Genre: Book
Grade: A-
Notable People: Philip Roth
Title: Nemesis
Review: This was the giant of American letters’ last novel in 2010 (died 2018) and is consistent with much of his work; representing elements of his own life as a pathway for his themes of how choice can fatally affect our lived outcomes and how subject we are to the whims of circumstance. All of this wrapped up in the story of the summer of 1944 in Newark, NJ-where the war is raging in Europe and the Pacific and polio is raging in the hot city. For people of a certain age and cultural background (East coast Jewish) Roth nabs many of our cultural anomalies dead on; which may be a bit abstract for some, but pretty recognizable for most. The characters are wonderfully explored, the story one you wish to go on and have nicer endings, but Roth was never much for panaceas, and his truths are often pretty difficult (though often quite humorous). A fine sendoff for a master.