american pastoral (phillip roth)

i only picked this book up because it was lying around my guesthouse, but it wasn't a bad read. it's meant to be a deconstruction of the american, immigrant, dream, and roth tries this through his admirably thorough characterisation of the principle character, swede. swede starts off as the all american immigrant wonderboy, a facade that he carries throughout his life, but which is in fact something of a front. the problem with this critique of good ol' american country living is the reason for swede's disillusionment: his daughter happens to be a revolutionary communist who blows people up. honestly.
that's the problem, all the questioning of the dream is punctuated by stories of merry, the psycho daughter... this slice of fancy means that the accompanying queries on american living and utopia are slightly undermined. it's like derrida delivering a monologue, but wearing a clown suit: the ideas are interesting, but it's hard to take fully seriously.