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Nemesis

3.71 of 5 stars 3.71 · rating details · 3,968 ratings · 653 reviews

In 'the stifling heat of equatorial Newark', a terrifying epidemic is raging, threatening the children of the New Jersey city with maiming, paralysis, life-long disability, even death. This is the startling and surprising theme of Roth's wrenching new book: a wartime polio epidemic in the summer of 1944 and the effect it has on a closely-knit, family-oriented Newark commun...more

Paperback, 280 pages

Published 2010 by Vintage Books Random House

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Oct 09, 2010 brian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

if i pie-graphed all the (wasted) hours i've spent arguing on this site, a sizable portion would be wedged out to old man roth. he's one of those guys that really drives people batty (call it a flaw, but i really really love those people who drive other people up the wall): whether he's too ironic, too earnest, too jewish, too american, too classical, too postmodern, too stylized, not stylized enough, too white, too old, too liberal, too conservative, or that he's a misogynist, racist, sexist, s...more

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Oct 18, 2010 Krok Zero rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fall-2010

There's nobody less salvageable than a ruined good boy.

The gnomic sentence above could have served as the epigraph to Roth's masterpiece American Pastoral, a novel to which this absolutely gorgeous and deeply troubling novelette is, I believe, a terrific B-side. Like Swede Levov in Pastoral, protagonist Bucky Cantor is an upstanding citizen of his mid-20th-century Jewish New Jersey community, athletically gifted and respected by all; and like Swede, Bucky finds himself thrown into the kind of pe...more There's nobody less salvageable than a ruined good boy.

The gnomic sentence above could have served as the epigraph to Roth's masterpiece American Pastoral, a novel to which this absolutely gorgeous and deeply troubling novelette is, I believe, a terrific B-side. Like Swede Levov in Pastoral, protagonist Bucky Cantor is an upstanding citizen of his mid-20th-century Jewish New Jersey community, athletically gifted and respected by all; and like Swede, Bucky finds himself thrown into the kind of personal crisis in which everything he thought he knew -- about himself, about the world, about God -- is violently cast into doubt, a crisis that leads to his undoing. For Swede, the catalyst for such a crisis was an act of terrorism perpetrated by his daughter; for Bucky it's a polio epidemic afflicting the children of Newark in the summer of 1944. In both books, Roth gazes unflinchingly at the effects of inexplicable horror's intrusion into the life of a decent, successful man. But where Pastoral was a devastating sprawl, fussily obsessed with the internal minutiae of a soul in freefall, Nemesis is concentrated and broad, with a big ol' narrative ellipsis between main story and epilogue. That's why I called it a B-side. But the B-side is its own art, and I couldn't ask for a better one than this.

The nemesis of the title is God, as Bucky rails against the injustices of fate like the shipwrecked sailors in Stephen Crane's Naturalist classic "The Open Boat", but it's also Bucky himself; the cruel punchline of his tragedy, which makes it almost sadder than Swede Levov's tragedy, is that in ascribing permanent blame to himself for crimes of which no jury in the world would convict him, he actually becomes the agent of his own downfall, fulfills his own irrational prophecy. The ellipsis, which seems to be bothering some readers here, amplifies the effect of this ironic revelation about Bucky; to fill in the details of his life as they occurred rather than in a retrospective postscript would have been to bloat the book unnecessarily. The writing throughout this book is as sharp as any previous Roth I've read, but it's especially beautiful in the game-changing epilogue and lyrical flashback-coda, an inspired passage that could only have come from someone who's still one of our best writers. Make no mistake: as tempting as it is to make fun of him for his continuing solemn fixation on the verities of aging and mortality (and the ridiculous sex of The Humbling, which I gave three stars but which now seems like execrable self-parody), Roth can still write circles around your favorite novelist -- and Nemesis is so good that Roth himself should still be someone's favorite novelist. You earned these five stars, you depressive old geezer!(less)

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May 16, 2011 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

