The Plot Against America - Phillip Roth

The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth is only the second fiction book I haven't finished. I started the book eagerly: the synopsis and characters seemed great, but as I read it I started noticing more and more bad words, plus the overall feeling of horror just makes the book a chore to read. I highly recommend that you don't read this book.

The book doesn't start out badly. The basic premise for the plot is as follows: in an upset election, Charles Lindbergh defeats FDR, and keeps the United States out of World War II. Still, America gradually degenerates into a Fascist police state. The entire story is told from the perspective of a nine year old Jewish boy named Phillip.

In the first place, being from the perspective of a nine-year-old, the book often seems strange. The boy's mind connects to strange things and it feels like all the time the writer's trying to bombard you with something ludicrous and you're not sure what's the boy's imagination and what's actually happening. Some may consider it fine literature, but for me it's very hard to read.

Not only is the book just not enjoyable to read, it's filled with inappropriate language and themes. Bad words are used liberally, even by the nine-year-old who is the main character. Sexual innuendo is sprinkled throughout the book like mouse droppings in a cookie. Eventually, the book just got so bad that I didn't even finish it. About one-third of the way through, I just put it down.

I highly recommend that you don't read this book. Though the plot sounds quite interesting, the reader is constantly faced with junk that shouldn't have to be in a book. Far from making it sound realistic, the inappropriate content in this book finally just made me put it down. Sadly, for the plot and idea sounds promising, I must give this book a one star, and highly caution anyone else from reading it.