A review by sophsoph1414
Nemesis by Philip Roth

3.0

short thoughts:

- bucky cantor: do i feel bad for him? do i just want to shake him by the shoulders and tell him to wake up and get over it…? sorry not sorry…(even though i know he would just wallow in self pity no matter what)

- interesting contrast between Arnie and Bucky’s outcomes with polio, and i love the God-like description of Bucky as the “primordial man” with his javelin to show that the Chancellor boys never once thought he “betrayed them”. also interesting to think about Arnie’s description of Bucky and Bucky’s hatred/resentment of God. He basically “becomes” God himself to the boys, the thing/being he hates by the end of the book.

- really great story talking about polio and its effects on specific areas/communities. Poses questions into values and morals, differences in opinions when it comes to pandemics and sickness- how should we go about them? did Bucky do the right thing? Would shutting down Chancellor any earlier really helped? Does maintaining all sense of normalcy trump the very real risk of contagion during a pandemic?