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Loading... When She Was Good (original 1967; edition 1967)by Philip Roth
Work InformationWhen She Was Good by Philip Roth (1967)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Wrote a paper on Philip Roth for a class in Modern American Novel at UK. This took me forever to finish It was hard to read because Lucy, the "she" in the title was NEVER good. She was a bitch. Her father, an alcoholic, was her nemesis, almost. She had him jailed when he was drunk (and she was 15?) She was so critical of everyone and couldn't understand why her mother put up with her father. Then Lucy got married (shotgun?) and criticized her husband. I was happy that the last altercation showed people standing up to Lucy and telling it like it is: She's crazy! It was hard to read because I kept thinking she needed Al-anon big time! Non so come in quarta di copertina si possa dire che questo è un libro 'divertente': questo è un libro tremendo. Nella follia raziocinante di Lucy, nella grandiosità dei dialoghi di cui non mi capacito del come Roth riesca a trasferirli su carta, nella rappresentazione dell'ambiente e dei pensieri che sono piu' reali del vero. Tragico e necessario. This is my second Roth and I have to say he captivates me immediately with his writing style, and i feel myself drawn swiftly into a story into which very little is happening, yet i did not want to stop reading. Lots of stuff in this about moral right and wrong versus common sense 'right and wrong' and the utter chaos families can inflict on each other in often self-centered attempts to do what is 'right.' Lots of enabling goes on in this that ultimately allows the turmoil to continue, and a tremendous amount of denial and hiding of truths (1960's suburban culture) that really causes the most destruction. In spite of that somewhat negative outlook, i liked it quite a bit. Not an easy read, with so many characters behaving so horribly to each other so much of the time. Lucy's story felt more like it was about depression and mental illness than anger and morality though, and I couldn't help but feel sympathy for her, even when she was at her worst and most emotionally abusive. She really needed help, but instead everything just became worse for her, and all of those around her. no reviews | add a review
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In this funny and chilling novel, the setting is a small town in the 1940s Midwest, and the subject is the heart of a wounded and ferociously moralistic young woman, one of those implacable American moralists whose "goodness" is a terrible disease. When she was still a child, Lucy Nelson had her alcoholic failure of a father thrown in jail. Ever since then she has been trying to reform the men around her, even if that ultimately means destroying herself in the process. With his unerring portraits of Lucy and her hapless, childlike husband, Roy, Roth has created an uncompromising work of fictional realism, a vision of provincial American piety, yearning, and discontent that is at once pitiless and compassionate. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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