Preview
  • American Pastoral

  • American Trilogy, Book 1
  • By: Philip Roth
  • Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
  • Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (44 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

American Pastoral

By: Philip Roth
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.46

Buy for $19.46

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Here is Philip Roth’s masterpiece, featuring Nathan Zuckerman and the story of Swede Levov, a legendary athlete at his Newark high school, who grows up in the booming postwar years to marry a former Miss New Jersey, inherit his father’s glove factory, and move into a stone house in the idyllic hamlet of Old Rimrock. And then one day in 1968, Swede’s beautiful American luck deserts him.

For Swede’s adored daughter, Merry, has grown from a loving, quick-witted girl into a sullen, fanatical teenager—a teenager capable of an outlandishly savage act of domestic terrorism. And overnight Swede is wrenched out of the longed-for American pastoral and into the indigenous American berserk. Compulsively listenable, propelled by sorrow, rage, and a deep compassion for its characters, American Pastoral gives us Philip Roth at the height of his powers.

©1997 Philip Roth (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about American Pastoral

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    23
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The epic story by Philip Roth.

Simply amazing! Felt like a radio-play - so well presented by the narrater Malcolm Hillgartner!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Do you like gloves?

Somewhere in this book is an interesting story, but it is buried by layers and layers of repetitive details on glove making.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterful writing

This would be difficult for me to read, but listening to it, I was able to rewind and listen again to passages and better understand this “story within a story.” I love the descriptions of Newark NJ, the intertwined relationships of Jews, Catholics and WASPs and commentary on American society. Lou Levov is such a great character.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

profound and terrifying

The incredible tragedy of a good man, who was his whole life striving to be a good man, to build a good life for his family, only to have his daughter grow up to be a terrorist. His desparate efforts to figure out where and how he went wrong are soul wrenching.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Boring and pointless and excessive

When the narrator sounds bored reading about an author jack off to the female characters he created, you know it’s a bad time. What a boring book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!