The Plot Against America: B

A book that surges and rages as easily as any Cindy Shehan-knock off and with a plot as tattered as a really really old sweater, Philip Roth's novel masquerades as the story of what would happen had the softcore anti-semite Charles A. Lindbergh become president but what Roth is really writing about is the shocking corruption of democracy, even in all it's power to save us. What if FDR had been kicked out of office after two terms? What if we stayed out of 90% of the second Great War? What if? These are the questions that define and form this book. A family of Jews living in Newark are the central characters, the looking glass, and they are sharply defined. 'The main character, an eight-year old that shares Roth's name is one of the most cleary designed and well drawn characters I have ever read (excluding Marilynne Robinson's preachers of course), and after about 100 pages the book really gears up into subtle paranoia and the fear of the unkown. It becomes a crafty, intelligent, and mesmerizing take on the politics of the "Greatest Nation on Earth". Sadly the plot loses what little steam it has by the last 50 pages and the final act, as nightmarish as it was, falls apart. The ending doesn't resolve anything and you might still be hungry for conclusion, but what stays with you more than a seemingly half-thought out framework to a timely commentary is the fact that Roth has a real knack for history, his prose is as terrifying as anything Stephen King would write and his words can be as sharp and witty as any political pundit. The ultimate quesiton he begs for us to ask ourselves is: could a martyered titan of the scope of Lindbergh in the 30's have ever become president? And could a president ever hide his true self in plain sight so well? The answers, I'm afraid, are the real conclusion to his book.