Was wäre gewesen, wenn? : Mit dieser Frage beschäftigt sich der 400 Seiten-Roman "Verschwörung gegen Amerika" von Philip Roth auf erzählerisch hohem Niveau.

Was wäre gewesen, wenn Franklin D. Roosevelt 1940 nicht für eine dritte Amtszeit gewählt worden wäre und in den Krieg gegen die Deutschen eingegriffen hätte? Was wäre gewesen, wenn statt dessen der erklärte Nazifreund Charles Lindbergh in Weiße Haus eingezogen, einen Nichtangriffspakt mit den Deutschen geschlossen, aus jüdischen Amerikanern "die Juden" gemacht und auch in Amerika die "Lösung der Judenfrage" auf die Agenda gesetzt hätte?

Vor diesem Hintergrund erzählt Philip Roth die Geschichte seiner jüdischen Familie und vermittelt durch das scheinbar Autobiographische noch mehr Authentizität. Vater Roth ist Versicherungsvertreter, die Mutter kümmert sich um die beiden Söhne Sandy und Philip sowie um den verwaisten Vetter Alvin. Die Familie hat sich ihren Status in der unteren Mittelschicht hart erarbeitet und sieht dies alles durch die Wahl des Antisemiten Lindbergh nun in Gefahr. "Angst" ist denn auch das erste Wort des Romans: "Angst beherrscht diese Erinnerungen, eine ständige Angst." Dabei dreht sich der Wind zunächst sacht: die Gräben, die der Wahlkampf zieht, sind tief und scheinen unüberbrückbar, und plötzlich werden die Roths für ihre Loyalität zu Roosevelt öffentlich zur Rede gestellt. Plötzlich ist das lange im Voraus gebuchte Hotelzimmer an andere (an Nichtjuden) vermietet und die herbeigeeilte Polizei ergreift unmissverständlich Partei für das Hotelpersonal. Plötzlich wandert der Filmvorführer Shepsie Tirschwell nach Kanada aus. Aus Angst. Wer regelmäßig die Beiträge für die Wochenschau auswählt, weiß Dinge, die andere nicht wissen.

All das hat natürlich Auswirkungen auf das Leben der Roths. Vetter Alvin zieht über Kanada in den Krieg gegen Nazi-Deutschland und kehrt bald als Invalide zurück. Und Wunden brechen auch in der heimatlichen Summit Avenue in Newark auf: Bruder Sandy lässt sich für ein Eingliederungsprogramm Lindberghs rekrutieren, Tante Evelyn heiratet einen umstrittenen Rabbi und gerät in den Dunstkreis der Regierung, das FBI interessiert sich plötzlich für die politischen Ansichten der Familienmitglieder, und Philip muss sehen, wie die stärksten Personen, die er kennt, Vater und Mutter, immer öfter die Fassung verlieren. Und dann geht beim kläglichen Versuch des inzwischen 9jährigen Philip, von zu Hause wegzulaufen, auch noch sein kostbarster Besitz, eine Briefmarkensammlung, verloren. Doch das Leben gerät vollends aus den Fugen, als die Roths wie viele andere jüdische Familien zwangsumgesiedelt werden sollen und die allgemeine Lage eskaliert, weil es im Wahlkampf 1942 nach der Ermordung des demokratischen Präsidentschaftskandidaten zu Pogromen kommt.

Hier erlöst der Autor den Leser vom Unerträglichen und macht kurzen Prozess. Vielleicht erträgt Roth es selbst nicht weiter, wie sich die Dinge verselbständigen und überlässt es nun dem Leser zu spekulieren, was wohl gewesen wäre, wenn des weiteren ... Diese Zäsur mag man dem Roman denn auch neben dem etwas sperrigen Anfang als einziges ankreiden: die Auflösung ist die denkbar schlechteste, weil erstbeste. Auf jedem Schreibseminar dürften einem die Referenten einen solchen Schluss auszureden versuchen.

"Denn was ist Geschichte?" fragt Philips Vater an einer Stelle des Romans, und er beantwortet die Frage gleich selbst: "Geschichte ist alles, was irgendwo passiert. Sogar was einem ganz gewöhnlichen Mann in seinem Haus widerfährt auch das ist eines Tages Geschichte." Der Mikrokosmos Familie ist ein Rädchen im großen Weltenlauf. Und der Lauf der Geschichte ist das komlizierteste Uhrwerk des Universums. Etwas, das von Menschen beeinflusst werden kann und doch bequemerweise für einen Zufallsgenerator gehalten wird. Roth zeigt, dass wir die Wahl haben, welchen Weg wir gehen wollen. Und er zeigt die fatale Wirkung von Massendynamik und gesteuerter Massenhysterie. Aus dem fernen Amerika heraus verurteilt er das deutsche Volk nicht für das, was es getan und was es viel wichtiger unterlassen hat. Vielmehr weist er darauf hin, dass die Rattenfänger dieser Welt auch in gods own country eine Chance hätten. Und haben denn es lassen sich durchaus aktuelle Bezüge finden. Wer ist da schuld, wer unschuldig, und wer darf da über wen richten?

