Julie 's Reviews > The Plot Against America

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth is a 2004 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publication.

It goes without saying that Pulitzer prize winner, Phillip Roth, is a prolific writer. While I have appreciated the books of his I have read, they are often very heavy, and I can only take them in small doses. But, I don’t know if I would have tried this one, if it had not been for Professor Snyder recommending it, in his book, ‘On Tyranny’.

I was a little concerned about the ‘alternate’ history format, because for it to make sense, the reader needs to know the real history well enough to understand what does or does not work in the speculative world.

‘Their being Jews issued from their being themselves, as did their being American. It was as it was, the nature of things, as fundamental as having arteries and veins, and they never manifested the slightest desire to change it.”

In this case, a simple basic knowledge of the era is sufficient, but I did find it helpful to know a little more personal history about Charles Lindbergh. Understanding the small nuances of his character gave this book an even more sinister quality.

But, of course, the most chilling aspect of this novel is that Roth might have had accessto a crystal ball, foreseeing what could happen, might happen, and actually did happen.

‘The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic’

The sad, honest, truth is, if I had read this book two years ago, I would have viewed it as genius, as eerily believable, as a coming of age tale, or who knows what other feelings I may have expressed about it, but reading it today, in our current political climate, the book takes on an entirely different tone. It no longer feels like clever speculative or alternative fiction, but instead, it feels too realistic, hits too close to home, and basically left me with a feeling of impending doom, turning, tossing, and fretting.

I do urge everyone to read this book, if you haven’t already. If you have, read it again, because I think living through these dark days, the book will make a deeper impression on you.

As to the writing, pacing, and all the usual things we mention in reviews, I don’t think that it’s necessary to delve into all that. It’s Phillip Roth. Enough said.

But, what does bear mentioning is, for me, next to ‘The Human Stain’ this book is the best Roth novel, I have read, to date.
5 stars