I don't even know what to say about this incredible and awful story. I got it because I saw the trailers (you can see them here, here, and here) and immediately had to read the book. And now I can't stop thinking about it.
So picture it, if instead of a third them of FDR we get Charles Lindbergh as president. The fear of Jews is palpable. Well almost all the Jews, some, like Rabbi Bengelsdorf, buy into and help sell the administration line. But things get bad, then get worse, and then get crazy. And in any other time it might read like an interesting twist and alternative history.
But this isn't any other time. This is 2020 and we are three years into a Donald Trump presidency and nothing is normal or right or ok. And the eerie parallels to this book are just too much. If you read this and swap the name Trump for Lindberg and look past the era of WWII, well the conspiracy theories, the anti-Semitism, the lies coming from government, it could be written about now. But this book was published in 2004.
The family at the center of the story, our eyes and ears, is the Roth family. Our narrator is Philip Roth who is about 10 years old during the time of the events but it is clear an adult Philip is telling us all of this, he makes mention of things he understands now looking back and things that happen later so it isn't a mystery or some plot twist. The use of really people, events, speeches, and places, but used in a different way, with different outcomes is seamlessly told and it begins to feel like it happened that way. That is a credit to Roth's writing. There were times when I was thinking how could anyone be this gullible or awful but then I looked up from my page at the world we occupy now and I knew the answer, because hate and blame of people different than oneself has always been a problem. The country I live in was taken horribly from the indigenous peoples who were here, it was then built by people who were stolen from their land and forcibly brought here as slaves. Women and people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ population, people who are Jewish or Muslim, they, we know, that nothing has really changed, it just has become state sanctioned once again. Until people realize that equality and freedom aren't like pie, that serving everyone doesn't mean less for anyone, nothing will truly change. And the fear of lost power is why CIS white christian men fight so hard to keep real change from happening.
I didn't mean for this to become a political rant. But it is hard to not draw parallels with this book. As a story it is well told and engaging. The use of language is smart and enlightening. I learned a few new words reading this. As a New Yorker by birth and having grown up in NYC, many of the real people and events were things I learned about from my grandparents and in school so it was interesting to see it used this way when it feels like part of my history. And as a Jewish mom it is even more gripping.
I haven't read anything else by him but I probably will now.
(Finished February 28, 2020)
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