Roth lässt (ausschließlich?) real existierende Personen auftreten und entfernt sich geschickt immer nur Zentimeter von wirklichen Geschehnissen. Das wird deutlich, wenn man die Biographien und Auszüge aus einer Rede im Anhang liest: alles findet im Roman seinen Platz, nur verändert Roth subtil Perspektive und Kontext. Und gerade der Anhang zeigt die akribische Vorbereitung Roths auf seinen Roman. Es ist das Verdienst des Pulitzer-Preisträgers, dass der Leser trotzdem nicht unterrichtet, sondern unterhalten wird.

Philip Roth will nichts wegreden oder verharmlosen, und doch rückt er die reellen geschichtlichen Ereignisse in einen interessanten neuen Kontext. Dabei entstand ein überaus kluges Buch. Ein weiterer Qualitätstitel aus dem Hause Hanser.

A terrific book with a fatal flaw, it just dies out and leaves the reader hanging. If it were about three chapters longer and finished what the author so carefully built, it would rank among my favorite books of all time. But instead, you're left with too many questions - was it really a pogram or just mass panic? I wish I knew. My favorite quote from the book - "My father chooses resistance, Rabbi Bengelsdorf chooses collaboration, and Uncle Marty chooses himself." - sums up the book pretty well. ( )

This is a fictionalized account of author Philip Roth's life inserted into an alternative history in which a pro-Nazi, antisemitic Charles Lindbergh is elected President of the United States. The sinister spiral of subtly increasing control over Jewish Americans divides and damages Roth's family. The author's insight into the influence of social, economic and racist pressures on a family along with his character portrayal and beautifully crafted sentences make this an all-time great read. ( )

Great pseudo-autobiographical 'what-if' story except the quicky ending. It's a shame because otherwise it's an excellent reading. ( )

This alternative history, based on the premise that anti-semitic Charles Lindbergh was elected president, was an excellent listen. The alternative Philip Roth clearly describes his childhood obsessions and confusions: how he became absorbed in his stamp collection and other hobbies, how he was torn between his different heroes and allies, how he came to make sense of the people around him, and how his world was upturned by the questionable changes taking place around him.

As many have noted, the ending is a bit of a deus ex machina that does not flow terribly naturally from the events that have been taking place. Similarly, the ending does not serve as a plausible explanation for the changes in civil liberties in the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001, for which I believe Roth intends his story to serve as a parable. However, the at should not be allowed to detract from the precision of the first 9 to 10 CD's.

Ron Silver is an excellent reader overall, although perhaps more "New York" sounding than Roth intended. Or perhaps it is just that my midwestern ears cannot easily distinguish the differences. ( )

Once again, Philip Roth explores an intriguing premise: what if isolationist and rumoured anti-Semite Charles Lindbergh had beaten Roosevelt in the 1940 US presidential election? He speculates with powerful insight about an America which is slowly, subtly becoming more hostile towards its Jewish citizens. What a pity Roth's formidable skills seem to desert him in the last chapter, which may as well have been, "And then I woke up, and it was all OK after all. What a nutty dream that was!"

Having Roth's nine-year-old fictionalised "self" as a narrator is a mixed blessing. He gives his younger self far too much credit in terms of his understanding of current events, the political climate and adult relationships (young Philip's conflicted feelings about his neighbour Seldon are much more believable). On the plus side, the narrator's youth means that The Plot Against America is less phallocentric than much of Roth's work, with just one masturbation scene, one description of an erect penis and virtually none of his usual sex/gender role guff. ( )

Philip Roth’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel American Pastoral didn’t really do it for me. I felt that the novel got bogged down a whole lot in rabbit trails that stole the focus from the life of the Lvovs. I didn’t think I’d like Roth after this but thankfully, with The Plot Against America, Roth has, in my eyes at least, shown me the genius that I suspected was lying hidden.

This is a great novel. Why so? Well, for a start, it takes a plausible tweak with history as its starting point and then shows what that would have looked like from the viewpoint of a lower-middle class Jewish family in a Jewish neighbourhood of Newark, New Jersey.

The tweak is Lindbergh, not Roosevelt, winning the 1940 US election. The family is Roth’s own.

This combination of the vivid reality of his own Jewish childhood and the fantasy of a pro-Nazi US administration works extremely well as a backdrop for Roth’s exploration of issues of governance, racism and what it meant to grow up Jewish in a ‘free’ nation at the penumbra of the Nazi shadow.

