Philip Roth: The American Trilogy 1997-2000 (LOA #220): American Pastoral / I Married a Communist / The Human Stain (Library of America Philip Roth Edition)

Among the best works of American fiction in the post-war era. Right up there with Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and some of Bellow's work. Roth has a terrific eye and ear for the disappointments of the American experience following World War II, in particular the McCarthyism of the fifties, the radicalism of the Vietnam era, and racial issues and the censorious puritanism of the end of the decade. Wonderful characters. Vivid depictions of Newark before its decline and the Jewish community that once inhabited it. Deep observations on American society. Impeccable judgement on some of the sorrier episodes in American history. A real generosity toward the foibles of humanity.

I discovered Philip Roth, strangely enough, through a young woman who insisted that all of her friends join her in despising him. I never got to the bottom of that situation, and now I think I never will. These three novels investigate the Twentieth Century American identity--warts and all. It was a real pleasure exposing my thoughts to such vivid, profound descriptions of Roth's protagonists and antagonists. Excellent material for provoking discussion.

Staggeringly engaging and insightful. Nothing short of virtually everything we need to know in this world can be found on these pages. It is an important and lasting nourishment to sit back and enjoy the prose.

Greatest American novelist of the 20th century? He’s up there, and these three are a must.

A great trilogy all in one volume. Sharp insights into our human dilemmas and flaws and how that intersects with political and social forces.

Good book.

This review focuses solely on the quality of this Library of America publication and my thoughts on “American Pastoral,” the first book in the collection. I have not read “I Married a Communist” or “The Human Stain.”The five stars are for publishing quality.The Library of America is proving somewhat uneven in book selection but the books themselves are a triumph of craftsmanship. In common with all other LOA books I have read this book is beautifully produced. It is a pleasure to hold and read, especially in bed. An earlier reviewer criticized the paper. I disagree. The editor Ross Miller’s end notes can be somewhat pedantic but then I am 67 and lived the history he explicates. I also find grouping these three books entirely logical.Were I simply reviewing “American Pastoral” I’d give it three stars.It is an ambitious but uneven book more successful on some levels than others. The plot revolves around the destruction and agonized interior dialogue of Seymour (the Swede) Levov, a golden boy living fat, dumb and happy as the owner of a successful glove making industry until his life is figuratively and literally blown up by his daughter’s act of domestic terrorism and flight. The bulk of the book occurs on two days. The first is the Swede’s dinner with Roth’s Nathan Zuckerman alter ego in 1995. That serves as a set up and is narrated by Zukerman who then disappears. The book shifts to a day and evening in 1973 that finally shatters the Swede and is built around his many anguished flashbacks.At it’s best it is a heartfelt skillfully crafted love letter to Roth’s vision of a lost Newark, New Jersey. But, like many love letters, an idealized portrait veiled in nostalgia. Roth is a master of dialogue and does a pretty mean vapid dinner party riff. He’s often a very funny writer even when the narrative is very dark as is “American Pastoral.” I found much the same in "The Plot Against America," another very dark book.But, then there are the characters, their characterizations and their actions. It took me a long time to slog thru this book because I found all so unconvincing. I so often put the book aside in frustration only to resume because of the quality of Roth’s prose. I don’t know what Roth’s thinking was in conceiving “the Swede.” For me his actions lacked believability and left me wanting to throttle him. His terrorist daughter Merry is merely a plot device with no credibility as a person. The same is true of the supporting character Rita Cohen. The other characters almost without exception are thoroughly unsympathetic. They prompt reactions ranging between disinterest and contempt with occasional flashes of pity. At times I was left feeling that if Merry had blown up the whole lot the loss would have been slight.

Very thin paper means volume is hard to read. Wish I’d bought better example.

this seller sends his product well packed and punctual. the edition is first class

Excelente, todo llegó perfecto

El grosor del papel es idóneo para que tres novelas juntas resulten ta manajbles como un libro con una sola y las cintas de punto de lectura son un gradable detalle. Asimismo, la encuadernación parece resistente. En cuanto a la obra de Roth, ya se ha dicho mucho. No pocas veces se ha incurrido en el ditirambo, pero sin duda es un gran narrador. Me gusta que parece que se detiene en exceso en algunos detalles (en "la foto" de la escena, dejando un minucioso testimonio del tiempo y el lugar), pero acto seguido, como un mago, hace progresar de pronto la historia.

Wow! It's interesting to come across this writer,a writer who usually begins from the point of a person's and at times people's suffering,and engage us in a story with characters drawn exclusively from the new jersey and east coast area,very often people of professional classes whoose problems are exported to the cities where they live until they usually come to an end. We weere told the library of america had planned 8 volumes,but now with january's announcement on amazon..they've increased it to 9! The only writer so honored while still alive..unless recent writers were so honored. Perhaps he has elucidated through his fiction many of the problems current in the u.s...and maybe elsewhere. Three novels for the price and hardbound are a bargain! The first novels american pastoral amidst the vietnam war and the malaise descended also across the country amid some social problems comes an intriguing story of businessman swede,his daughters rita and her sister and dawn(a nice portait)whom he seems to like which is unusual for him in drawing a female persona..they usually seem problematic..though beauty queen and with some nice traits she graces the page in contrastto the other female characters who seem as escapes from hell.You can say a bad marriage interfered with his ability to create convivial and engaging female characters..but thats the characters he wishes to draw as the males grapple with female characters...I married a communist..here we have a troubling time when comunism is organizing throughout the u.s. as with much of the western world among troubling times with ira and his marriage problems,and working conditions on the east coast and tension in the various communities in the new jersey area and organized crime all mixed together in an absorbing read,including the nonsense of the huac hearings since communism is being organized elsewhere,,but disappears when the show trials across the ussr become public...and the movement deflates...the human stain is the final novel...or human sin. the human stain is about racism and a mother of two kids,and affairs and car crashes and a death,,,where people dont get helped children seem to be of no concern...and people are killed for being of this race or that...all seems nonsense...tragic lives and a world seemingly lost...all three are very good books of course a writer who writes a novel called the human animal,is not going to draw lofty or humane or people endeavoring to improve worlds like angels transforming all around...here people exist...and that's what modern life is like and to draw characters otherwise wouldnt be roth's art...characteros of life..

Two of the three novels in this volume are just amazing. Two of the best novels ever to be written in the United States, that’s for sure. The Human Stain in particular blew my mind completely both times I read it. Plus the LOA series is a thing of beauty. Wonderful physical objects!