I've sworn off Philip Roth novels in the past but the premise of The Plot Against America (2004) intrigued me enough to check out the audiobook. It's a good thing too since I like this more than any other Roth book I've read. (Previously: Portnoy's Complaint, Goodbye Columbus, and American Pastoral).

The premise of the book is that in 1940 the Republican party nominates Charles Lindbergh as their candidate and the aviation hero coasts to victory of Roosevelt on an isolationist America First platform. Before Pearl Harbor this was actually a popular movement in the United States to stay out of Europe's wars and Lindbergh was a prominent proponent. In the novel, the Lindbergh administration signs an agreement with Hitler and Pearl Harbor never happens.

The real Lindbergh was also known for anti-Semitic sentiments and actions that many see as sympathetic to the the Nazis. So the novel is grounded in historical basis of the potential for a Fascist administration in the United States.

What makes the novel great though is that it is told as the memories of a young Philip Roth growing up in the Jewish section of Newark, NJ. Everything in the novel is filtered through the views of Roth's family and neighbors and historical characters like Walter Winchell who becomes the most vocal opponent to the Lindbergh administration. In this way Roth never makes it actually clear that Lindbergh is actually the Nazi collaborator that Philip's father fears he is or if he is simply a pragmatist trying to keep America out of war as many other Americans believe. A prominent rabbi who befriends and supports Lindbergh and Philip's older brother are two more characters who add to the uncertainty. Alternating with this alternate history is the more personal and sometimes mundane story of Philip's coming-of-age in 1940's Newark, where many of my favorite parts of the novel take place.

A lot of criticism takes the ending of the novel to task. I feel much the same way that it is too clean and abrubt, but think it would work better if Roth hadn't tied up the national story before telling the personal story of the Roth family in the wake of anti-Semitic riots. Swap those last too sections and I think the ending would be much stronger. Also, I'm a bit perturbed by events in American history that seem to be exactly the same despite that alterations Roth has made in the novel. For example he has the 1942 World Series results exactly the same neglecting that with America not at war there would be star players at home who would change the balance. Similarily he has Nazi Germany surrendering to the post-Lindbergh US in May 1945 even after stating that the Nazi's strengthened their hold on Europe by the US not getting involved in 1941.

These are minor quibbles though as this is a well-written and thought-provoking novel. ( )

Roth imagines a Lindbergh Republican win over FDR in the 1940 presidential election and its effect on the Roth family in New Jersey. Totally absorbing and even frightening in 2009, this must have been dynamite when it was first published in 2004, given the second Bush White House win. Roth raises the stakes in his narrative very gradually, as both the novel's characters and the reader expect the Nazis to come knocking at the family's door at any moment, only to find that what happens instead is far more sinister. Unfortunately, the careful work Roth does to marry the personal story of the Roth family to the larger, political dynamics occurring internationally gives out in the novel's last few chapters. It felt to me as though Roth lost interest in the project, and the conclusion, which suggests that reason may prevail, seems less convincing than I would have liked. Still, I appreciate the postscript, which includes a bibliography and a reprint of Lindbergh's actual speech at the America First Committee rally in Des Moines on September 11, 1941. ( )

In The Plot Against America, author Philip Roth asks, "What if Franklin Roosevelt had not won the election in 1940? What if Charles Lindbergh did?" Roth establishes this alternate history, then traces its affects on the fictional Roth family - father Herman, mother Bess, older brother Sandy and younger brother Philip. As a Jewish family in a largely Jewish neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey, the Roth's believe they are living as all Americans do. They participate fully in American life, working hard to be an average nuclear family. Although secular - like most of their neighbors - they strongly identify with their Jewish-American heritage. Like most young boys in the late 1930's, both Philip and Sandy idolize the aviator Charles Lindbergh. Sandy, an aspiring artist, has done several portraits of him. Philip, a stamp collector, prizes his Lindbergh stamps. Their parents are not as smitten, however, especially after Lindbergh makes several trips to Nazi Germany. However, things change when Lindbergh is nominated as the Republican candidate for President and eventually defeats Roosevelt. Lindbergh refuses to enter WWII, signing non-aggression agreements with both Germany and Japan. Newark's Jewish community, along with Philip's parents, become wary as new programs are announced to "Americanize" the Jews. Over the next two years, things go from bad to worse for Jews in America.

