Nemesis by Philip Roth

Set in a Newark neighborhood during a terrifying polio outbreak, Nemesis is a wrenching examination of the forces of circumstance on our lives.
 
Bucky Cantor is a vigorous, dutiful twenty-three-year-old playground director during the summer of 1944. A javelin thrower and weightlifter, he is disappointed with himself because his weak eyes have excluded him from serving in the war alongside his contemporaries. As the devastating disease begins to ravage Bucky’s playground, Roth leads us through every inch of emotion such a pestilence can breed: fear, panic, anger, bewilderment, suffering, and pain. Moving between the streets of Newark and a pristine summer camp high in the Poconos, Nemesis tenderly and startlingly depicts Cantor’s passage into personal disaster, the condition of childhood, and the painful effect that the wartime polio epidemic has on a closely-knit, family-oriented Newark community and its children. 

Our book group meets quarterly to discuss the book of the quarter! Each quarter's book is from Book Club in a Box, a program of the Jewish Community Library of San Francisco.

NEW! Due to COVID19, we will be switching to eBooks. Each member needs to sign up for borrowing privileges with the Library and then download their copies individually. 

To apply for eBook borrowing privileges, you can apply by filling out the Application for Jewish Community Library borrowing privileges. 

Once the Library receives your application, you will be sent your user name and password. You'll then be able to download eBooks and audiobooks through their ebook supplier, OverDrive.