The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares

Apr 13, 2013 David Stephens rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares is a collection of seven short stories that range from revenge thrillers to murderous sibling rivalries. Some of the tales don't stray too far from well worn horror plots, but, as is usually the case, Oates often elevates even these standard structures to a new level of creativity with her rich characters. She has an incredible ability to weave through their inner feelings and private thoughts with such clarifying force that it not only makes the characters b...more The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares is a collection of seven short stories that range from revenge thrillers to murderous sibling rivalries. Some of the tales don't stray too far from well worn horror plots, but, as is usually the case, Oates often elevates even these standard structures to a new level of creativity with her rich characters. She has an incredible ability to weave through their inner feelings and private thoughts with such clarifying force that it not only makes the characters believable with their human flaws and desires but also provides insight into their poor or cruel decisions.

This is certainly the case for the eponymous novella in which a young girl, Marissa, is abducted by a few of her fellow classmates. What could have been a standard kidnapping turns into a much more introspective look at the effects of these kind of dire situations and how protected people can really be. Early on in the story, Marissa's mom, Leah, debates whether or not to call the police when she finds that Marissa is missing. It may seem like she should immediately call them, but her fears of being branded a terrible mother by the community and an indifferent media prevent her from doing so. So, while Oates could have quickly moved the story forward, she pauses instead to reveal many of Leah's insecurities about her public image, her parenting abilities, and her viability as a suitable partner, which I imagine are shared by many parents.

The two best stories of the bunch are "Fossil-Figures" and "Death-Cup." They both deal with rivalrous twin brothers and could represent opposite ends of the spectrum in regard to how great of a connection there is between twins. In the former, the twins couldn't be more different. One is a reclusive and artistic painter, dogged by physical disabilities his whole life. The other is a successful conservative politician, briefly reaching the most elite status. And, yet they share a connection they can never quite get away from throughout their entire lives.

The latter story depicts one suave, charismatic twin who seems to come away from every challenge undaunted and one meek, timid twin often down on his luck. It is not until the timid twin tries to live the life of his brother that his brother's streak of luck ends, suggesting they each have a separate role to play.

There are a few problems, however, that Oates' great characterizations can't overcome. One story—"Beersheba"—plays out like a traditional revenge tale with a protagonist willing to walk right into trouble's way. It's not a bad story exactly but doesn't add anything to the subgenre. "Helping Hands" portrays a widow's attempt to provide companionship for herself while helping out an injured veteran. While the turn around at the end of the story is a plus, readers have to wade for far too long through the widow's aimless desire to fill the void her husband's death left. This story also showcases how Oates' writing can become a little too maudlin at times, where every glance or small ache can be seen as a sign of that characters' spirit.

So, overall, while the stories mostly remain within convention, they do so with enough flair to make them stand out.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Sep 18, 2012 H R Koelling rated it 4 of 5 stars

These weren't scary stories in the traditional sense of what I was expecting, but they were psychologically frightening. I can't say I remember reading an entire JCO book before, although I studied some of her short stories in college. This book was really really good. Again, I am biased because several of the stories take place in New York State, including upstate and the Adirondacks. I love reading about all the little towns New York has, and which I've driven through or visited when I lived i...more

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 02, 2012 Jason Rolfe rated it 5 of 5 stars

It would be understating the obvious to call Joyce Carol Oates a gifted writer. Her short stories have defined and refined the form, while many place her amongst the best American novelists of the past century. Her works range from mainstream literary, to mystery, to Gothic in the truest, perhaps purest, sense of the word. Her writing is rife with emotion, her characters capturing the very essence of humanness in the wonder and the humour, the horror and the disquiet they convey. With The Corn M...more It would be understating the obvious to call Joyce Carol Oates a gifted writer. Her short stories have defined and refined the form, while many place her amongst the best American novelists of the past century. Her works range from mainstream literary, to mystery, to Gothic in the truest, perhaps purest, sense of the word. Her writing is rife with emotion, her characters capturing the very essence of humanness in the wonder and the humour, the horror and the disquiet they convey. With The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares, Oates once again experiments with style and form to frightening effect.