I read this in a day (it was Sunday). Started at 9 in the morning (weather unseasonably cool); finished on the stroke of midnight. I did stop to eat and breathe and watch a movie, but gulping down a short Roth was very invigorating. This novel has a powerful grip for one so short, like an 80 year old grandmother who just won’t let you go. It’s a tragic story of a polio epidemic in 1944 in Newark, New Jersey and I give it four big stars for its urgency, unusual subject and the fact that Philip Ro...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Rosalba rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Estate 1944, in Europa e nel Pacifico imperversa la guerra. A Newark, nel quartiere ebraico di Weequahic, Bucky Cantor, giovane insegnante di ginnastica e animatore del campo giochi del quartiere, si trova ad affrontare l'emergenza di una epidemia di poliomielite, che colpisce i suoi ragazzi uno dopo l'altro, senza che lui possa fare qualcosa per fermare quella carneficina. La paura e la sensazione di impotenza di fronte alla malattia che colpisce, talvolta uccidendo, e più spesso lasciando il c...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Paula Margulies rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed the old-fashioned narrative style of this book, which fits the time and the subject matter: a strapping 23-yr-old Jewish man, Bucky Cantor who, passed over for the draft due to poor eyesight, lands a job as a playground director in a Newark suburb during a 1944 polio epidemic. Despite his attempts to protect his young charges, Bucky watches many of them succumb to the disease. He struggles with guilt and questions his religion after his fiance lures him from his playground job to a "sa...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Jason Coleman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: greatest-hits

Now that the Grecian-tragedy scaffolding of Roth's recent novellas is finally clear (Coetzee lays it out very simply in his NYRB review, and Roth himself now groups these works together as his Nemeses books), I have to say I like the idea in theory. But like all the other books in what has shaped up to be a series, this latest work's strong premise is undone by an ultimately enervated performance. Roth's energy really does seem to be finally flagging. The way the author practically throws the st...more

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May 02, 2013 Connie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: medical, 1001-books, historical-fiction, src-spring-2013

Nemesis is set in the Jewish Weequahic section of Newark during a polio epidemic in the summer of 1944. Bucky Cantor is a strong, earnest young man who feels guilty that he is unable to fight in World War II due to poor eyesight. He is spending his summer working as a playground director for a large group of boys. The people of Newark are upset as polio spreads through their city, and they don't know how it is spread or how to cure it. Blame is placed on the Italians, the Jews, dirty stores, and...more Nemesis is set in the Jewish Weequahic section of Newark during a polio epidemic in the summer of 1944. Bucky Cantor is a strong, earnest young man who feels guilty that he is unable to fight in World War II due to poor eyesight. He is spending his summer working as a playground director for a large group of boys. The people of Newark are upset as polio spreads through their city, and they don't know how it is spread or how to cure it. Blame is placed on the Italians, the Jews, dirty stores, and the playgrounds by the hysterical parents of the stricken children.

At a funeral for a boy from the playground, Bucky cannot understand the cruelty of God in allowing the existence of such a terrible disease. The unanswerable question is whether we are victims of circumstance, or victims of an uncaring God.

Bucky's girlfriend Marcia begs him to come work in the relative safety of a summer camp in the Poconos, and he finally gives in to her wishes, but with a strong sense of guilt. Not only is Bucky unable to fight in the war, but he feels he has also run away from his duty in Newark.

We are far along into the book before we find out the identity of the narrator of the story. The narrator's experiences provide a contrast to the way Bucky handled a tragic situation, denying himself any happiness. The narrator closes with a beautiful memory of Bucky in his prime, an invincible man throwing the javelin which arcs like an arrow. It seems symbolic of Bucky's unproven idea that he was an arrow that was a carrier of polio to the children.

In the background of the polio story, World War II is being fought with its victims also being maimed or buried. There is more than one nemesis in this book. The same questions about blame, duty, guilt, and an uncaring God can be asked about the war.

Roth has also included many warm scenes and people in this book such as Bucky's caring grandparents, the close Jewish neighborhood, the loving Marcia and her family, and the optomistic narrator. So Nemesis does not have the feel of a terribly dark book, but rather a look back into a part of history, set in Roth's hometown when he was a young adult. I found it to be an interesting read.(less)

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Jan 12, 2011 Meredith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: judaism, polio, religion, reviewed, man-booker-prize

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. When I saw a copy of this at the library, I was pretty excited. Originally, I had planned to review a digital ARC of this through NetGalley, but they pulled it from their list for whatever reason.

Nemesis, written by the same icon of Jewish-American literature who brought you Portnoy's Complaint, examines the Jewish-American experience during the 1944 polio epidemic. We see the disease spread from urban New Jersey to rural Pennsylvania, ravaging in particular the Weequahic section of Newark.

Buc...more When I saw a copy of this at the library, I was pretty excited. Originally, I had planned to review a digital ARC of this through NetGalley, but they pulled it from their list for whatever reason.

Nemesis, written by the same icon of Jewish-American literature who brought you Portnoy's Complaint, examines the Jewish-American experience during the 1944 polio epidemic. We see the disease spread from urban New Jersey to rural Pennsylvania, ravaging in particular the Weequahic section of Newark.

