A Plot Against America - Philip Roth

A Plot against America provoked some of liveliest discussion we've had to date. Several layers of the 'plot' concept meant that we read the book in slightly differing ways. There was (i) the Nazi plot against the Jews (ii) the plot against American democracy (iii) the German plot to effectively take control of America through Lindenburgh (iv) the Jewish plot to undermine American society. Take your pick as to which was (i) real - in the counter-fatual story as opposed to real/real, (ii) in people's minds (iii) became a reality as a consequence of the reactions of sections of American society to one of the other actual or imagined plots. Given that, there was little dispute that the book did actually have a plot (or several) unlike some other recent reads and was all the better for it.

An issue for some was the story being told from the perspective of a nine year old boy. Juxtaposing a phenomenally perceptive child and the complex political developments didn't work for some (Steve in particular). Similarly, the interweaving of family/teenage growing up narrative with politics/societal change was generally felt not to be a great success - but with differing views. Some (Neil, Mr Pink) felt the former created the book's highlights, whilst others (Rob & Ras) thought the book only really got going when the political shifts became more seismic after a somewhat turgid first half . Still others (Mark TH. by email) liked the way the two were put together.

In terms of the style and quality of writing, a general thumbs up for Roth's clear use of the English language (the 'keep it simple, stupid' brigade i.e. Will & Rob were particularly happy), but his tendency to use overly long sentences was not welcomed by everyone (Neil, Steve). He clearly has an ability to portray characters well - almost all the main characters came to life and were felt to be plausible (with the possible exception of Lindenburgh - who never made a direct appearance anyway). His technique of revealing key outcomes part-way through a chapter and then going back to describe how they happened was an interesting one that generally worked (Rob)

Most of the real discussion and debate was, not surprisingly, around the counter-factual political story. No doubt partly energised by having a group member (Richard) who had several members of his Jewish family killed in the war in Europe either by fleeing too late or not at all, the book provoked lively discussions on things like:
- Could it have really happened in America? (split verdict)
- How the book (in particular the 'real history' at the back) highlighted for some of us an anti-Semitism in the USA we had previously been aware of, because America has re-written and concealed that part of its history from the world (and current-day Americans)
- Why people would or would not have fled to Canada when faced with the growing tide of anti-Semitism and what would we do in the circumstances? (General consensus we would have no doubt held on and left it too late)
- Why the book makes no reference or acknowledgement to other forms of overt discrimination and oppressed groups in America i.e. the black population
- One of the underpinning issues to the novel: Is the congregation of one racial or religious group together in society a positive or negative thing and are moves to forcibly integrate people with society as a whole ever justifiable?
- The roots of discrimination against sections of society and how, given the opportunity, it is scary how much of society will turn against groups that appear to be an easy target.

So, despite the book prompting of much discussion and a general thumbs up for the writing style, it was interesting that only Richard gave it a high mark. The analogy that appeared to strike a chord (with apologies to the imminent potential sexism - blame Will, it was his idea) was that with a woman who has all the right attributes when looked at objectively (I assume he meant intelligence, charisma .....), but who you just don;t find sexually attractive. The book was well written, good plot, good characters, action, nice sub-plots or story-lines - but somehow it just didn't add up for most of us into a book that we really liked or even recommend to others.

An average score of 6.01 - about two-thirds down the rating list of our 37 books to date.