American Pastoral

I usually don't read fiction, but this is one of the best audio books I've ever experienced of any genre. You will quickly see why Roth is considered one of the greatest American writers of the last fifty years and the naration only adds to the experience. Some books hold my attention better on audio and some on the printed page. This is a masterpiece of both audio and the written word. It will hold your attention from beginning to end.

This is one of THE best books I have ever encountered! These Roth characters are even more flawed, more human, than in his previous novels. The story is both broad, in the number of decades it covers, and deep, in its microscopic look at the impact of events on one man's life. Roth demonstrates with vigor and mastery the differences between generations, and the pain we each feel in our inability to grasp what people of a different age find important. The writing, as always, is lyrical and wandering, which considering the Jewish culture he writes about, is fitting, funny, and stinging. The narrator, Ron Silver, brings the Jewish angst to life well with his inflections.

I have already listened to passages over again, which after 14 plus hours says something about the strength of the descriptive passages, dialogue and ideas presented. And I will listen to this book again. It is a keeper. Although I never did anything quite as extreme as the daughter, Merry, this novel gave me a taste of what went through my parent's minds when I was in high school and college, pursuing passions of my own generation. An incredible read!

I miss stories this well told, characters this well drawn, human-frailty this deeply felt.
But what elevated this book as an audio offering was the reading of Ron Silver. After having so many books ruined by utterly tone-deaf readings, it was a pleasure to finally encounter a reader that seemed to really understand what the book required. It is a hell of a performance. Other authors should be so lucky.

First, the reader is excellent. But he is reading a masterpiece. American Pastoral brilliant. Through the eyes of one family and the narrator, Roth captures the essence of the changes and turmoil that shook the country in the 60s and 70s. The narrative technique, the narrative itself, the dialogue, so many turns of phrase, really deliver a powerful emotional message. I don't know whether i would have enjoyed it as much without the wonderful narrator. Even though I had already listened to it, I chose it as a book for a long car trip and my husband loved it too. I liked it even more the second time. So much nuance.

Some will tell you that its plot is somewhat convoluted, perhaps not exciting, or will even tender statements like "get to the point!". But oh does it make a point!

The point is made, and made powerfully. Literary fiction, for what it's worth, is a study of character - of people and their minds, things that lie beneath the surface - and isn't dependent on twists and turns of action, though this book does that as well if you're reading carefully enough and do not give up. This book is a masterpiece in exposing the churning beneath the murk of what appears on the surface to be a glorious, undisturbed and placid lake of a man's life.
It speaks to the point that "things fall apart, the center cannot hold". And the narration by Ron Silver is one of the best I've heard to date for any audiobook. He captures the essence of the people, the time, the thoughts and the tragedy. Simply, an astounding piece of work by both author and narrator.

Ron Silver the actor reads this wonderful book. His distinctive voice may take a few minutes to adjust to, but his new york accent is perfectly matched to the text. His rendering is masterful. I've not read the book but can't image this isn't one of those where the reader actually improves this Pulitzer winner.

While I am not unsympathetic to cydscott's harsh but incisive observations (and indeed I urge you to read his/her review for balance), I experienced the book very differently. Contrary to the impression that the above mentioned review conveys, American Pastoral is not simply about the philosophical musings of an amateur psychoanalyst and unprogressive biographer. True it is that some of those musings can be a bit annoying, but they do serve a purpose in the story: we are presented with an unreliable narrator, one who stumbles rather badly in trying to make sense of the story of his subject, both adding to the sensation of mystery that a stranger's life can have upon us, and reminding us of the clumsiness with which we attempt to understand one another.

But perhaps the most memorable quality of American Pastoral for me as a reader is the intense tenderness with which Roth views some of his characters. (I do agree, however, with cydscott's complaint--if I understand it correctly--that women characters are portrayed in a more troubling way.) Whatever one may think of some of the narrator's fabrications, the story is in the end remarkably moving, and it chronicles the terrifying reverberations of a complicated moment in American History in the life of an ordinary American family.

Roth caught the essence of American cultural history over the last century and also the central dynamics of family psychology -- a particularly insightful look at the difference between the surface and the inside of people. It has a Jewish coloring -- but is not a Jewish book. Ron Silver does an absolutely great job with Jewish inflection and self-reflection. I found myself frequently telling others about the ideas and insights in this book.

This is the 10th or 12th audiobook to which I've listened on Audible.com, and far and above the rest of them (most of which are more "popular" or "populist" titles) this one is relentless. It's both impossible to listen to, and impossible to put down.

It's not a novel of plot, though there is one, and it's not a novel of characters, though there are many of them and they are very well drawn. Rather, it's a novel of images, and a novel of feelings, and a novel of writing. It's the most well written of the novels to which I've listened, especially since I find that I enjoy the languid descriptions and sections of prose that Roth uses. It's a story of what happens when an original sinner interacts with humans of all ilks, angels and demons alike. It's a story of nature (of the human kind) and nurture (of the human kind) and interactions (of the human kind) and above all, it's the story of people.

This novel doesn't move quickly. Rather, it luxuriates in the mind of the narrator for long stretches. There is very interesting story material here, but this is more of an intricately designed character sketch than a more traditionally arced novel.
That being said, though, it DESERVED the pulitzer. No question. Roth is a master of rendering psychology on the page.