The Great American Novel: A Novel
By Philip Roth
2.5/5
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About this ebook
Philip Roth's richly imagined satiric narrative, The Great American Novel, turns baseball's status as national pastime and myth into an unfettered farce
Featuring heroism and perfidy, lively wordplay and a cast of characters that includes the House Un-American Activities Committee. "Roth is better than he's ever been before.... The prose is electric." (The Atlantic)
Gil Gamesh is the only pitcher who ever tried to kill the umpire, and John Baal, The Babe Ruth of the Big House, never hit a home run sober. But you've never heard of them -- or of the Ruppert Mundys, the only homeless big-league ball team in American history -- because of the communist plot and the capitalist scandal that expunged the entire Patriot League from baseball memory.
Editor's Note
In memoriam…
One of America’s greatest and most celebrated novelists — having won the Pulitzer Prize, the International Man Booker Prize, as well as many other literary awards — died May 22, 2018. He was 85.
Philip Roth
PHILIP ROTH (1933–2018) won the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral in 1997. In 1998 he received the National Medal of Arts at the White House and in 2002 the highest award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Gold Medal in Fiction, previously awarded to John Dos Passos, William Faulkner and Saul Bellow, among others. He twice won the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2005 The Plot Against America received the Society of American Historians’ prize for “the outstanding historical novel on an American theme for 2003–2004” and the W.H. Smith Award for the Best Book of the Year, making Roth the first writer in the forty-six-year history of the prize to win it twice. In 2005 Roth became the third living American writer to have his works published in a comprehensive, definitive edition by the Library of America. In 2011 he received the National Humanities Medal at the White House, and was later named the fourth recipient of the Man Booker International Prize. In 2012 he won Spain’s highest honor, the Prince of Asturias Award, and in 2013 he received France’s highest honor, Commander of the Legion of Honor.
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Reviews for The Great American Novel
5 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5For me the entire story of this book is that it ultimately fails as a satire. While there are certainly jabs at American sports culture and capitalism, it overall comes off as ugly, unfocused and unwilling to stake a declarative stance on much of anything, preferring to couch and coddle any true satirical criticism in borderline unreadable "baseball" writing. (I also agree with other reviewers on the racist and sexist language, and being unable to entirely untangle that as a satirical element within this text.)I'm a sports fan and a reader of a fair few postmodern books, but this is a non-starter from me. Flashes of intrigue do not make the 400-odd pages worth it. I understand that Philip Roth is a highly decorated writer, but this is the first book of his I've read and I will not be picking any more of his writing up until I can wash the taste of this out of my mouth. Wish I'd started on reading his works with something better.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great American Novel is a satire about baseball as not just America's national pastime, but the national religion. Coupled with the paranoia of Communism, Roth paints a ridiculous picture of the panic and frenzy gripping our country fifty years ago.Sadly, the plot never really comes together for the book (probably partly because of the...dubiousness of its claims, and we're supposed to understand the narrator as addled anyway). The story instead is framed in biographies and anecdotes about the Patriot League's (the *third* baseball league which the Communists destroyed) most memorable players.There were some amusing parts, and no lack of colorful characters, but other portions of the book just dragggged. I'm not sure it was worth 400 pages and the time I spent on it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5At times screamingly funny with a razor-lined sardonic edge, but overwhelmed by, you know, the screaming racism and misogyny that never entirely subsides! You spend a lot of time wondering how much of it is intentional and tongue-in-cheek, especially given Roth's reputation for being an equal opportunity smart-ass without any ties to, you know, the Aryan Brotherhood! But then you reach the part where Mister Fairsmith ventures into the black heart of Africa to spread the gospel of baseball (Really.) and it is basically like watching BIRTH OF A NATION narrated by a cackling David Duke and your eyes roll into the back of your head and you want to go back in time and punch Roth in the throat and/or drop him into Compton and wash your hands of his bullshit. So, yes, the wondering subsides because, really, when something is that mean and that petty in order to get a laugh? Well, fuck the author's original intentions, because we're reading it NOW, and it reads incredibly ugly, and - basically!- no, Grandma, please don't tell your joke about the five Negroes again. Also, my affection for the good bits (and they are good! and there are insights! and some of it is achingly great!) tempered by the fact that I couldn't give a rat's ass about baseball. So. Yeah. Mixed feelings?
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I loved this book 30 years ago. Now, not so much. So much ugly misogynism and racism. I'm glad I've grown past my apathy and detachment as it pertains to gross caricatures. What I do love about this book is the better use of language, particularly the orgy of alliteration in the early pages of the book, and the over-the-top satire on baseball. But I just couldn't get past calling women "slits." Call me too PC. I'm OK with that.