# 9: The Plot Against America

Philip Roth

After seeing so many of his novels in the top 20 American novels of the last thirty years (NY Times), I decided to give this one a try. The novel touches upon one of my favorite subjects - "What if " scenarios. In this book, Charles Lindenberg beats FDR and is elected president of the United States in 1940. The plot is driven by the fact that Lindenberg is basically a Nazi sympathizer and takes the United States down an isolationist and anti-Semitic path. Young Philip Roth, as the narrator, reveals how this affects his middle class Jewish family in Newark. The anti-semitism increases at a slow but believable pace, reaching the level of pogroms and deaths.

I enjoyed the novel, I think the Roth writes very well and makes this alternative history quite real. I do feel like the ending was hurried along .. with a resolution that sort of arrives out of nowhere. Other than that, I would say that it was quite and enjoyable read.

As a matter of fact, I am in the middle of American Pastoral and will report on that soon.

Random thoughts about the book:
- ability to enter a kid's mind and make it very real
- the righteousness of Mr. Roth, and his unshakeable believe in being "American"
- the cousin jacking off in the basement
- the complicate politics of race and religion, and how even it can tear a family and a nation apart
- the traitor rabbi, doing what he thought was right, but eventually allowing atrocities to be committed
- the complexity and realness of the characters .. Roth brings them to life and makes them three-dimensional