s
Review: The plot of American Pastoral can be described briefly. Indeed, the plot details are so few and far between, the story of Swede Levov could probably be told in a short story. But Roth, who apparently despises indentation, enjoys rambling endlessly about ... well, everything. Granted, Roth has a gift for prose, so his ramblings are more often then not well-written and carefully researched. But, they are ramblings nontheless, and one is always impatiently trying to slog one's way through this two-page long paragraph in order to get to some PLOT. This is a novel of emotion and inner pain, which Roth is effective in capturing. 400 pages of pain is a bit much, though, especially when nothing is happening. My favorite line in the novel: Merry, the daughter, when asked to write about what life really means, is able to summarize her thoughts in a single line. "Life is the short period of time in which we are alive."
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