The seven stories in this collection reinforce the fact that Oates has never stopped evolving, never stopped challenging convention. The disturbing novella, ‘The Corn Maiden’ opens the collection with an unsettling subtleness that invokes memories of her 1994 collection, Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque (Dutton, 1994). But Oates cannot be compared, even to herself, because she refuses to remain static. Between then and now she has grown as a writer. She has challenged and changed the genres she claims, bringing unbridled creativity (of style and story) to everything she touches.

In ‘Nobody Knows My Name’ (dedicated, like her 1994 collection, to Ellen Datlow), Oates is at her disconcerting best, deftly weaving style and substance into a tale of sibling jealousy as seen through the eyes of a new big sister. As with the best and purest Gothic fiction, the supernatural element is never blatant. The fear we feel can be found in the words so carefully chosen by the writer, in the assumptions born within the shadows of our own minds. This is what Oates does. This is how she works. She reaches into each of us, she finds and draws out our fear in a way no other writer can. She disturbs, she disquiets, she unsettles. She shocks with slight insinuation.

Joyce Carol Oates is an extremely talented writer. For those who have never read her work before, The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares would be an excellent introduction. But do not assume, having read it, that you know her as a writer. To fully appreciate the depth and breadth of this magnificently gifted writer, explore earlier works as well. Revisit this one. Anticipate untold tales. Like the seven stories contained within this collection they will haunt you long after you’ve closed the book. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Jun 24, 2012 Lisa Rathbun added it

I'm not sure how to rate this. The stories are compelling and well-written, but their content is chilling and dark and sometimes the ending is too vague. I prefer a clear and obvious denouement. **POSSIBLE SPOILERS** "Helping Hands" pulled you into Helene's world, disturbingly and inexorably, because she behaves like she's in a trance, compelled to a horrible ending which she should have foreseen but seemed powerless to avoid. You feel like you're inside her head which made the ending disappoint...more I'm not sure how to rate this. The stories are compelling and well-written, but their content is chilling and dark and sometimes the ending is too vague. I prefer a clear and obvious denouement. **POSSIBLE SPOILERS** "Helping Hands" pulled you into Helene's world, disturbingly and inexorably, because she behaves like she's in a trance, compelled to a horrible ending which she should have foreseen but seemed powerless to avoid. You feel like you're inside her head which made the ending disappointing to me because I wasn't sure what happened. "A Hole in the Head" was similar as the author draws you into the inner workings of the person's mind even if you don't WANT to see it deteriorate; it too left me unclear as to the actual ending. "Death-Cup" drew me in with sympathy for the good twin who was rendered powerless against his brother's evil. "Fossil-Figures" was another weird twin story; I didn't like it as much. It was weird, creepy, and sad, and plus had the tired trope of the "demon-brother" being a conservative politician. Do liberals never see how transparent it is that their villains are ALWAYS Republicans? "Beersheba" was grimly dark with a loser of a main character that made it hard to feel compassion for him. "Nobody Knows My Name" was horrifyingly creepy; I don't like stories about evil children who hurt other children. Again the ending is a bit ambiguous except for the fact that innocence is dead. "The Corn Maiden" was the longest and my favorite. I hated the beginning because the narrator was so despicable, but then I realized that there were several points of view presented in the story, and I was fascinated by the horrifying events. I was also struck by a clear metaphor between Jude and the feral cats. The ending did not leave me either satisfied or terrified, but the main central part of the story was powerful. One characteristic of Oates' writing that I enjoy is that she will break the rules of conventional syntax to convey clustered and rambling thoughts of disturbed people. These stories would be fascinating to discuss with someone, but like any book of horror, sometimes I feel more stained and corrupted by the reading than anything else. (Offensive language and subject matter.)(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 22, 2012 Cosmo rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this volume on a whim and fell in love. It's been years, well to be honest, decades since I first read Joyce Carol Oates' stories. They were assigned in college, as I recall, and perhaps for that reason, I didn't click with them. I was aware that her interests had become more gothic, more horrific over the years. Similarly, I realized in my middle age that it was OK to read beyond the prim and proper confines of literary fiction, that my soul was not in danger if I strayed toward mor...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 24, 2012 Maureen Lang rated it 2 of 5 stars

