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suneaters's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
A character study of a man who seems infallible and perfect to outsiders but whose own life has been torn apart by his serial terrorist daughter Meredith A.K.A. Merry. Seymour "The Swede" Levov-Rhymes-With-Love grows up the son of a glove maker Lou, a successful Jewish immigrant to Rimrock, New Jersey and his wife Sylvia. He's a talented athlete and all the kids at Weequahic school look up to him. Shopkeepers are happy to see him and our narrator recalls a time the Swede spoke to him with reverence. Of course, all isn't well. His kid brother Jerry certainly isn't helped by this reverence everyone seems to have for his big brother.
Seymour ends up married to Dawn, a former beauty queen who hates to be called that. Merry is their only child together and she goes from sweet and lovable to a teenage nightmare. She doesn't just hate her parents and espouse communist and anti-war catchphrases, she also makes bombs and, if she's to be believed, has killed four including Dr. Fred Hanlon in her own hometown which earns her the moniker the Rimrock Bomber.
Seymour ends up married to Dawn, a former beauty queen who hates to be called that. Merry is their only child together and she goes from sweet and lovable to a teenage nightmare. She doesn't just hate her parents and espouse communist and anti-war catchphrases, she also makes bombs and, if she's to be believed, has killed four including Dr. Fred Hanlon in her own hometown which earns her the moniker the Rimrock Bomber.
Seymour is desperate to see her again and is disturbed that he has to go through the vicious and hateful Rita Cohen who he gives Merry's childhood keepsakes to and St. Angela Davis of the "I don't care how many women get raped, we will not have a prison" line of thinking. Seymour and Merry never are able to have an honest conversation or reach any kind of understanding. She runs away from his comfortable life and all the work he's done to provide his family with a cushy middle-class life, a philosophy from his father and grandfather. She hates his Marine past, his calm understanding of her, and his lack of decisive words or actions. Eventually, he sees her again and finds her a Jain who is slowly starving to death. Here, I was conflicted. His wife is falling to pieces, but Jerry's suggestion to drag her home sounded sensible.
We see the downfall of his marriage as Dawn's mental health improves post facelift and she cheats on him with a Mr. Orcutt. Just when you think the violence has faded, Orcutt's disturbed wife stabs Lou Levov with a fork. Yet, when we see him for the last time alive, he has a new wife and three children who seem well-adjusted and unlike their terrorist half-sister. Jerry's thoughts on his brother juxtaposed with Skip the narrator's view of him still as the talented baseball star of yesteryears paint of a picture of complex and unhappy man's life in a violent and turbulent time in American history.
We see the downfall of his marriage as Dawn's mental health improves post facelift and she cheats on him with a Mr. Orcutt. Just when you think the violence has faded, Orcutt's disturbed wife stabs Lou Levov with a fork. Yet, when we see him for the last time alive, he has a new wife and three children who seem well-adjusted and unlike their terrorist half-sister. Jerry's thoughts on his brother juxtaposed with Skip the narrator's view of him still as the talented baseball star of yesteryears paint of a picture of complex and unhappy man's life in a violent and turbulent time in American history.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Infidelity and Rape
Minor: Fatphobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Murder
remi_k's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual content, and War
Minor: Eating disorder and Excrement
analyticali's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
An intricately woven story where a simple chronological overview of the events would take 2 pages but the complexity with which events unfold and characters are developed is indeed Pulitzer-worthy.
For those struggling to get through the opening, the narrator is a “famous novelist” while the protagonist is a star athlete of a mostly Jewish Newark high school whose adult life will ultimately fill the subsequent pages.
For those struggling to get through the opening, the narrator is a “famous novelist” while the protagonist is a star athlete of a mostly Jewish Newark high school whose adult life will ultimately fill the subsequent pages.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Rape
ally_bur's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a book about disorder and its omnipresence in our world. Whether we like it or not, our society, families, and personal lives are full of disorder. Seymour Levov comes to find this out the hard way when his teenage daughter bombs the local store in protest of the Vietnam War, killing one person. The story unfolds in a stream of consciousness style with flashbacks and long tangents peppered into the unfolding of the narrative. At first, Roth’s methods were jarring and difficult, but I came to appreciate the ranting nature of the novel. I will say that I wish that the narrator at the beginning came back at the end. That first part of the novel seems worlds away by the end.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape and Murder