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      When She Was Good

      by Philip Roth
      Published
      May 1967
      Main Genre
      Literary Literary
      Rating
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      About This Book

      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.

      Genres & Themes

      Genres

      General Fiction

      Subgenres

      Literary

      Themes

      Small Town

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      Paperback

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      Feb 1995 Vintage ISBN 0679759255
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      Sep 1985 Penguin ISBN 014007676X
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      Oct 2007 Vintage ISBN 0099484994
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      Hardcover

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      May 1967 Random House ISBN 0394451872
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      Dec 2010 Vintage ISBN 1407018698
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      Apr 2011 Vintage ISBN B004EBT6L0
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      Apr 2011 Knopf ISBN 0307788601
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      Nov 2009 Brilliance Audio ISBN 1441805389
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      Nov 2009 Brilliance Audio ISBN 1441805354
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      Nov 2009 Brilliance Audio ISBN 1441805362
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      Nov 2009 Brilliance Audio ISBN B002X98J9U
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      Nov 2009 Brilliance Audio ISBN 1441805346
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      Nov 2009 Brilliance Audio ISBN 1441805338
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      Nov 2009 Brilliance Audio ISBN 1441805370
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      Dec 2011 Brilliance Audio ISBN 145583243X
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      Dec 2011 Brilliance Audio ISBN 1455847836
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