She's Come Undone (1992) by Wally Lamb

1001 Novels: A Library of America

She's Come Undone (1992)

by Wally Lamb

Newport, Rhode Island

Rhode Island: 7/9

   The end is in sight for Rhode Island- another downer of a northeastern state without much joy to be found in it's selections from the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America.  I remember the sensation when She's Come Undone was released back in 1992.  I remember seeing it being carted around ad nauseum at my Bay Area high school by my female classmates and seeing it years afterward at college and in cafe's in various cities.  It was the fourth book in Oprah's Book Club and Lamb was the only man not Bill Cosby to be selected for years.  Importantly for its cultural longevity,  She's Come Undone was released in 1992 but Oprah didn't pick it till 1996 (the club didn't start until 1996).

 

  I never read it back then- I knew a 400 plus page book about a mentally disturbed young woman was not something I needed to take on when I was literally surrounded by them.  I remember, at the time, thinking that it was best to steer clear of women I saw carrying this book.   I can confirm, now having read She's Come Undone that I was right to be wary.  In 2023 what struck me most is that this a bildungroman/coming-of-age story written about a mentally ill, morbidly obese (she overcomes both hurdles) young woman, written by a middle aged man.  I went back and looked at the New York Times review- which didn't even mention it as an issue.  Obviously, Oprah well knew what she was doing when she picked it for her book club.  Critics at the time didn't see an issue and audiences obviously didn't care, maybe because Price is such a rich fictional creation. 

  At the same time it's hard to see a book written by a white middle age man about a woman who gets raped at 13, has major mental illness and spends her adolescence as a morbidly obese teen qualifies under whatever constitutes the authenticity threshold in 2023.  For example, if this book was about a non-white protagonist it's hard to imagine Lamb would have gotten the same pass, now or then.