Locus Horribilis

Philip Roth’s much acclaimed American Pastoral deluded me somewhat.  It is, all things considered, a fantastic book that is both interesting and well paced.  I also managed to stomach the tale’s Job-esque series of events that take our character from one bad situation to one that is just a little worse without to many problems.  That is, until the end of the seventh chapter when we discover the infidelity of the Swede’s wife.  At that point the story becomes far too, well, Job-esque for my taste.  The Swede has up to this point been painted as just about a perfect person in all respects, and in the chapters proceeding this revelation we see in detail how well they get on (including a description of how incredibly good their sex life was).  We come to understand that Dawn looked for a new life after Merry’s act of terrorism, but the extent to which she did it seems to be far too abrupt.   It seemed thrown into the story just to complete this retelling of Job.
I wasn’t convinced