Kepler's 2020 Project in the News:
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Nemesis
is a brilliant novel about a polio outbreak in wartime Newark, New
Jersey. It’s 1944 and Bucky Cantor, 23 years old and a superb athlete,
is eager to serve his country, but his poor vision sidelines him. He
feels he has trained his whole life to be an agile and tough soldier,
and now he must face this huge personal and private disappointment.
Instead of fighting, he teaches Physical Education during the school
year and is the playground director for the summer. He is the
upstanding young man who every mother and father wants for their
daughter: loyal and committed to family and community.
Polio cases begin a steady rise in Bucky’s neighborhood. He strives to provide a safe place for the kids to play and a calming influence for parents who become increasingly scared for their children’s safety, but the disease has no respect for loyalty or commitment, and Bucky must question his most basic values of faith and fairness. Philip Roth has brought forth a sparkling and vivid book about Bucky Cantor’s greatest war: the one he wages within himself. This is warfare that ravages and punishes in ways no shrapnel could. As Roth so eloquently writes, “… there’s nobody less salvageable than a ruined good boy.” This is a magnificent, worthy novel that lives with you a long, long time. -- Marilyn S. |
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