Although Ms. Oates is an accomplished, evocative writer - and there were lines that inspired awe of her ability - there were several reasons I couldn't give this book more than two (or two and a half) stars. The first challenge came in the opening of the novella, the first of several nightmarish stories in this collection. For several pages, I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on. It was largely a point of view problem, coupled with what I can only assume was the intentional...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 02, 2012 Tamora Pierce rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, contemporary, horror, short-stories

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Dec 08, 2011 Barry Eysman rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares is very well written. As are the very well written reviews. Very. None of the stories are especially nightmarish or memorable, save one. I've read all of her work since college. I have championed her and been devoted to it. The last story Hole in the Head, is the nightmarish one because of the facts on trepanning. So if you're going in for brain surgery anytime, I recommend you read this first. And send a copy of it to everybody you know. And any kind of surg...more The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares is very well written. As are the very well written reviews. Very. None of the stories are especially nightmarish or memorable, save one. I've read all of her work since college. I have championed her and been devoted to it. The last story Hole in the Head, is the nightmarish one because of the facts on trepanning. So if you're going in for brain surgery anytime, I recommend you read this first. And send a copy of it to everybody you know. And any kind of surgery actually.

Her stories here are a half-hearted performance. We go to her writing, because it's enjoyable to read and challenging. I think many of us also read her because we are in pain. She writes about that so eloquently, mystically.

Her book to writers is Faith of a Writer. It gives us everything , especially beginning writers, need of comfort and wisdom. But....there's this JCO which she uses in her fiction.

And in public appearances and finds it amusing that we think of her a certain way, dark, alone, mysterious, awkward and shy, of course it is because she paints herself that way in everything in fiction she writes, for instance, the cameo of her in her novel them. In non-fiction she is herself. If this is an act, who is she in A Widow's Story?

The tragic horrible death of her husband and how she survives is a cataclysmic thing, a study in sadness and bravery epic. I lost my deepest friend two weeks before I read this book. It saved my life. Unfortunately. Cold comfort. However, I can't tell her JCO character from Rosamund Smith, a pen name or others. Perhaps she does not know this is really her. Another writer I love did this sometime ago.

He wrote a passage of such sadness and then told us cold bloodedly how he made us feel what we did, as I was weeping over it. I felt like I had been hit in the stomach by a trusted friend. I don't trust him anymore. So yes in writing there are gimmicks.

Sadly writers can be very cruel. But if a minute of a lasting joke can tear a career apart, I don't care. In one of her stories the first line is a huge profanity. It was so funny and shocking. In the novella Corn Maiden, there is another opening of profanity. This time it's not funny. It's just tiresome. Some writers you entrust with your heart.

She writes deeply and complexly. And some of it is absolutely transcendent. But I approach it with a distance now. Writers owe us nothing. Not even their words. The pressure she faces, the hard work must be immense.

The vastness of it. The intense fearless writer of her. It's just that when a person you admire has told you a story that seems as though (s)he wrote it inside your bones, then turns around and laughs in your face, I'm sorry, but then they do owe you something. Nobody likes to get screwed over. Not by anyone.

A person can be a fine writer. Period. Watch your step, though. Read her journal for how far in depth she goes for one novel. Her Smith persona writes mystery novels about twins, so maybe like all of us, she is not sure most understandably who she is and is only playing games in her own expensive mind.
(less)

like · see review

Nov 06, 2011 rameau rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-galley, annoying-1st-3rd-voice-mixing, horror, psychology, read-in-2011

First of all, if you don't like nightmares and don't want to be scared and repulsed by the horrors ordinary people do, don't read this. Since I'm one of the slightly skewed people who enjoy reading about the darker side of the human nature, I actually enjoyed the book and most of the short stories within.

I got lost in the pain and desperation Marissa's mother felt when she found her daughter missing and her world unravelling under the scrutiny of the authorities and the public. I felt the confu...more

4 likes · like · see review

Nov 17, 2011 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ok.....I love the way this lady writes but quite frankly, at times I wonder if she's nuts.

I.e., one of the stories was about a crazed teen girl luring her dead mother's ex into an abandoned churchyard/graveyard and then slicing his achilles' heel.

Leaving him to die.

What a sick mind! Really, ....there are times I need a break from her. After all, this is a woman who never had children and some of her stories are way way over the top.