Bucky Cantor, playground coordinator and athlete extraordinaire, spends much of this book running from conflict. He declines to join his friends in military enlistment, he runs from Weequahic when the polio epidemic intensifies, and he runs from Marcia, his fiancée, when he falls victim to polio himself. He seems to be, on many levels, impotent; he tells us so himself.

But is he really? Native American symbols abound in the latter half of this book, when the Poconos camp where he works engages in some Native American roleplaying. When polio strikes the camp, he believes himself to be the "invisible arrow" (a term borrowed from Native American epidemiology) that brought the illness to the camp from the city. Although doctors try to reassure him that the odds of this are slight, Bucky revels in "self-castigation," and Marcia later calls him out on this inherent masochism. The "arrow" imagery insinuates potency, virility. It is all but phallic. So while Bucky is powerless to navigate his own relationships and quick to dodge potential conflict, perhaps the "invisible arrow" identity allows him to feel a certain measure of power. Perhaps it is not self-loathing, but self-indulgent.

Powerlessness is one of the prominent themes at work in this story. Parents withdraw their children from playgrounds and camps to protect them from polio. People yearn so deeply for a culprit, an epidemiological scapegoat they can identify and subsequently avoid, that they point fingers at restaurant hot dogs. Lawmakers consider quarantining entire communities to stop the spread of the virus. People like Bucky flee the cities in hopes of avoiding infection. None of these measures proves to be particularly effective. No one can suppress the biological realities of polio.

Also of note is Bucky's crisis of faith as the epidemic intensifies. He becomes something of an agnostic cliché, turning his anger on his god when polio hits close to home. His anger, his powerlessness, and a sense of self-blame more virulent than the polio itself ruin him. The disease ravages his body, but it is his mind that reduces him to the bitter cynic he becomes. Polio robs him of loved ones and of his once-athletic body, but he robs himself of a life with Marcia.

The book ends with a memory from Arnold Mesnikoff, the former student of Bucky who narrates parts of this story. Even after running into Bucky decades after the epidemic and witnessing his bitterness firsthand, he remembers him differently in the end. We are left not with the image of a crippled, impotent version Bucky, but a youthful, healthy one who could throw a javelin with expert precision. Bucky has no narrative control over this memory, so he cannot taint it with his self-loathing. So we remember Bucky as his students do: with fondness and admiration. The tragedy lies in what his life might have been if he had seen himself in this same light.(less)

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May 07, 2013 Robert Wechsler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american-lit

I didn't find this Roth novel particularly special. The narrative voice is intentionally simple and flat because, as it turns out, it is the voice of a very minor person in the protagonist’s story, an as-told-to story. The story itself is of more historical than human interest, with a focus on a polio epidemic. This part is fascinating, partly because it is what the narrator is most concerned with.

But the protagonist himself is an annoying example of the puritanical belief that we are responsibl...more

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Apr 20, 2013 lynn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's been a few years since I'd read a book by this author and I found this one slightly lacking. While the subject matter is a good one, I felt somewhat shortchanged. The main character is a young man, newly graduated from college looking to make a career as a Physical Education teacher and coach. It is the summer of 1944 and he has found a summer position as a counselor for one of the town's playgrounds where he works with a regular group of young pre-teens and teens, playing baseball and othe...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Susan Tunis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Summer in the city

Bucky Cantor is a mensch—a good man. During the summer of 1944, when the bulk of this brief novel takes place, 24-year-old Bucky is working as the playground director of the Chancellor Avenue Playground in the Weequahic neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey. It’s the city’s Jewish neighborhood, and that summer it’s been hit brutally hard by a polio epidemic. Kids are scared and parents downright are terrified. Bucky’s own grief and fear are balanced by a sense of duty equal to tha...more Summer in the city

Bucky Cantor is a mensch—a good man. During the summer of 1944, when the bulk of this brief novel takes place, 24-year-old Bucky is working as the playground director of the Chancellor Avenue Playground in the Weequahic neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey. It’s the city’s Jewish neighborhood, and that summer it’s been hit brutally hard by a polio epidemic. Kids are scared and parents downright are terrified. Bucky’s own grief and fear are balanced by a sense of duty equal to that of any Gilbert & Sullivan protagonist. Conflict arises when his girlfriend begs him to leave the disease-stricken city and join her as a counselor at a bucolic summer camp in the Poconos. The situation in Newark is volatile. Says the girlfriend’s father, a doctor:

“The anti-Semites are saying that it’s because they’re Jews that polio spreads there. Because of all the Jews, that’s why Weequahic is the center of the paralysis and why the Jews should be isolated. Some of them sound as if they think the best way to get rid of the polio epidemic would be to burn down Weequahic with all the Jews in it. There is a lot of bad feeling because of the crazy things people are saying out of their fear. Out of their fear and their hatred. I was born in the city, and I’ve never known anything like this in my life. It’s as if everything everywhere is collapsing.”

