Philip Roth seems to have thought of two different ways to tell this story. The first has to do with an interesting espionage plot that gets hatched and changes history, involves luminaries of mid century history, and basically is a pretty interesting idea. Roth spins this part of the story out in newsreels and an omniscient narrators voice – and while it makes for the overall thrust of the novel – it is given short shrift. Instead, Roth labors over his other idea which involves the Roth family in Newark and telling the story of President Lindbergh’s defeat of FDR and tilt toward fascism through the eyes of a nine year old boy trying to make sense of his feelings, family, and nation at a time of trial. While this idea of telling the story through young Philip’s eyes has its moments, it also gets incredibly tedious, especially when Roth starts to describe some particularly active part of the story, only to spin back and go on a 5 page diversion before rejoining the action. Did I mention that I thought the storytelling was a mess? I have a hard time that any young novelist would get such a book published, let alone get the sort of praise Roth has reaped. While I was glad I read it, I was even more glad when it was done.