Nemesis by Philip Roth.
Nemesis is the story of a polio epidemic in Newark in 1944 and especially about its impact on a Mr. Canter, who runs a playground program and is about to become engaged.
Roth does an excellent job of showing the effects of polio on this small neighborhood, in relaying the horrible progression of the epidemic, which cruelly was most often contracted by kids.
But at Nemesis' end and despite my interest in this polio epidemic plot, I realized it wasn't really about polio. What it was about was the way in which individuals deal with the onslaught of horror in their lives. How some people can go on fairly effectively, not let things like disease or war or economic disasters corrupt their lives. But others cannot get past their terrible luck, and the idea that this turn of events was unjust. They didn't deserve it so it completely derails them. The bitterness poisons everything.
I have read many books by Roth but apparently his last four books have dealt with this theme and I am most interested in seeing how his other characters deal with the fall of the sword. Highly recommended.
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4 comments:
I agree on NEMESIS, an excellent book.
Hi Patti, my post is up. Thanks again for your indulgence.
My author research and photo resizing and cropping took forever today. But my post is up. Please add me to the list of esteemed writers.
The Weird World of Wes Beattie by John Norman Harris
This is a very entertaining and fun book. Amazingly (for someone so obsessed with obscure books), it's very easy to get a copy of now since it was reprinted yet again only a few months ago. Enjoy! (and thanks Patti!)
I need to read Nemesis - thanks for the reminder. And thanks for including my post :-)
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