When She Was Good
Just finished this book by Philip Roth. No lightweight shit. I hate confusing books, but apparently, not spiritually confusing ones. The main character, Lucy, is about as hateful and judgemental as they come, but in the end, it’s impossible to get a bead on judging these characters myself. Possible spoiler alert if you’re thinking of reading this…
I can’t even figure out “when” she was good. She had “good” moments when her outlook seemed to improve. Her hysterical spiral at the end, disturbing and paranoid, was not discernable as a karmic payback as I thought it might be (Roth forecasts her death early in the novel). It was even easy to feel sorry for her.
I’m amazed at how many people online see her as an unambiguous hero, and ultimately, martyr. Can this really be justified from the text? Or was her angst in moments simply so familiar that it had to be identified with, and strongly? And was she pregnant when she died? And what is the rest of the story behind Julian’s philandering? Was it just something that the family had dealt with and digested on its own, and only an insane Lucy would bring it into the conversation?
Lots of questions and only some answers. Quite a book; Roth is on “the list”.




