Meanwhile, the stress of what was happening in Newark and elsewhere around the country was playing out against the backdrop of a country at war. It was a terrible, terrible time.

My mother contracted polio a few years after the events depicted in this novel. We’ve discussed this frightening period of her life many times over the years, but strangely, hearing her personal account couldn’t touch the reality of what Mr. Roth has depicted with such immediacy. Reading Nemesis made me feel like I’d taken a time machine back for a visit. It gave me fresh insight into my mother’s experience. And it also served as a reminder of just how forgotten this terrible disease is. In 1944, both scientists and the public were so appallingly ignorant about the cause and transmission of polio it was hard to believe. And yet… I don’t know anything about polio. Despite my mother’s history, I’m not sure I could have told you it was a virus. Is transmission airborne? I have no idea. Polio has never been a part of my lifetime, and after reading this novel, I pray that it never is. More than anything, Nemesis is completely evocative of the time and place in which it is set. As glad as I am to have had a window into the past, I’m even gladder to have moved on from that time.(less)

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Feb 22, 2013 Ruth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I read this story so quickly (start to finish on a long train ride) one would think it a light and easy read. It was neither. It is the story of polio as it hits one neighborhood I Newark N.J. And spread, summer of '44. It is the story of one young man, who because he couldn't hold himself to his own highest ideal physically (although he only 'failed' physically in height and eyesight), he strained to replace that ideal ethical and/or moral judgments, holding himself to a standard than he would...more I read this story so quickly (start to finish on a long train ride) one would think it a light and easy read. It was neither. It is the story of polio as it hits one neighborhood I Newark N.J. And spread, summer of '44. It is the story of one young man, who because he couldn't hold himself to his own highest ideal physically (although he only 'failed' physically in height and eyesight), he strained to replace that ideal ethical and/or moral judgments, holding himself to a standard than he would never require from anyone else, and torturing himself in the process. Much of the book is him vacillating between choices, both before and after the actual fact of the choice. It's tiresome. I wanted to shout aphorisms at him: "Shit or get off the pot;" and "Do something even if it's wrong" (to which I would add "and then move on"). Moving on was his problem. He wanted to take the blame for everything bad and wallow in it. Not that bad things didn't happen, but they are not what destroyed his life. He managed that all by himself and it was painful, though not surprising, to watch.

Eighty-five percent of the book is of our hero trying to make the best choices, and doing a fairly poor job or it. The impression is of a male in a 23-year-old body, with responsibilities to match, making decisions with the maturity level of a fifteen-year-old. All through this section I wondered if I had bought a book meant for young adults by mistake. The level, the themes, the emotional exaggeration all pointed to a 'lower level' of novel than I had been led to expect from the reviews.

Then suddenly, part three, the last forty pages. Words like hubris, antithesis, deterioration, enigma, and inimical attempt to redeem the level and the book itself. It may have worked. By the time I finished I no longer felt cheated. I even could see the lesson, a lesson that will stay in my head, one I hope I can learn from. A new way to illustrate another aphorism: "To cut off your nose to spite your face."(less)

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Jan 16, 2013 Laura Stiebitz added it · review of another edition

This was a simple yet powerful read. Philip Roth's prose is like a quiet storm. His characterization of Bucky as a role model who is strong yet vulnerable, upstanding, yet flawed, is touching and memorable. I definitely recommend this book!

I also really enjoyed reading what New York Times book reviewer Leah Hager Cohen had to say about this book:

NYT Book Review by LEAH HAGER COHEN
Published: October 8, 2010

“The architecture of Roth’s sentences is almost invisibly elegant; not only doesn’t one not...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Andy Mckinney rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reading Philip Roth is not for the faint hearted. He is not afraid to offend conservative sensibilities. One might even say that he relishes doing this. What cannot be denied is that he has a very good writing style and his storylines deal with big issues.

The quintessential Philip Roth novel is probably American Pastoral and this shorter novel bears more than a passing resemblance. In American Pastoral the protagonist is Swede Levov, an American sporting hero who is bound by duty and always does...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Edmole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm used to reading Roth's immersive moral tomes, so this big print 280 pager felt oddly brief. The book is about a Polio Epidemic in a Jewish Community in WWII Newark, and the choices a play teacher makes in trying to protect his students and himself from the fear of a life-withering disease. It's about the guilt of the untouched, the mystical thinking and blaming around disease, how God enters into that picture, parents desperate need for someone to blame, and everything inbetween.

