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Title: American Pastoral
Review: I am wading through this book because a book group to which I belong will be discussing it. The book is overly long and tedious, but you can't skip sections because you never know when a sentence or two will come along that finally moves the story forward. When Roth gets back to the story, rather than getting bogged down in details about the decline of Newark, about manufacturing gloves, and other side issues, the story is quite gripping and very upsetting. It it based on real events, but engenders little sympathy for the participants in the riots of the 60's & 70's and their families.I think he had enough naterial for a long short story or perhaps a novelette, but insisted on stretching it out over 423 pages.
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