The Plot Against America is my first Philip Roth book. I found out after starting it that Mr. Roth has a tendency to use himself as the main character. Interesting.
The Plot Against America is a story, as told through the eyes of Philip, our 8-year old Jewish narrator, about what happened to America after Charles Lindbergh beats FDR in the 1940 presidential election because he proclaimed that under his presidency, America would not go to war. Philip and his family reside in the heart of Jewish Newark when America is slowly led into fascism by Lindbergh.
I've always been a huge fan of alternative history stories. It's not so much that I don't like what really happened but it seems that we all go through a "what would have happened" scenario in our heads with our everyday lives. Why not with a significant event in the history of America?
What I liked about this novel is that Roth didn't make America become Fascists overnight. Nor did he really make them Fascists in the end. Lindbergh comes to office and slowly things begin to change for the Jews of America. Lindbergh makes a pact with Hitler to remain on neutral ground. America does nothing to interfere with what appears to be a gradual Nazi takeover of Europe. Jewish Americans are taken aback when a famous Rabbi becomes one of Lindbergh's biggest supporters.
Philip's world, at his young age, is one of observation. He tells the reader in detail conversations his parents have over their hatred and fear of having Lindbergh in office. His cousin goes to war overseas through the Canadian military and comes back with a grotesque injury and wounded soul that Philip illustrates to his readers through his youthful point of view. To me, it felt like it was an unadulterated version of what the world would have been like for a young child trying to understand politics and the slow fall of American Democracy through his surroundings.
Eventually in the end, after Lindbergh disappears in 1942, there are riots in cities throughout America, focused on the Jewish communities. Hatred is a fast spreading disease when ignorance is to blame and this is how the reader can understand mob mentality in a fictionalized fashion.
Overall, the book was a fairly easy and entertaining read for me. However, the final 50 pages or so were incredibly boring. I don't know if I my expectations for action were higher or what. I would recommend the book to anyone who is interested in history, even if it ends up being a made-up history, some dots still connect in the end.
Man, I began writing this post on April 28th. It is now June 11th. Whew. I'm almost done with my 3rd book already! I finally took my last ARE (architectural registration exam) so I have a feeling that my book reading time will much expanded. Although, there seems to be a new boy in the picture that is my life.
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