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”.
on September 26th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
damn, you’re tackling some of the giants. roth is a pretty
incredible writer. i’ve read ‘the human stain’ and
‘american pastoral’ and can highly recommend them both.
the man can put a sentence together. prolific too.
he’s pretty old now,at least in his 70s if not older, and
he’s still churning out a major novel every couple of years.
on September 28th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
This book is one of my top 10 favorite books of all time, even though I think Roth is one of the worst misogynist authors out there. He’s right up there with E. M. Forster in my estimation of not understanding/despising women. But he has his moments, to wit:
To address your specific questions, 1. I think the title is ironic; the point is that she was never good, even in her younger and more likeable days. 2. Yes, I think she was pregnant when she died. And 3. I think Julian’s family didn’t “digest” so much as suppress Julian’s philandering, while Lucy was too, oh, honest, for lack of a better word, to sweep it under the carpet. This could be where the online people see her as a hero. Or another interpretation is that she uses it as another tool with which to control him.
The really poignant aspect of this book is that yes, she was an unmanageable shrew and control-freak, but she’s like that because she’s so profoundly unhappy and feels incapable of changing. I remember when I was reading it (which was a while ago, I haven’t picked it up in several years) that I could to some extent understand her motives, and thus I felt sympathetic towards her. And yes, I felt sorry for her at the end, and I also felt sorry for him. That’s quite a narrative feat!
I’ve read several of his books, including Portnoy’s Complaint. Heh, you’d like that one, Marcus!
on September 28th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Saul Bellow? Philip Roth? Marcus is kicking my reading ass. I should probably catch up, because I’m sick of Marcus’ insinuations that I’m going to metaphorically freeze to death.