Roth works...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, polio

I had just finished reading a non-fiction, memoir account of a polio victim, and I came across, to my surprise, a fictional book dealing with polio by Philip Roth. I was curious how it would stack up to the recent and other non-fiction books about polio that I'd read. Well, as with much historical-fiction, I feel as if I learned a great deal about the scourge that was polio and its affect on communities. Roth's protagonist, Bucky Cantor, is a 23-year-old college graduate who is a PE teacher and...more I had just finished reading a non-fiction, memoir account of a polio victim, and I came across, to my surprise, a fictional book dealing with polio by Philip Roth. I was curious how it would stack up to the recent and other non-fiction books about polio that I'd read. Well, as with much historical-fiction, I feel as if I learned a great deal about the scourge that was polio and its affect on communities. Roth's protagonist, Bucky Cantor, is a 23-year-old college graduate who is a PE teacher and summertime playground director at Chancellor Avenue School in Newark, New Jersey. Bucky had a rough start in life, but he was fortunate to be raised by his hard-working, honest grandparents who believed Bucky could succeed. His poor eyesight kept him out of WWII, but his athleticism allowed him to be a leader for the boys on his playground that summer of 1944, the summer that Newark would suffer a terrifying polio outbreak. Bucky's best attribute is his devotion to helping others; his worst attribute is his taking responsibility for the blameless. His decision on whether to join his girlfriend in the Poconos as a summer camp counselor and leave the ravaged streets of Newark and his boys is a crisis of faith for Bucky. The fallout from that decision will determine the paths of many. As with the non-fiction titles about polio that I've read, I came away from Roth's slim novel with new and intriguing information about polio. Roth's masterful power of description greatly enhanced the experience of learning. My only real complaint about the novel is the narration format. It's not that I minded another character, other than Bucky, being the narrator, but that the character was alluded to in a rather thinly veiled reference early in the book and not clearly revealed until the last of the book. I would have preferred that the book opened up with an undisguised narrator. Having said that, I do think that Roth created an excellent venue to tell not only of the fear and horror of that summer of polio, but he created a character that revealed a struggle with perfection in an imperfect world. (less)

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Jul 04, 2012 rmn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Nemesis is the most un-Rothian of Roth novels. Roth's novels usually turn out of nowhere on some unforeseen twist that manages to completely flip the story around and this usually happens relatively early, is utterly preposterous, and is unbelievably brilliant. And yet in this novel, the twist doesn't happen until near the end, it is completely telegraphed throughout (or at least most of it is), and it is sort of just "eh."

Plus, the majority of the novel is just an in-depth, maudlin, and almost...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Kyle Shroufe rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Let me start by saying that although I am not Jewish and don't have any particular interest in Jewish culture (which is what roth seems to write about mainly) I still find Roth to be one of my favorite authors, especially considering his rare genre of fiction that seems to change throughout his writing career. I will say however his earlier books (exp. Zuckerman Novels, and The Breast trilogy) were amazing I found the Breast trilogy to push boundries that hadn't been at the time and instead of e...more Let me start by saying that although I am not Jewish and don't have any particular interest in Jewish culture (which is what roth seems to write about mainly) I still find Roth to be one of my favorite authors, especially considering his rare genre of fiction that seems to change throughout his writing career. I will say however his earlier books (exp. Zuckerman Novels, and The Breast trilogy) were amazing I found the Breast trilogy to push boundries that hadn't been at the time and instead of exploiting Jewish culture as everything important which he's done latley he actually exploited the wrong and unneeded necessaties of some certain jewish cultural enbelishments. As Far as the novel "The Nemesis" goes, I did enjoy it. Like most of his books it was relativley short at 280 pages with large text. I feel, however, that in his older age he has taken ona much less controversial role as a writer and has played in the safe zone reflecting on what I can only guess are some of his demons but these demons he makes so obvious to the readers that "Nemesis" was actually annoying about a 3rd of the book because the main character 'Bucky Cantor' had become a martyr and a self obssessed fool. I do understand thats the character Roth wanted but he certainly didn't need to make it so obvious throughout the thin plot. I just feel that "The Nemesis" fell far short of what Roth is capable of producing. I understand that an author needs to explore different things especially later on in life but at this point it feels that Roth is riding on his past success which I don't like because Ive claimed to be a fan for years now. Here's hoping his next novel doesn't expose the dark circumstances brought on by life and how the character deals with it, as his last 4-7 novels have?...I want him to go back to his sexually promiscuive roots that drew me to him as an authoritative author that wasn't afraid of pushing the envelope because I am only buying one more book of his before I stop reading anymore of his new novels.(less)