Also, not in this particular series but another group of short...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 29, 2012 C. Michael Hall rated it 4 of 5 stars

Joyce Carol Oates is a rarity among American authors in that she is not afraid to write stories which are both ambiguous and discomfiting, two things that, as some reviews indicate, aren't widely embraced by American readers. Her explorations of the horrors and grotesqueries lurking beneath the surface of everyday life revolve not around questions asked, answered, and indexed, but around subjective experiences which can be interpreted in a myriad of ways. This, coupled with Oates' penchant for p...more

like · see review

Sep 20, 2012 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

And so my love-hate relationship with Joyce Carol Oates continues.

"The Corn Maiden" : Easily the best story in the collection; in fact, I wish she had fleshed it out more and made it into a stand-alone novel. Very suspenseful and disturbingly believable. (I did not, however, buy the "couple" who were together at the end.)

"Beersheba" : Horrible short story. Waste of ink and paper.

"Nobody Knows My Name" : Good setup, terrible payoff. And since none of the "nightmares" in this book involve anything...more

like · see review

Jan 25, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

I always enjoy JCO's short stories, much more than any of her novels I've read. The first story in this collection is a doozy, the kind that keeps you worrying all the way through. Not sure I was absolutely in love with the ending, but it did stick with me. Other stories have faded a bit from my memory since reading this is early December, but one about a plastic surgeon whose client strongarms him into an ill-advised (and illegal) procedure remains eerily in the forefront. Did I mention the sur...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 18, 2011 Chibineko rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: well-written-but-not-my-style, addicting, netgalley, horror, thriller, weird, suspense

I'll admit outright that I'm not overly a fan of Oates' writing style, but dangit... she knows how to write. Even as I asked myself why I'm reading the stories since I wasn't really digging them, I couldn't help but admire how well she managed to keep me turning the pages despite that.

First off, I just have to repeat the statement that Joyce Carol Oates knows how to keep someone reading. I really didn't like the writing style that the first story was written in but I just had to keep reading pu...more I'll admit outright that I'm not overly a fan of Oates' writing style, but dangit... she knows how to write. Even as I asked myself why I'm reading the stories since I wasn't really digging them, I couldn't help but admire how well she managed to keep me turning the pages despite that.

First off, I just have to repeat the statement that Joyce Carol Oates knows how to keep someone reading. I really didn't like the writing style that the first story was written in but I just had to keep reading purely because I had to, no needed to know how it all ended. The titular story (Corn Maiden) is just one of many stories in this book, all of which delivered that same "gotta know how it ends" tension and suspense.

Out of all of the stories, I have to say that Helping Hands grabbed me the most. Some of the stories, such as Beersheba, piqued my curiousity and kept me thinking, but it was Helping Hands that really made me keep reading. All of the stories here deal with a very human and realistic evil, but HH was the far more realistic of all of them, which I liked. The "evil" in this story was all the more heartbreaking for the situations all of the characters were in.

While I do have to give JCO props for drawing me in, some of the stories seemed a little too much at times. Either they were drawn out a little longer than they should have been or they just didn't grab me like their counterparts did. I know that there are some here that I'll want to re-read but there's just as many that I don't really care to pick up again.

This was a good Halloween read and one that JCO's fans will want to grab as soon as the books hit the shelves, but for the rest of us I recommend it as a library read. This is one of the books I would recommend reading regardless of your personal tastes, but it might be a good idea to check it out at the library instead. In the end it's JCO's ability to keep me reading that makes me give it as many stars as I have.

4 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 06, 2011 Chris Bauer rated it 4 of 5 stars

A solid collection of short(er) fiction from Joyce Carol Oates. I really enjoyed reading the embedded novella (at 140 pages) "Corn Maiden" in the collection. A chilling account of abduction, guilt, false accusation and redemption. Some Goodreads reviewers have complained about the uneven writing, the different POV narrators and somewhat free form prose during the story. Not me. I found it to be a very gripping and well crafted work of fiction. Picked up a number of new techniques to try in my ow...more

like · see review

Nov 10, 2011 Lolly LKH rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love her work! Always devour them. Corn Maiden was a tough read because I have children but I think even not being a mom, it is disturbing. Such a creepy story because of who is committing the horrible crime. Oates always gets into the meat of people, always. What they think of themselves and how other people see them, she has a gift for writing believable stories. Corn Maiden is really good.
Every story in this book of nightmares is disturbing, not so much because it is any 'slasher horror' bu...more

like · see review

Oct 30, 2011 Lydia Presley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, dark-fiction, fiction, short_stories

Original review posted here

So this collection of short stories.. it packs a mean punch. I mean right out of the gate, Joyce Carol Oates slams her readers with a story about “innocent” young girls and the horrific acts they can commit. Seriously, people, I have goosebumps just thinking about the story and it’s been a few weeks since I read it.

