The Plot Against America by Philip Roth: Season 20 Episode 4
Mean Book Club Roasts Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America
For this episode, the Mean Book Club team set their sights on one of the biggest names in American literature: Philip Roth. His 2004 alternate-history novel, The Plot Against America, imagines a world where Charles Lindbergh defeats FDR in 1940 and ushers in a wave of creeping fascism. It’s dense, heavy, and political—basically the polar opposite of the breezy airport thrillers MBC often tackles. Which means, of course, it’s perfect roast material.
First Impressions: “Not For Me”
The episode opens with a clear split among the hosts. One confesses right away: “Alternate history, not for me. I’m more of a real history person.” Another admits they just couldn’t connect with Roth’s style, despite the book’s critical acclaim.
It sets the tone: this isn’t going to be a reverent literary dissection. This is a comedy book club where highbrow gets dragged back down to earth.
Tangents Before Takeoff
True to form, the conversation swerves into chaos before Roth even gets his full introduction. Someone asks: “Where’s the craziest place everyone’s peed?” Suddenly the group is trading stories about public bathrooms, awkward emergencies, and childhood mishaps.
That mix of toilet humor and book talk is signature MBC—it disarms the seriousness of Roth’s premise while keeping listeners laughing.
Breaking Down Roth’s America
Once the hosts get around to the actual book, they boil it down with deliciously reductive shorthand:
“Ooh, scary plot. Not seen. Danger. Fascism, little boys, stamps.”
From there, they highlight what stood out most:
The Lindbergh Presidency: The idea of an American icon turning into a fascist figurehead is chilling on paper. For the hosts, though, it’s mostly a launchpad for jokes about aviation, baby kidnapping scandals, and “Would you really vote for a guy just because he flew a plane once?”
The Stamp Obsession: Roth devotes surprising space to stamp collecting as a symbol of Americana. The hosts can’t resist skewering this fixation, treating stamps as the book’s accidental comic relief.
The Roth Voice: Dense sentences, heavy-handed themes, and a self-serious tone made the novel feel more like homework than a page-turner. One host sums it up: “It’s important, but is it fun? Not for me.”
Comedy in the Critique
Despite the endless riffs, the hosts do dig into some of the book’s meatier ideas: What does it mean to imagine fascism rising in America? How much of Roth’s fear feels eerily contemporary? Could a charismatic celebrity (then Lindbergh, now… fill in your favorite modern example) really lead the country down a dark path?
But those conversations are always balanced with silliness. At one point, someone interrupts the political analysis with: “But who is America if not our nation’s children?” The mix of sincerity and absurdity is the show’s secret sauce.
Favorite Tangents
Weird bathrooms: The peeing stories become a recurring bit, popping up whenever the book gets too grim.
Stamps as symbolism: By the end, stamps have become a running gag, shorthand for Roth’s tendency to over-explain.
America’s kids: The idea of children as the nation itself spirals into goofy philosophical riffs.
Pull Quotes That Sum It Up
“Alternate history, not for me.”
“Where’s the craziest place everyone’s peed?”
“Ooh, scary plot. Not seen. Danger. Fascism, little boys, stamps.”
“But who is America if not our nation’s children?”
The Verdict
By the episode’s end, the verdict on Roth is clear: he may be a titan of literature, but he’s also kind of exhausting. The Plot Against America might be important, but it’s not particularly fun—and fun is the Mean Book Club’s gold standard.
Instead of a dry seminar, listeners get a blend of political critique, absurd tangents, and group chemistry that makes even Roth’s heaviest prose feel lighter.
Bottom line: if you’ve ever struggled through a “great American novel” and wondered if it was you or the book—this episode will make you feel seen. And probably make you laugh about stamps.
