Nemesis: A Novel

"Roth's book has the elegance of a fable and the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama." -The New Yorker

"Painful and powerful.... Somberly but vividly, [Roth] recreates the panic and fear triggered by polio." -USA Today

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 a deva...