American Pastoral by Philip Roth

American Pastoral

The American Trilogy #1

Philip Roth

423 pages • first pub 1997 (editions)

fiction classics emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Description

Seymour "Swede" Levov - a legendary high school athlete, a devoted family man, a hard worker, the prosperous inheritor of his father's Newark glove factory - comes of age in thriving, triumphant postwar America. But everything he loves is lost whe...

Read more

Community Reviews Summary of 2,959 reviews

Moods

reflective 71%
challenging 58%
dark 54%
emotional 50%
sad 50%
tense 36%
mysterious 10%
informative 9%
funny 5%
adventurous 4%
inspiring 3%

Pace

slow 60%
medium 39%

Plot- or character-driven?

Character: 64% | A mix: 28% | Plot: 5% | N/A: 1%

Strong character development?

Yes: 63% | It's complicated: 28% | No: 7%

Loveable characters?

No: 48% | It's complicated: 45% | Yes: 6%

Diverse cast of characters?

No: 59% | Yes: 24% | It's complicated: 15% | N/A: 1%

Flaws of characters a main focus?

Yes: 87% | It's complicated: 9% | No: 2%

Average rating

3.75

See all reviews...

Content Warnings

Submitted by users as part of their reviews

Expand filter menu View summary

See all...