One after another, each story hits where you least expect to be hit. From showing the darker side of charity, the immense pain of loneliness, the all-too-hu...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 26, 2011 Lakis Fourouklas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Melancholy and agony are the two prevalent elements in this short story collection that comes out in America next week; agony about what tomorrow is going to bring, and melancholy for everything that the protagonists are going or have gone through and about their lives’ ever repeating deadlocks.
The title story, which has the size of a novella, is I’d dare say the best by far. Reading through it we come to find out about the tragic events that take place in the life of a desperate woman, but we...more Melancholy and agony are the two prevalent elements in this short story collection that comes out in America next week; agony about what tomorrow is going to bring, and melancholy for everything that the protagonists are going or have gone through and about their lives’ ever repeating deadlocks.
The title story, which has the size of a novella, is I’d dare say the best by far. Reading through it we come to find out about the tragic events that take place in the life of a desperate woman, but we are also given a chance to have a good look into the darkness of some young souls. It all begins when eleven year old Marissa goes missing. The first suspect is a young professor, but soon enough he’s cleared since he has an alibi. Leah, the girl’s mother thinks that he’s innocent too and somehow, little by little she starts getting close to him. As they talk things over they come to think that there’s a big conspiracy taking place behind their backs. And a conspiracy there is. However, when the drama reaches its peak things take an unexpected turn which leads in a crude and ironical way to the fulfillment of somebody’s dream.
Brad Shiftke and Stacey Lynn, a mysterious man and a young woman, star in Beersheba. Brad lives in Carthage, New York, where he one day meets Stacey who comes to visit. As it turns out she’s his second wife’s daughter. According to her he’s to blame for her mother’s death. Now she’s here to seek revenge.
Jessica is a little girl that doesn’t feel so well these days. She and her family are in a house on the mountains, a place she loves, but this time she cannot really enjoy her stay there. And that’s only because the baby is with them; her newborn sister that draws all the attention on her and makes her jealous. Only one creature can really understand how she feels and that is none other than a gray cat. Nobody Knows My Name is the title of the story.
The life stories of two brothers Edgar and Edward is what we come to read in Fossil-Figures. The two of them couldn’t be any different. The one is like a force of nature: strong, arrogant, willing to do anything to reach his goals, while the other is quiet, good-hearted, capable of doing great things, but unable to step outside, into the greedy and wild world where his brother thrives. As it is bound to happen they will take different paths in life, but one day they will meet again and then things will look completely different from the time their journey begun.
A couple of brothers that somehow remind us of the ones above are also the protagonists in Death-Cup. Lyle and Alastor meet for the first time in many years a few days before the funeral of their rich uncle Gardner, and the first has no doubt whatsoever that his brother came back for the widow’s money. However he’ll do nothing to stop him from fulfilling his plans. Their relationship looks like a stretched thread that’s bound to break, but when that happens it doesn’t happen in the way that one would expect it to.
In Helping Hands we read the story of a woman whose husband has died only recently and who now tries to start a new life. However, to do that she first has to get rid of a lot of his things; things that are of no use anymore, but which also never stop reminding her of him. So she visits a war veterans’ charity to make a donation and it’s exactly there that she meets a man that brings back to life the woman in her.
A Hole in the Hands, the final story in this collection, is a story about vanity. Lucas Brede is a cosmetic surgeon that lately doesn’t do so well. He has money troubles and his business is slowing down and thus he’s desperate. As things start to get from bad to worse, he reaches a point where he’d do just about anything to earn some money, even if it goes against his personal ethics. A vain woman gives him the opportunity to do just that, but things do not turn exactly right and now he has to live with the consequences of his actions.
This is a great collection of stories by one of the best American authors, which every friend of the genre can surely enjoy.
(less)