I felt that the novel was at its strongest when Roth focussed on portraying events through his quasi-fictitious self. This wonderful device enables him at once to capture both the micro level

" …the new boy downstairs wasn’t going to be any more of a picnic than the one before him had been, and this was when I determined to run away again. I was still too much of a fledgling with people to understand that, in the long run, nobody is a picnic and that I was no picnic myself."

and the macro

" Mr. Mawhinney was a Christian, a long-standing member of the great overpowering majority that fought the Revolution and founded the nation and conquered the wilderness and subjugated the Indian and enslaved the Negro and emancipated the Negro and segregated the Negro, one of the good, clean, hard-working Christian millions who settled the frontier, tilled the farms, built the cities, governed the states, sat in Congress, occupied the White House, amassed the wealth, possessed the land, owned the steel mills and the ball clubs and the railroads and the banks, even owned and oversaw the language, one of those unassailable Nordic and Anglo-Saxon Protestants who ran America and would always run it – generals, dignitaries, magnates, tycoons, the men who laid down the law and called the shots and read the riot act when they chose to – while my father, of course, was only a Jew."

Occasionally, the novel wanders off into sociopolitical areas that Roth was to bring to maturity with American Pastoral. Thankfully, these are few and far between here and the vivid childhood perspective usually dominates to bring to the fore the fears and unkowns of those dark days of the world. ( )

http://thebookwormslibrary.com/?p=88 ( )

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. ( )

In 1935, Sinclair Lewis published It Can't Happen Here", a semi - satirical account of how fascism might take over the United States. Philip Roth's novel The Plot Against America adopts a similar theme, but with an entirely different tone. His novel is no satire; it is a counter- factual history that is chilling because it is so believable.

In Roth's account, Charles Lindberg (who was in fact an isolationist sympathetic to Germany) is elected president of the USA in 1940. Through the eyes of a young boy, the protagonist of the tale, we see the harrowing rise of fascism and state - sponsored anti- Semitism, as Jewish people and families are harassed, displaced, and even murdered. There is even a Krystallnacht, although events mercifully never proceed as far as deportations and concentration camps. Indeed, the book ends on a happy note with Roosevelt's re-election; unfortunately, particulars of the ending (such as what happens to Lindberg) are less than credible, in the context of the story and otherwise.

Roth's fictional account speaks of a particular time in US history that seems distant from today's political environment (where fundamentalist Christians and other strong supporters of Israel have forged a neoconservative alliance). Nevertheless, as a counterfactual history, it reflects a larger truth about how close we are to mob rule, and how ill - contained are the potential forces of violent intolerance.

The Plot Against America is a pseudo-autobiographical novel about growing up Jewish in the 1940s not during Roosevelt's presidency, but the anti-Semite Charles Lindbergh's. It was an interesting decision for Roth to narrate from the eyes of a young boy - the politics and intricacies of everything going on in America are sometimes missed by Phil and are only the backdrop for the novel, but the real story is the family's struggles to reconcile religion with patriotism during this difficult time. ( )

I picked this up at Curves today to see if my son was interested in reading it. He is reading American PAstoral now. I have a second copy and will read that, then report back here with my thoughts.

Conversation (by email) with guyczuk regarding the book:

bookczuk wrote: I started The Plot Against America. I like it, except I wish Mr Roth would use more periods. I get lost in the length of his sentences! Blindness is next up.

guyczuk wrote: Blindness has longer sentences, but they're pretty readable. In Roth's case, the sentence length reflects Jewish neuroses, while in Saramago's case, the sentence length reflects the beauty of the universe.

bookczuk wrote: I grew up surrounded by Jewish neuroses.. do I have to read about them, too? Sigh. I'll push on, but Blindness may be the light at the end of the tunnel...

But, the end result is, I really thought this a fantastic book. And I also thought it a very frightening book. How easily we trust and believe what makes us comfortable. The scariest part for me was when I found myself nodding and accepting the statements of one of the foreign governments over the other one, simply because what they were saying was more to my liking and beliefs. It suddenly became clear to me why some people, who I view as nut cases, see themselves as in the right so often.

Roth has come a long way since Portnoy's Complaint. Here is a recent video of him. ( )

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

So after a month of election obsession here in Chicago, I find my schedule of book reviews in complete chaos: nearly 20 titles read now, all of them awaiting essays, and with me still continuing to read new books on a daily basis. I thought I'd start this week, then, with a whole series of recently read books that I don't have that much to say about, either because of being older titles or not very good or whatnot; and I thought I'd start this list as well with the best book out of all of them, American literary treasure Philip Roth's 2004 masterpiece The Plot Against America, which believe it or not is actually the very first book by Roth I've ever read. And man, what a doozy to start out with, because it so perfectly captures the entire zeitgeist of the Bush years, despite the plot being a science-fictiony "alternative history" one; because, see, for those who don't know, what this book posits is a world where Nazi sympathizer Charles Lindbergh becomes President of the US in 1940 instead of Franklin Roosevelt, and instead of going to war actually works out a non-aggression pact with the Axis powers. And then the story itself is told as a personal memoir, with the main character being Roth himself as a small Jewish child in New Jersey "living" through the events.

