American Pastoral

American Trilogy, Book 1

By: Philip Roth

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Here is Philip Roth’s masterpiece, featuring Nathan Zuckerman and the story of Swede Levov, a legendary athlete at his Newark high school, who grows up in the booming postwar years to marry a former Miss New Jersey, inherit his father’s glove factory, and move into a stone house in the idyllic hamlet of Old Rimrock. And then one day in 1968, Swede’s beautiful American luck deserts him.

For Swede’s adored daughter, Merry, has grown from a loving, quick-witted girl into a sullen, fanatical teenager—a teenager capable of an outlandishly savage act of domestic terrorism. And overnight Swede is wrenched out of the longed-for American pastoral and into the indigenous American berserk. Compulsively listenable, propelled by sorrow, rage, and a deep compassion for its characters, American Pastoral gives us Philip Roth at the height of his powers.

©1997 Philip Roth (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

The epic story by Philip Roth.

Simply amazing! Felt like a radio-play - so well presented by the narrater Malcolm Hillgartner!

Masterful writing

This would be difficult for me to read, but listening to it, I was able to rewind and listen again to passages and better understand this “story within a story.” I love the descriptions of Newark NJ, the intertwined relationships of Jews, Catholics and WASPs and commentary on American society. Lou Levov is such a great character.