like · see review

May 18, 2012 Dick Hamilton rated it 2 of 5 stars

I must admit that Joyce Carol Oates, Willa Cather, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Neil Gaiman, these are basically my favorite authors. However, this was just not Ms. Oates best work. I liked the Corn Maiden, but the ending did not seem to surprise although in total this story was quite good. The other stories basically did not haunt enough to warrant the title of nightmare. I could follow where the stories were going too easily, and that has not been characteristic of most of her prior work. Still, a...more

like · see review

Nov 30, 2011 Lacey rated it 3 of 5 stars

The main and first story, "The Corn Maiden," is a good read and I enjoyed it enough that I would recommend it. The others in the this book, however, I found to be either pointless or feeling as if they were half-finished. Perhaps it's the writing style, which did irritate me after a while. The stories in themselves aren't bad, but they instead of frightening me they just left me feeling neutral about them.

I've read other reviews and it seems that others do enjoy the stories, even when they find...more

like · see review

Apr 06, 2013 James rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-literature

Oates' collection of short stories in The Corn Maiden are not traditional horror stories with blood, gore, and monsters, but rather unsettling tales that slowly build up tension. Of the seven stories in the collection, the strongest is The Corn Maiden, a tale of a group of teenage girls attempting an American Indian sacrifice on a classmate; other standouts include A Hole in the Head, about a bizarre medical procedure gone wrong, and Death-Cup - a story about twin brothers forever opposed.

The r...more

like · see review

Apr 02, 2012 Jody rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reading-list-2011-12-horror

Joyce Carol Oates writes amazing "literary" horror, tightly constructed stories with a unique voice that live inside your head for a few days after, causing you to shudder over the mundane that echoes something you just experienced in a very different context. The title story refers to the Native American folk belief that involved sacrificing a young girl to ensure good crops. A very sick young mind latches onto the idea and lures a young girl into a danger that not only threatens her life but a...more

like · see review

Jun 24, 2012 Dawn Napier rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had no idea that Joyce Carol Oates was such an amazing writer. I'd seen her work here and there, but I never paused to pick anything up. I am kicking myself now.
Her stories dig deep into the flesh and bone of what it is to be a mother, a wife, and a woman. She yanks out the spleen of every woman's worst nightmares and exposes it to the light of day. Her work reminds me of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, in which King explores the ultimate worst-case-scenario: the death of a child. Oates's writing...more

like · see review

Jun 10, 2012 Jessica Smith-harper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Joyce Carol Oates is brilliant in her dissection of horrific events and the seemingly ordinary people who perpetrate the crimes. She shines a flashlight into the dark crevices of the mind and exposes the psyches of several different killers, slowing down time for each murder. If, as a reader, you are unfamiliar with her twisted characters or put off by psychological explorations, this book may offend you. I could only give it 4 out of 5 stars as the subject matter is so grim. Still, her writing...more

like · see review

Jul 16, 2012 Monty rated it 3 of 5 stars

This collection of short stories was my first introduction to Joyce Carol Oates, an author I will read more of in the future. There's an element of twistedness and malevolence in the characters as well as naivety with a mixture of both intelligence and poor judgment. Sometimes the endings don't seem like endings and other times there are attempts to be like O'Henry. I enjoyed most of the stories and at times would find myself getting really involved in the characters and plot-lines. Does anyone...more

like · see review

Jan 09, 2013 Kirsty rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: received-for-review, short-stories, read-for-review, read-2013

Many thanks to Head of Zeus for kindly sending me a copy of this book.

I was all set to give The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares three stars on the strength of one wonderful story and one very good one. Considering that this volume is made up of six stories, or 'nightmares', however, the majority of which I didn't enjoy, a two star review is what it shall receive.

As far as prolific authors go, Joyce Carol Oates must certainly be floating somewhere around the summit. She seems to write at a trul...more Many thanks to Head of Zeus for kindly sending me a copy of this book.

I was all set to give The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares three stars on the strength of one wonderful story and one very good one. Considering that this volume is made up of six stories, or 'nightmares', however, the majority of which I didn't enjoy, a two star review is what it shall receive.

As far as prolific authors go, Joyce Carol Oates must certainly be floating somewhere around the summit. She seems to write at a truly astonishing rate, and has many works, both fiction and non-fiction, to her name. This book, her newest offering, is heralded as 'the brilliant new offspring of one of America's most terrifying imaginations'. The use of terrifying here is definitely correct. In Oates' 'nightmarish world', a young girl is enticed by her peers after school one day and is force fed cottage cheese and milk for months upon end to keep her at some semblance of life, and a gory surgeon inhabits an equally gory world.

