LETTERS: Get Some Book Smarts

To the editors:

I was extremely disappointed that The Harvard Crimson published a book review (“Studying ‘American Pastoral’ to Understand ‘The Road,’” Theodore J. Gioia, Feb. 23, 2010) written by a reviewer who had not even finished the book! It is completely unacceptable for any newspaper, especially one associated with an academic institution, to publish such a review.

“American Pastoral” is my favorite novel of all time, and Theo grossly oversimplified a very small portion of it. Philip Roth does anything but portray the American Dream and suburban life as a straightforward, dismal existence. Perhaps if the reviewer had read further, he would have appreciated the Swede’s reaction to his daughter blowing up the local post office. Roth definitely explores the “inner and outer lives of the father and [daughter],” for which Theo praises Cormac McCarthy.

Instead of sensing an “aftertaste of tired irony,” I was deeply affected by Roth’s novel and have reflected on it for years after my first reading. Coincidently, I began to read McCarthy’s “The Road” and never finished it; however, I would never write a review without completing it. Give “American Pastoral” a chance and don’t be so lazy.

EVA GILLIS-BUCK ’12

New York, N.Y.

Feb. 26, 2010

Eva Gillis-Buck ’12 is a Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology concentrator in Leverett House.