[ book tip by Ann Morgan ] Some novels leave you gasping as you close the last page, stunned at their power and force. Philip Roth’s When She Was Good is such a one. Although not one of his better known works, and relatively humble in terms of its subject matter, the narrative is constructed with such ingenuity and insight that it is impossible not to be wowed by it.   Part of the power comes from Roth’s technique of splitting the book into three parts and then putting the final segment at the end. Grudging and resentful, Willard Carroll drives out to the bus station of his small home town to collect Whitey Nelson, his errant son-in-law who, after many years away, is returning to live with his daughter again. The first section ends when the two of them meet again for the first time, leaving the reader wondering how such a doubtful rapprochement can ever come to any good.  The rest of the book recounts the events leading up to this meeting from the perspective of two other characters: young ex-GI, Roy, and Whitey’s daughter, Lucy. As the story unfolds we come to see the interconnectedness of the lives set before us, as many of the story’s key events are represented several times filtered through a different consciousness. By the end of the book we know what the upshot of Whitey’s return will be.

[ book info ] Roth, Philip: When She Was Good. (original language: English) Penguin, ISBN: 14 003200 2.