Philip Roth's "American Pastoral" to Hit Big Screen October 21

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I adored "American Pastoral" - maybe Roth's greatest achievement. Saw the trailer and it made me very nervous. No way a film can present the story, the characters, the tale of class and history and struggle and so much more that the book conveys. 

Makes me think of the film made of "A Prayer for Owen Meaney," John Irving's profound book of transcendent beauty and deep political and moral observation. The film was foolish.

One more example: Ken Kesey's epic  "Sometimes a Great Notion" was about more than a logging family's refusal to join a union. It was about the American frontier experience and the devastating impact that capitalism and commercialism has had on the American independent spirit. The film? Not so much.

I gotta read these books again.

Just for clarification, aside from the nickname referring to their appearance, Swede Levov in American Pastoral is based on the real Swede Masin in the sense that both were tremendous athletes at Weequahic High in Newark and beloved icons for their community. Roth was a decade younger than the real Swede and had never met him before publishing the book, but his legend still was huge when Roth went to Weequahic.

The main plot of the book is not based on Swede Masin, who lived a long, wonderful life in South Orange.

In fact, a passage in the book refers to Swede Levov's decision to eschew South Orange and the close-to-Newark suburbs in favor of a more "pastoral" property in what I believe is Mendham.

Stoughton - You're correct. @mountainhouse wrote a book about his father "Swede: Weequahic's Gentle Giant." 

https://www.amazon.com/Swede-Weequahic%C2%92S-Robert-G-Masin/dp/1440144338

eta - I should have said Swede served as an inspiration for Roth's Swede.