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Mar 07, 2012 Dawn quiett rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Such a great book. The way, Roth writes about the Newark summer and the unrelenting heat, makes you seem like you are there. I had never realized the horror of the Polio Epidemic or that it had gone on so long. I can't imagine living everyday with fear that your child could possibly contract this horrible disease that could leave him crippled, confined to iron lung or dead. The make matters worse, no one knew how it was spread. He is so good at conveying the fear of that 1940's. It also reminded...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Francine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a polio survivor, I had been told about this book more than once and felt I should read it. I did know some of what he was talking about, but since I had the disease years later and as a small child, I did not experience the resentment and bitterness that he expressed through his cahracter(s)to such a great extent. (Not saying I didn't feel those things but I felt I had to adapt in life, not give up.) And additionally, though there was definitely stigma involved in my life to a great degree,...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Will rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first started this book I wondered, what has come over Roth? Is he going senile? This is so unlike the brooding, complex and intense novels I remember. The story about the developing horror as a polio epidemic sweeps through New Jersey in 1944 should be electrifying, but it's not: it's told in a flat, rather uninspiring way by Bucky Cantor, the athletic hero (who is unfit for war because he is so short-sighted). He agonizes over his role but is strangely lacking in understanding.
Later he...more When I first started this book I wondered, what has come over Roth? Is he going senile? This is so unlike the brooding, complex and intense novels I remember. The story about the developing horror as a polio epidemic sweeps through New Jersey in 1944 should be electrifying, but it's not: it's told in a flat, rather uninspiring way by Bucky Cantor, the athletic hero (who is unfit for war because he is so short-sighted). He agonizes over his role but is strangely lacking in understanding.
Later he and the scene move to a summer camp, where his fiancee is a counsellor. The love interest seems shallow and the extended description of hokey fake Indian camp rituals is, well, embarrassing. Then the camp is abruptly closed down when polio breaks out.

At that point, about 3/4 of the way through the book, the voice switches to the first person and it becomes the intense and gripping story it should have been. "I" is an architect who as a young boy idolized Bucky that summer. He meets Bucky some 30 years later and gradually discovers out what happened to him. Bucky's life has been destroyed, not so much by polio itself as by the crippling guilt he could not shake for having been the carrier (he assumed) of the polio virus into the summer camp, and for having driven his fiancee away because he could not bear the thought of "burdening" her with his disability. In vain the architect tried to convince him that he could not have been so responsible but nothing can sway him.

Bucky is revealed as a dedicated and conscientious but ultimately not very intelligent or introspective young man, now old, lonely and destroyed. The first part of the book is his story, as told to the architect in Bucky's own words.

It's a brilliant concept - and is clearly autobiographical (I think I read that Roth had wanted to write this story for over 50 years) - but it doesn't quite work: I just about gave up at the Indian Camp ritual.
Someone else here, Tony del Vecchio, claims this is Roth's first Young Adult book; I hadn't thought of it that way and perhaps it is - certainly the first part reads like one, now I think of it.(less)

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Jan 25, 2012 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"But there's nobody less salvageable than a ruined good boy."

Roth's short novella about the polio scares of WWII in American cities claims as its focus a discourse on fear, responsibility, duty, and the tragedy that is happenstance.

Roth's protagonist, Mr. Cantor, is incapable of separating himself from his sense of duty and responsibility. What Roth then does is show a contrast in these two phenomena through the situations Cantor finds himself in. As a phys ed teacher and playground superintende...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Brenda C Kayne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A poetic book about polio. Could such a thing be? Yes, Philip Roth writes a fictional account of a truely horrifying epidemic during the equally horrifying days of World War II. He shapes his account with a simplicity and phrasing that is truly moving. It is a compact book with many messages beneath the text: An important one is how useless we can be made to feel in this life if the very thing that brings us an identity is suddenly taken from us. Another message deals with a disturbing recogniti...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Jean rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The beginning of this novel almost discouraged me from picking it up again. Then, I decided to give it one more try. I really enjoy Philip Roth, a New Jersey author. This novel is about the polio epidemic, and the setting is the summer of 1944 in Newark, NJ. 1944 was before I was born, but I do remember my mother telling us when we walked down to Dunkerhook stream not to go in the water because we might contract polio. This was in the late 1950's.

