The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Book Title: The Plot Against America
Author: Philip Roth
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fictional Memoir, Alternate Universe, WWII
My Grade: C+
# of Pages: 391
Summary: When the renowned aviation hero and rabid isolationist Charles A. Lindbergh defeated Franklin Roosevelt by a landslide in the 1940 presidential election, fear invaded every Jewish household in America. Not only had Lindbergh, in a nationwide radio address, publicly blamed the Jews for selfishly pushing America toward a pointless war with Nazi Germany, but, upon taking office as the thirty-third president of the United States, he negotiated a cordial "understanding" with Adolf Hitler, whose conquest of Europe and whose virulent anti-Semitic policies he appeared to accept without difficulty.
What followed in America is the historical setting for this startling new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Roth, who recounts what it was like for his Newark family - and for a million such families all over the country - during the menacing years of the Lindbergh presidency, when American citizens who happened to be Jews had every reason to expect the worst.
My Thoughts: Now before you jump on me screaming and bitching about how I could possibly give this book a C, hear me out. In my own opinion, I just didn't like the book too much. It didn't grab me or hook me at the beginning, and it wasn't really until the last quarter of the book that my attention was really held.
I can't figure out why else I didn't really like it. Roth is a very skilled writer, the book reading like a historical memoir of hard times, the tone of a distant adult voice recounting his younger years. His incorporation of real historical figures was flawless and didn't seemed stretched at any time. They blended seemlessly with the fictional ones, and never appeared out of character. At least they didn't for me, maybe those of you who are HUGE history buffs about certain figures would be able to tell more.
The thing that was disturbing about the novel was how real it was. Not in the way it was written, but when you read the postscript at the end about these historical figures and their own personal timelines, you can see how likely the book could have been reality if things had only been slightly different.
If you're planning on reading the book and find yourself losing your focus on it in the beginning, finding it getting dry, I advise you to hold on. For me it finally picked up by chapter 7 and just kept going from there. And there are bits in the beginning that are a little more exciting and I found those enough to keep reading.
In the end I think this is a book that will always garner different reactions and opinions. It's not about the way it's written, the characters or the storyline, it's just going to be if you liked it or you didn't. For me, it was good, but I just didn't think it was that good.
Next Book: For One More Day by Mitch Albom • review
Back to the Book List.
Author: Philip Roth
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fictional Memoir, Alternate Universe, WWII
My Grade: C+
# of Pages: 391
Summary: When the renowned aviation hero and rabid isolationist Charles A. Lindbergh defeated Franklin Roosevelt by a landslide in the 1940 presidential election, fear invaded every Jewish household in America. Not only had Lindbergh, in a nationwide radio address, publicly blamed the Jews for selfishly pushing America toward a pointless war with Nazi Germany, but, upon taking office as the thirty-third president of the United States, he negotiated a cordial "understanding" with Adolf Hitler, whose conquest of Europe and whose virulent anti-Semitic policies he appeared to accept without difficulty.
What followed in America is the historical setting for this startling new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Roth, who recounts what it was like for his Newark family - and for a million such families all over the country - during the menacing years of the Lindbergh presidency, when American citizens who happened to be Jews had every reason to expect the worst.
My Thoughts: Now before you jump on me screaming and bitching about how I could possibly give this book a C, hear me out. In my own opinion, I just didn't like the book too much. It didn't grab me or hook me at the beginning, and it wasn't really until the last quarter of the book that my attention was really held.
I can't figure out why else I didn't really like it. Roth is a very skilled writer, the book reading like a historical memoir of hard times, the tone of a distant adult voice recounting his younger years. His incorporation of real historical figures was flawless and didn't seemed stretched at any time. They blended seemlessly with the fictional ones, and never appeared out of character. At least they didn't for me, maybe those of you who are HUGE history buffs about certain figures would be able to tell more.
The thing that was disturbing about the novel was how real it was. Not in the way it was written, but when you read the postscript at the end about these historical figures and their own personal timelines, you can see how likely the book could have been reality if things had only been slightly different.
If you're planning on reading the book and find yourself losing your focus on it in the beginning, finding it getting dry, I advise you to hold on. For me it finally picked up by chapter 7 and just kept going from there. And there are bits in the beginning that are a little more exciting and I found those enough to keep reading.
In the end I think this is a book that will always garner different reactions and opinions. It's not about the way it's written, the characters or the storyline, it's just going to be if you liked it or you didn't. For me, it was good, but I just didn't think it was that good.
Next Book: For One More Day by Mitch Albom • review
Back to the Book List.