It's a brilliant concept, executed even more successfully precisely because of no melodramatic things taking place; under Roth's genius speculative mind, no Jews are actually rounded up into concentration camps under a Lindbergh administration, but merely a national air of hostility created towards them, a government-approved disdain for Jews that clearly affects the emotional well-being of Roth's tight-knit Jewish community in an industrialized mid-century New Jersey. And that's why this is such a magnificent statement about the Bush administration, a sneaky one that you might not even realize at first -- because Roth's whole point by using this fantastical premise is to show that you don't need out-and-out pogroms in order to create a discriminatory society, that you don't need goose-stepping stormtroopers in the streets in order to have a fascist-friendly nation. It's a fascinating book, one with a delightfully surprising ending, a novel that really floored me when I read it a few weeks ago; in fact, about the only complaint I have is that large sections of it are overwritten, and that Roth has a habit of delving into the minutiae of certain scenes in simply too much detail. Other than that, though, it comes highly recommended, and I believe is destined in the future (along with such titles as Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Max Brooks' World War Z) to be one of the essential titles of the early 2000s, one of the books that will help explain to future generations just what it was like to live under the Bush regime. Needless to say, I am now eagerly looking forward to tackling more of this remarkable writer's ouevre. ( )

A really, really excellent alternate-history book told from the supposed eyes of a seven-year-old. The book is far more about the situation (Lindbergh's election to the office of President followed by an increasing anti-Semitic America) than the kid, though, so a lot of times the narrator seems a bit phony -- I wish he'd picked a more adult point of view, but at the same time, it might have lost some of its simplicity as there would have been rather different conversations and observations. Definitely recommended. ( )

It avoids all the usual pitfalls of alternative history works. There's no ironic hindsight here, no showboating of possibilities and no having everything revert to the familiar with a sigh of relief at the end. All of which is admirable. The writing jumps from the politcal and objective to the familiar. The book is essentially made up of a lot of shorter stories, all gripping and original. Where the book really excels, however, is in giving insight into the real malevolance of organised hatred. Roth does this by showing the view from below, and by giving little glimpses - a trip to washington, a letter, a casual remark - of the horror of the whole. ( )

Back in the early 70's we were all reading Philip Roth. Freshman year in college, I went to the town book store and was shocked that no one stopped me from buying Portnoy's Complaint. They actually let me buy a "dirty" book. What no one told me was how funny it was. After reading Goodbye Columbus, I never thought to look for a Roth book again. Ah, the stupidity of youth!

I re-discovered Roth thanks to my book club choosing The Plot Against America. I'm positive as a 17 year old, I didn't appreciate what a wonderful writer Roth is. It's very difficult to built the perfect pace, atmosphere, characters and a well developed story line all in one novel, but Roth succeeded beautifully with this book. It took 30 years, but Roth will no longer escape my TBR stack... ( )

This book tells an alternative history, featuring the presidency of Nazi-sympathiser flying ace, Charles Lindberg. While it does indulge the pleasures of near-farcical what-if scenarios (what if a reactionary US government came up with a sufficiently plausible excuse to invade Canada, say), at heart it's not at all playful. It's not just alternative history; it at least has the trappings of alternative autobiography: the narrator's name is Philip Roth, and I'm pretty sure his life matches that of the author in any number of ways. So this isn't so much speculative fiction as a deeply felt nightmare of what might have been. ( )

Interesting premise? Maybe. Interesting book? No. At one point I announced to my husband that this was at least preferable to other Roth books because it wasn't about masturbation. Two pages later: completely gratuitous masturbation scene. Fluid digressions (and an equally pointless extended anti-Boston diatribe) aside, seriously, not a good book. Not at all.

Amusing and entirely plausible account of a fascist take over in the USA just at the start of WW2. It is seen through the eyes of Philip Roth himself, with the understanding of a six year old! A delightful fantasy - with a real bite in it, that makes you think. There but for fortune . . .

Read it! ( )

Initially gripping, a good read, but the end falls a bit flat. Alternative history novel in which Lindbergh defeats Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, resulting in a national flirtation with fascism, all witnessed thru the eyes of a young Jewish boy. ( )

The best book I read in 2005. It's pure Roth. It's a fascinating description of 'creeping fascism' and how easily it may occur. It requires neither brainwashing on a vast scale, nor charismatic leaders, nor militarism. It requires merely that rational, good-willed individuals acquiesce in a series of small initiatives that add up to profound change in the structure and governance of society. Roth describes this process by way of a brilliant story. ( )