The title story is a 'composite drawn from traditional sacrifice rituals', states a handy footnote at the bottom of its opening page. This story is really more of a novella, standing at a grand 138 pages, whilst those which follows it are far more modest in their length. 'The Corn Maiden' is told from the perspective of an unnamed bystander, involved in a plot but never truly a part of its cruelty. Its style is experimental, both in terms of its narrative style and the techniques it employs, and with regard to its lack of much needed punctuation. It is rather difficult to read at times in consequence. Its content does not help, either. The 'Corn Maiden' of the story is an eleven-year-old girl named Marissa Bantry, who gains the surprise of her captors when she willingly follows their ringleader to the house which she shares with her grandmother: 'The Corn Maiden walked! On her own two feet the Corn Maiden walked, she was not forced, or carried... The Corn Maiden was never threatened... [She] was treated with reverence, respect, and kindness. (Except we had to scare her, a little. There was no other way Jude said).'

Marissa's mother is left in a well-written state of shock after her daughter fails to return from school on this fateful day: 'She would lose track of time. She was the mother, she was responsible. For eleven years she had not lost her child, every mother's terror of losing her child, an abrupt physical loss, a theft, a forcible abduction'. In this way, with the stories of Marissa, her mother and the captors, the wider whole is really a series of interlinked tales, all of which consist of dark undertones. Despite this, the title story is one of the weakest in the entire collection.

The strength of the collection is certainly 'Nobody Knows My Name', in which a young girl named Jessica's life changes forever when her longed for baby sister arrives. A sense of detachment is built up immediately in Jessica's refusal to utter the name of her new sibling, and she is consequently referred to throughout as 'Baby'. Jessica relishes the thought of a holiday with her parents, but almost as soon as they arrive, the darkness sets in once more: 'Yet even here Baby was the center of all happiness, and the center of all attention. As if a radiant light shone out of Baby's round blue eyes which everybody except Jessica could see... For she [Jessica] was such a silly child, such an ugly stupid left-behind child', and even her mother declares that she has far more love for Baby than for her eldest daughter. Another good story is found within 'Fossil-Figures', but even this tapers out towards its rather predictable and unsatisfying end.

Throughout, Oates builds up the creepiness in her stories in an expert manner, and she seamlessly builds up a strong sense of foreboding. She does not provide easy reading or nice, redeeming storylines for her audience. Instead, she highlights the cruelty of human beings, the pain of healing after an ordeal, drug abuse, the notions of self-esteem and self-confidence and how easily they can be eradicated, and strength prevailing over weakness. The tales are gruesome and sad in equal measure, and are certainly not for the faint of heart (as I must admit I am!).(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 29, 2012 L-J Johnson rated it 3 of 5 stars

There's something about Oates' writing style that just mesmerizes me. When I read her, I walk aroung my real life with her book playing in my head. But that feeling, while wonderful, is what caused my problem with this book - it doesn't translate well to short stories. They were never long enough for me to fully be carried away...

That said, this was great. The stories were creepy and unsettling in a way that only Oates can manage. I couldn't put it down and it only doesn't rate a much higher rat...more

like · see review

Aug 31, 2012 Rachel rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories

Joyce Carol Oates is not Shirley Jackson, but she reminds me of her. The story I liked most was "Fossil-Figures" about twins who cannot live without each other even when they are miles and years apart. There is another story about twins in this book also, with a good and a bad twin, but the good twin isn't as good as he should be. The story I totally didn't get was "Beersheba". If that story hadn't been included, I probably would have given the book another star. Overall, the stories are unsettl...more

like · see review

Nov 04, 2012 Dani rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: emotionally-disturbing, crime-drama, fiction, horror-thriller, suspense-mystery

I picked this up for a spooky October read and was really impressed. There are no ghosts here... nothing supernatural or other-worldly at all. Instead, Oates calls on we people to provide the disturbing circumstances for her short stories. Basically, sibling rivalry and family dysfunction provided the backdrop for most of the short stories in this collection. Dude... people are creepy. The stories aren't horror... or even scary really... at least not to me. But they are disturbing. That is a fac...more

like · see review

Jul 17, 2012 Tina Marlene rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates

Okay, I should admit that I am a huge fan of Joyce Carol Oates and am biased from the outset. I love that she includes psychology, philosophy and sociology in her stories, especially in her creepy dark tales like the ones in this collection. (In general, I'm not a fan of politics in fiction.)
Death appears in each of these stories. Death is most likely prominent in nightmares dreamt by us all.
“The Corn Maiden” has very interesting chang...more The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates

Okay, I should admit that I am a huge fan of Joyce Carol Oates and am biased from the outset. I love that she includes psychology, philosophy and sociology in her stories, especially in her creepy dark tales like the ones in this collection. (In general, I'm not a fan of politics in fiction.)
Death appears in each of these stories. Death is most likely prominent in nightmares dreamt by us all.
“The Corn Maiden” has very interesting changes with the point of view throughout the novella sized story. One section of the story seems to be told by a group point of view. Hmmmm, this made me rethink the supposed “rules” of writing fiction. The story seemed to be somewhat based on a horrible incident that occurred a few years ago in a north western state of the U.S. (This type of “nightmare” really does occur.) “The Corn Maiden” is a realistic and believable horror story. It is an expertly written tearjerker that will not let you sleep until you have finished reading it. But when you do finally get to sleep, you'll probably have nightmares.
“Helping Hands” reminds me a little of "Where are you going, where have you been?” with the same sort of existential questions brought up by both stories. "Why are you out looking for a lover's attention if you won't get into my golden jalopy?" “Why did you ask the question if you don't want to know the answer?” “Why are you playing with danger if you don't want to get hurt?” What the character claims she “really wanted” do not matter in the least; actions are followed by consequences, and consequences do not care about the “intentions” of mortals. The consequences are out of the character's control.
In this story a recent widow is depressed, stunned and completely lost in her world. She finds something meaningful and hopeful in her life when she decides to take on a new project in the form of a disabled war vet. In her dream she will save him and he will fill her void. She will pay for his education and hire him to be her companion and he will live in the butler quarters of her huge, lonely house. Together they will enjoy going to the theater, opera and museums. Perhaps one day their friendship will lead to something deeper. She does not see the disabled vet with open eyes. She doesn't see past her misty dream of them living only for each other, in a gentle world, until it is too late and the nightmare comes to her in the “twilight of her bedroom.” I did not predict the ending. I didn't stop to think of who would most likely do what to whom, I just continued to read so I could find out what was going to happen next. Spoiler here: At the end of this story I think she is a ghost, or she could be in a coma, it doesn't really matter because from then on she exists in an altered, nightmare state where she fears the arrival of the “Helping Hands” van, the same van she once was so happy to see and hoped would bring her companion to stay with her forever.
There are two twin (twin twin?) stories in this book. One of the stories seems familiar, it may be loosely based on the lives and strange deaths of a real life pair of siblings.
I am most fond of the story “Nobody Knows My Name”. It is touching and frightening, and took me to the strange, insular, dream-like world of an alienated little girl. It is just right. This story doesn't go overboard with the thrills and chills, it is as quiet as a cat. “Nobody Knows My Name” lives in a beautiful, innocent, terrible, and natural place.
“A Hole in the Head” The doctor seems to be alcoholic who suffers from blackouts. Whatever he does during his blackouts are not his fault since he can't remember what he did. He does much to escape responsibility and refuses to take the blame for any wrongs he has committed. He indulges in ethical relativism to justify bad actions or blames whatever is handy: rich Jewish students, the economy, the drill from the hardware store, the weather, the victim. He easily goes completes transforms from being a supposedly caring doctor who swore to do no harm into a remorseless murderer.
This book by Joyce Carol Oates is highly recommended by one of her many fans.
(less)

like · see review

title link	preview: The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares
avg rating	preview: The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares Goodreads rating: 3.24 (516 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11206174-the-corn-maiden-and-other-nightmares?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328824076l/11206174.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11206174-the-corn-maiden-and-other-nightmares?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates[/url]

The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (9)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Joyce Carol Oates

Books by Joyce Carol Oates

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About The Corn Maiden a...

Quotes from The Corn Maiden and Ot...