I liked this novel a lot. The protagonist tries t...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Ken rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Roth revisits, Weequahic, New Jersey, the setting of his novel, THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA. NEMESIS deals with a polio epidemic which raced through this Jewish community near Newark in the late summer of 1944. The tale focuses on the life of Bucky Cantor, a young man of 23 who seems to have it all. He is a physically fit college graduate, and is employed as a PE teacher, and during the summer months he runs the community playground. Although he was unable to join the service at the outbreak of WWI...more

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Mar 12, 2011 Greg Zimmerman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bucky Cantor is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore. The protagonist of Philip Roth's thought-provoking new novel Nemesis believes that life isn't fair, that life's dealt him a horrible hand, and he is fed up living under the reign of an angry god who kills people willy-nilly. It all just seems so arbitrary, or, as Roth eloquently puts it, "He was struck by....how powerless each of us is against the force of circumstance."

As the cover blurb states, this theme is one Roth has playe...more Bucky Cantor is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore. The protagonist of Philip Roth's thought-provoking new novel Nemesis believes that life isn't fair, that life's dealt him a horrible hand, and he is fed up living under the reign of an angry god who kills people willy-nilly. It all just seems so arbitrary, or, as Roth eloquently puts it, "He was struck by....how powerless each of us is against the force of circumstance."

As the cover blurb states, this theme is one Roth has played with frequently in his recent quartet of slim novels (Everyman, Indignation, The Humbling and Nemesis). Nemesis, though, may be the best of the lot. The novel is set in Newark in the summer of 1944, amidst a burgeoning polio epidemic. Bucky supervises a playground of grade-school-age kids and laments the fact that his poor eyesight has prevented him from joining the war effort, as his two best friends have.

Some fellas just aren't happy unless they're miserable, and Bucky seems to be one of these. When kids on his playground start contracting — and dying from — polio, Bucky gets angrier and angrier, and he feels more and more helpless against chance. So he takes a chance of his own, accepting a job as an instructor at a summer camp in the Poconos where his new fiance is a counselor. But he immediately feels badly about it — like self-preservation is a sin, like not taking a challenge (even an invented one) head-on is a discredit to himself. For Bucky, the fact that his two friends are fighting the Germans seems to mean he should have to create and fight his own battles, whatever they may be — even if they're against himself and his own desire to be happy.

Bucky is such a tragic character — but one with whom it's easy to sympathize. He's your standard nice guy, he has the respect of everyone who knows him, and the reader can't help but like him. His harangues against God's unfairness are few and far between at first, and seem more like a minor glitch in an otherwise normal guy, rather than a overarching philosophy that guides Bucky's life. But guide his life his God-anger does. And the angrier he becomes with God, the angrier he is with himself for what he perceives is his helplessness to stop these fresh-faced youths from getting polio. So the question — which Roth spends the rest of the novel answering — is who is Bucky's real nemesis, himself or God?

Beyond Bucky's misguided self-castigations — and how brilliantly, though simply, Roth renders them — the other thing I loved about this novel is how the idea of people's fear of the unknown about polio, and their need to assign blame, definitely draws to mind contemporary issues. Folks in 1944 had no idea what caused polio and how it spread. And, despite reactionary and ineffective strategies to try to contain it, fear spread at the same rate.. Sound familiar?

I loved this book, sure. But in the interest of full disclosure, Roth can do little wrong in my eyes. He's one of my favorites, and I've read him more than any other novelist. Nemesis isn't quite in the top-tier, American Pastoral or Portnoy's Complaint level of Roth novels, but it's very, very good. Highly recommend! (less)

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Jan 25, 2011 Winston rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Through the unravelling of Bucky Cantor's strength and fortitude, Roth explores the crippling inner life of Jewish guilt in his microcosm of the Holocaust in a Jewish community of Newark ravaged by a polio epidemic in the final throes of the Second World War. The threat of disease, at first deemed an external perpetration by hostile Italians bent on staining the unblemished Jewish neighborhood with their vicious spitting on the streets, is internalized as the community turns on itself; fearful h...more Through the unravelling of Bucky Cantor's strength and fortitude, Roth explores the crippling inner life of Jewish guilt in his microcosm of the Holocaust in a Jewish community of Newark ravaged by a polio epidemic in the final throes of the Second World War. The threat of disease, at first deemed an external perpetration by hostile Italians bent on staining the unblemished Jewish neighborhood with their vicious spitting on the streets, is internalized as the community turns on itself; fearful households demanding the segregation of the affected and grieving families seeking blame for their afflictions. Bucky, for all his fastidious responsibility and courage in defending his playground, as its director, against an Italian gang bent on an assault of infectious sputum, is not spared the accusation of failing to prevent infection among his charges. This begins Bucky's crippling descent, and an intimate portrayal of Jewish guilt and learned helplessness that can only relieve itself in silent surrender and self-sacrifice.

