I know a lot of contradictory reviews about Philip Roth’s books. Some say he’s a great north-American writer that knows how to write about some aspects of life, specially with his vision of an American jews. In other hand, people also say the he only know how to write about himself over and over again, with the addition of being completely misogynist and sometimes even racist.
I’m entitled to have my own opinion about the man, so I decided to read American Pastoral, considered one of his best works. I didn’t see the anti-feminist thing, but I confess he makes a lot of literature wank for my taste. See, isn’t that he don’t write well, but some things are completely unnecessary. Also, I didn’t have a lot of interest about the history written, maybe because I’m not a jew writer born in American and I don't have the admiration about a guy who seems so perfect even for a novel (Actually, all the thing "We are so perfect, how come our daughter made those horrible things?" really pissed me off).
But I don’t think the question is so simple and I know that when the plot is interesting, even completely out of my reality and expectations, I can succumb to it. And this is not the case here.
Maybe this isn't the most misogynist of his works, but all the feminine characters are terrible. Or maybe he describes Swede like a human being so perfect that one don't have another choice that think poorly of everybody else.