NEMESIS

Nemesis by Phillip Roth - Nemesis is about a wonderful young man living in New Jersey in 1944. He's a college graduate, a physical education teacher, and working for the summer as a playground supervisor. He was rejected from the military because of his poor vision which is corrected with a strong eyeglass prescription. Although he grew up in modest circumstances, he has a lovely girlfriend whose father is a doctor. There is a polio epidemic in the US, and it's begun to infiltrate his playground. The story goes from there. It's about the human condition, choices made and choices lived with.

I didn't know much about the polio epidemic before this, but I remember making a special trip to the elementary school when I was a little girl. We were going to get the polio vaccine, and I still remember the sweetness of the sugar cube with the vaccine. I wish all medicine could be delivered in a sugar cube.