Raised with the moral fibre of one who should resist any adversity with all the determination he could muster, polio's invisible contagion frustrates Buck's attempts at combat; God becomes the knowable nemesis he rails against for unleashing this vector of death on innocent children. Roth does not attempt a philosophical discourse on human suffering and the psychic need for a compassionate deity. That would be as pointless an exercise in creativity as another vain attempt to explicate the Holocaust without the authority of a survivor's narrative.

Apart from the remonstrations of Marcia, Bucky's fiancee, that his conception of God is simplistic, and the biographer's observation that Bucky is a man devoid of wit, Bucky's theology is an emotional catharsis that turns on himself. His vengeful god inverts the blame on his accuser, who leaves the oppressive heat of the city for the Poconos to serve as summer camp director and reunite with Marcia at her insistence. The first sense of betrayal at leaving his afflicted community for seeming self-preservation abruptly intensifies into self-loathing (a limitless sense of responsibility incapacitated by limited means of redemption) when polio infiltrates the summer camp and claims one of his closest charges. Bucky's mind becomes his final and ultimate nemesis when he finally succumbs to polio and assumes responsibility as asymptomatic carrier for the death of his charges, both in his former Newark playground and in the Poconos. The guilt is not assuaged and exacts its self-flagellating punishment when Bucky breaks his engagement to Marcia in an unredeeming act of sacrifice to free Marcia from bondage to a crippled husband. The determination, dedication and discipline that have moulded Bucky's life till now become the virtues of his self-meted judgment; determined never to entertain any other cause than himself, dedicated to his unrelenting loss and emasculation, and disciplined never to relieve himself through self-annihilation.

Could Roth be suggesting in this psychological portrayal some reason why six million Jews met their deaths in the Holocaust like lambs to the slaughter, and that the nemesis of the Mind paralyses everyone who has lost hope in a God they cannot deny?(less)

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Jan 10, 2011 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I feel like I ahve grown up (or rather not grown up) with Philip Roth, starting with Goodbye Columbus. He gave hope that you could be smart,Jewish and still do well with the girls. So I only got two out of three - he was still my main man, and the funniest writer there was (and Portnoy's Complaint is the funniest book ever written). Well, he now is in bad health and old, and his recent books are about old age and dying - so I ahve not read them. But I did read Nemesis. This shaort novel (novelet...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the many errors of the committee that selects the Nobel Prize for Literature is that Philip Roth has never won. Is there any American writer who has sustained such a high level of fiction writing for so long? John Updike was perhaps a rival (although not in my opinion), but it is too late for him. Let's hope Roth gets the overdue award before it is too late for him as well. Having recently published a series of important novels on old age and dying, Roth here returns to his meditations on...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Philip Roth is a masterful writer, but this book was just weird. The first part was a great story about the devastating effect of polio on the Jewish section of Newark, New Jersey in the 1940's. Bucky Cantor, the playground supervisor, who was kept out of the army by his poor sight,feels guilty as he watches young kids get sick and die.

In the middle section, he joins his girlfriend as a swim coach at a camp in the mountains. He spends most of his time feeling guilty for abandoning his charges in...more

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21st Century Lite...: General discussion and references	12	49	Mar 29, 2013 09:37am
21st Century Lite...: Nemesis - Chapter 2 (please treat the last pages as spoilers)	5	27	Mar 21, 2013 08:55am
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21st Century Lite...: Nemesis - Chapter 3 (spoilers allowed)	7	29	Mar 15, 2013 02:42pm
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About Philip Roth

Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained early literary fame with the 1959 collection Goodbye, Columbus (winner of 1960's National Book Award), cemented it with his 1969 bestseller Portnoy's Complaint, and has continued to write critically-acclaimed works, many of which feature his fictional alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman. The Zuckerman novels began with The Ghost Writer in 1979, and inc...more

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“You have a conscience, and a conscience is a valuable attribute, but not if it begins to make you think you were to blame for what is far beyond the scope of your responsibility.” — 3 people liked it

“His nose was his most distinctive feature: curved like a scimitar at the top but bent flat at the tip, and with the bone of the bridge cut like a diamond--in short, a nose out of a folktale, the sort of sizable, convoluted, intricately turned nose that, for many centuries, confronted though they have been by every imaginable hardship, the Jews have never stopped making.” — 1 person liked it

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