Roth's dystopian vision is somewhat unevenly rendered in The Plot Against America. He switches between narrating the alternate history with describing the effects it has on the Roth family in particular. I found the "historical" descriptions to be overly lengthy and sometimes superfluous, but I was drawn in to the accounts of the Roth's life. For me, Roth did not find a good balance between the history and the personal. I believe this comes from the narrative style that Roth chose to use in this novel. When writing the historical aspects, he tended to use several very long sentences, all in a row. I found this to be monotonous, as if the author was a history teacher droning on at the front of a class. After glancing through a few of his other books (this is the only one I've read completely), I can see this is not his usual style. I believe he was using the style to lull the reader into a false sense of security, rather like many of the citizens of the novel were. However, for me, I found that this style didn't work: I tended to skim these sections so that I could get to the "meat" of the story - the story of the Roth family.

I also thought that this could have been a much more chilling tale. The Jewish neighborhood of the novel is large and seemed to have been fairly isolated from some of the more shocking events he describes happening in other parts of the country. The Roth's hear about them but are mostly not personally affected by them. While this could have given the novel a sense of foreboding, it didn't, mainly because his narrative style (as described above) gave me a sense of distance from the action.

Overall, I thought The Plot Against America had an intriguing premise but was unevenly executed. ( )

I would up finding this book in the Mullica Hill Book Emporium. This shack of a place often brings great hardcover finds that never cost more than 4-5 dollars. So when I saw The Plot Against America, knowing that it won so many awards, I figured it was time to read another Philip Roth novel. I enjoy him and certainly he can write. I recently read Human Stain and Everyman, really enjoying Human Stain. The premise of this book is an interesting one: Charles Lindbergh, the famous aviator, has been elected the President in 1940 and this story takes the form of a memoir that Roth writes as he grows up in an America that has become distinctly anti-Semitic. The events of the nation are nicely mirrored by the events of the family as the father, Herman, in his rants and accusations, starts to lose favor with his oldest son, Sandy ,who has grown to liking his association with the government plan that ships him to Kentucky to learn about tobacco farming. The rebel nephew, Alvin who went to Canada to fight against the Germans has come home a hollow, one legged man and the narrator Philip is not sure what to believe. So far Lindbergh’s plan of America First has mostly won favor even with some high placed Jews. It seems only Herman is aware of the eroding of the truly American way of life that he loved. As the story unfolds the country continues to plunge into a fascist state and events are quite climatic. What is interesting is the way Roth is able to tell both an interesting imagined history and a compelling family drama. Fans of Roth’s book will continue to be pleased. I found the idea of this book interesting because Roth used some historical evidence, (Lindbergh’s connection with Germany and his opposition to getting involved in WWII) to spin a scary tale. His scenes of an America willing to turn ugly were very believable as were his character sketches of his family. ( )

Every now and then, a "serious" writer will slum and write a science fiction book. Usually this book gets lots of acclaim as something that will show those people living in the literary ghetto of genre fiction what a real writer can do. Most often, though, it seems to me like the "serious" writer just proves that he doesn't understand genre fiction and turns out something decidedly mediocre. The Plot Against America falls squarely into this category.

The main problem with the book is that as an alternate history, it is incredibly timid. The changing event is that Lindbergh wins the election in 1932 instead of Roosevelt (by flying himself around the country to give speeches). Lindbergh is portrayed in the novel as an anti-Semite and an isolationist (both characterizations are historically accurate to differing degrees). He keeps the U.S. out of World War II, and being Jewish in the United States becomes somewhat difficult, although the most any of the Jewish characters experiences during his administration is some minor discrimination (i.e. no one is rounded up and made to live in a ghetto, or shipped off to a camp, or put under any kind of official legal disability or anything like that).

And then Lindbergh dies in an apparent plane crash. And the U.S. enters World War II, about a year later than it actually did. And the Nazis are defeated in short order, and everyone realizes that the wave of anti-Semitism was just a silly phase. Which is a timid and cheap way to end the story.

Roth is highly thought of as an author outside the genre world, which makes this sort of tepid story very disappointing. Overall, it is a mediocre effort at an alternate history that simply doesn't bother to explore the changes that it proposes. ( )