I have been stalking this book for years. It is the one book in Philip Roth’s catalog that doesn’t seem to circulate through Half Price Books whatsoever; I have probably seen ever other book on its shelves at least 3-4 times. So, when my friend Carl told me about the online bookseller AbeBooks.com, When She Was Good was one of the first books I looked for.
I placed the order before my move to North Carolina*-I thought it would be fun to have some packages waiting for me at my new address. Within 10 days, it arrived, and I was “raring to go,” as equestrians say.
* No nearby Half Price Books.
Briefly put, When She Was Good is about the coming of age of Lucy Nelson, whose father was an alcoholic-specifically, how (1) she makes meaning of the experience of alcoholism, and (2) how that informs her relationships in adulthood. Regarding (1), in retrospect it seems to her everyone important in her life enabled her father in some way-e.g. her mother was too weak to do anything; her grandparents (with whom the family lived) were more concerned about keeping family matter hush-hush. Regarding (2), she would maintain perfect control of her family; “She would not repeat her mother’s life, nor would her offspring repeat her own” (pg 198).
This is a heavy book-heavy in the sense of its gravity. There are few moments of levity in this book. Where there appears to be levity, it may only appear in the same way one laughs in an uncomfortable moment. For instance, some of Berta’s* lines.
* Berta is Lucy’s grandmother. She is as one-dimensional as can be (“mean old lady”), but that’s all she needs to serve her limited function and make a memorable impression. Roth wrote this book at a time before mic drops were a thing (the 1960s), of a time before mic drops were a thing (the 1940s), but I it’s reasonable to say Berta know how to (1) diss and (2) drop a mic.
When She Was Good contains little, if any, intended humor, and Roth restrains his tendency toward the absurd-which, in my opinion, often amounts to humor. In this way, When She Was Good and Letting Go stand apart from his other (later) works, which I prefer.
When She Was Good begins with the story of Lucy’s grandfather Willard. Specifically, his determination to distance himself from his father’s backcountry way of life, which he considered “uncivilized.” (His father was a trapper.) It proceeds with a montage of which establishes Willard’s apparent success in that endeavor, until the introduction of his daughter’s husband: the Janus-faced “Whitey” (Lucy’s father). If we were to contrive a “Pantheon” for Lucy, he would be Shiva. To her, he is creation and destruction embodied. He brought her forth, if you will, then ruined her. In a telling passage, we learn:
“[Among his drinking buddies] there was never a man who was one tenth the worker, or the husband, or the father that Whitey was-that is, when things weren’t overwhelming him. Unfortunately, however, circumstances seemed always to conspire against him at just those times, rarely more than a month at a stretch, when he was suffering through a bad siege of what you finally had to call by its rightful name-lack of character” (pg 18)
Briefly put, he was the greatest-unless life was not going easy peasy; in that case, he was the worst. Stress drove him to alcoholism, and begat its collateral damage. Still, to many characters he is a sympathetic, if pathetic, character. There is a thoughtful passage about how his coming of age during the Great Depression may have stunted his aspirations (or, his character in general) (pg 27). In short, because it seemed practical at that time, to economize by moving in the in-laws. As it turns out, that may have been permanently emasculating him. Doing so, he forfeited his claim to the role of “man of the house.” Worse, maybe he forfeited his status as a man? (In his father-in-law’s house, was he not just a boy?) He once refers to himself with contempt: “A grown man being treated like a charity case” (pg 31).
Interestingly, in Roth’s only novel with a female protagonists, one prominent theme is a man’s fear of not “earning his manhood.” Roy, who marries Lucy, also expresses similar sentiments when he returns from military service and weighs going into the family business: “What wasn’t too appealing was the idea of using family as a crutch, and right at the outset” (pg 45). Roy is proud, and believes he has earned his pride and the capacity to be independent through his military service. In addition to such superficial observations as follow, Roy frequently invokes the benefits he is entitled to in exchange for his service (e.g. GI bill benefits):
“Joe might be the greatest high school place kicker in the history of the state, but Roy had just come back from sixteen months in the Aleutian islands” (pg 55).
One thing the GI bill did not promise Roy, which he believes he is entitled to with vociferousness, is sex. I am only slightly embarrassed to admit some of my favorite scenes in When She Was Good were those wherein Roy, a decent guy overall, effectively turns into a sexual predator (pg 58,100), applying undue pressure on young girls to have sex. The passages made me deeply uncomfortable-squirm, even.
(Welcome breaks from my occasional indifference to the story.)
It may or may not surprise you this “masculine entitlement,” Roy’s pursuit of sex, ultimately bonds him to Lucy-he impregnates her out of wedlock. Lucky Roy, remember Lucy is determined to maintain perfect control of him lest he turn into her father and ruin the family . She is determined to maintain perfect control of him even at the risk of emasculating him (like her father). But there is little risk of Roy turning into her father. Roy bears little resemblance to Lucy’s father. You’ve heard the expression “once bitten, twice shy”? Applied to Lucy, that is an understatement. For example, although Roy has no tendency toward alcoholism, when he leaves the house after an argument Lucy accuses him of running off to a bar, something her father did. In fact, Roy goes to a movie (pg 205).
Lucy develops an insufferable superiority complex. What begins as sophomoric musings, such as what follows, tends toward contempt: “The reason she should have nothing to do with Ellie Sowerby was because she was Ellie’s superior in every way imaginable, except for looks, which she didn’t care that much about; and money, which meant nothing; and clothes; and boys*” (pg 73).
* Reminds me of Donald Trump saying “We don’t win anymore,” then citing such things as “education,” “military,” etc., things which I’m not sure can be “won.”
Understandably, Lucy is distraught when faced with the realization she may not “walk the talk”-that is, when she becomes pregnant out of wedlock. She expends much effort trying to arrange things so as to spare herself personal embarrassment, but her self-image is shattered. Furthermore, she projects her severe disappointment in herself upon her family. “Roy, do you honestly believe they will all love and adore me when they hear that I’m going to have a baby?” (pg 154).
It’s this severe quality of Lucy’s worldview that informs the action of the latter third of the book. I’ll spare you the particulars of the denouement; suffice it to say it includes a terrifically written showdown (pg 271).
Not all of When She Was Good is terrifically written. For instance, Roth’s introduction of key events in Lucy’s life in a nonlinear chronology doesn’t always work. I can think of 2 compelling reasons for the approach*, but the transitions were not always coherent. In other cases, passages seemed forced-for instance, an aside about Lucy’s apparent interest in poetry (pg 179). Then, the “ending-ending” (as opposed to the aforementioned “showdown”) is not completely coherent. In part, by design, I’m sure-but still, consider the bit about wandering through Mr. Muller’s house (pg 301). Why????
* (1) to demonstrate how key event in Lucy’s childhood informed her young-adulthood and (2) to contrast the Lucy’s experience of various milestones against and previous generations.
Despite these shortcomings, and dull stretches, When She Was Good has something going for it which many books I enjoy much more do not: it made me feel-frustration with Lucy, discomfort with Roy’s sexual advances, whatever emotion corresponds with “Oh shut up ya old bag” with regard to Berta…
In conclusion, a dumb one-liner: When When She Was Good was good, it was quite good, but only when When She Was Good was good.
7.5/10
ISBN # 0-679-75925-5