WHEN SHE WAS GOOD. Stayed up late (despite developing cold… sigh) to finish this Roth novel. It takes a long, long time to get off the ground–for a good chunk of the book, I was thinking, “OK, this is very vivid writing, and I’m picturing each scene and person clearly, but honestly, is this telling me anything new? It seems like just a standard portrait of the American 1950s.” In the end, though, the book is a deeply painful read, compelling and sharp. The edition I have includes snippets from reviewers’ commentary, and almost all the reviewers are stunningly misguided–their criticism comes off as tainted by misogyny, in fact. The most accurate description was something like, “The tragedy of a woman obsessed with moral rectitude.” I would describe WSWG as a tragedy about the necessity of both strength and forgiveness.