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Sep 20, 2007

Matt rated it:

If rock'n'roll is your ideal, then this is a book you want to read. Not that Foxfire deals explicitly with music at any point, but Oates is able to distill that same electricity.

The story is set in the 50s, but, except for a few scattered cultural markers, it could just as easily be set in the contemporary moment. And I read it in that context. Nothing felt put on, or "for show." I've known women like the characters in this book, including some close friends I've gotten to More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 03, 2010

SomePig rated it:

There is no faulting the flow of Oates' prose. Having read Foxfire, I would even venture to say that I agree that she is a tour de force in contemporary fiction, but the star rating, as laid out by Goodreads, is all about how much I LIKE or don't LIKE a book. I really can't say I like this book. There are elements that I like. I like the character of Rita; I like the way Oates develops the foxfire motif, and I would even go as far as to say that certain passages would translate perfectly to More...

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Aug 23, 2010

Andrea Carolina rated it:

Yo no sé como vine a dar con este libro exactamente, leí el nombre de la autora alguna vez en algún sitio que no recuerdo, sitio pagina virtual, supongo que lo apunte en una de las tantas listas de libros y autores que tengo y que me llevo conmigo hasta la Patagonia pero que nunca saco para leer cuales son los autores o títulos que me interesan, así que en ese sitio donde venden los libros más baratos del mundo, me pille a Joyce Carol Oates y sí, mi memoria es pésima, pero yo quería leer libros More...

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Jan 03, 2009

Laurie rated it:

This novel is a fictionalized account of an all-female gang that forms in a working class community in upstate New York. The gang, Foxfire, is founded by a group of girls who've all suffered alientation and lack of parental attention. The girls share a sense of being alienated and restricted from any sort of real social benefits or meaningful relationships becuase of their age, gender, economic status, and family situation. The gang is formed, and begins, by using public humilation and minor vio More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 27, 2011

Renee rated it:

Foxfire is the book that impacted me the most in Middle school. Take that as you must, but I'm happy to see that, unlike The Catcher in the Rye, it holds up reading it with adult eyes. Of course, now, 10 years older than the last time I read it, I find issues with some of the characters I loved as a teenager, but I can see a desperation and naivete I couldn't see before. This book is one of many that cements Oates into the the hall of fame of awesome American writers.

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Apr 02, 2009

Caitlin rated it:

I love this book so much that I find it difficult to write about it without gushing. I mean, there is the obvious reason why, which is that it's about a girl gang that targets predatory men and boys - and of course, horrible pet shops - with a sense of prefeminist vengeance. Feminist vigilantism appeals to me on this base, primal level, even if I have problems with violence in general.

The book said a lot about the time and place in which everything took place. The sharp cla More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 21, 2009

Courtney rated it:

Reading some of the reviews for this book led me to believe that this book would be a good read. I was wrong.

One of my biggest pet peeves is authors who ignore good grammar and proper punctuation, and Joyce Carol Oates is one of those authors. This novel reads like it was written by a kid in junior high. All the switching between first and third person narrative left me confused. The book is written from the perspective of the adult Maddie, but tends to read like someone observing t More...

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Sep 04, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

Foxfire is a book that read itself. At first, I found the choppy stream-of-consciousness style hard to deal with. I had to re-read the first few pages several times. But after the first third, or so, I began to get a feel for the odd prose style. The run-on sentences, capital letters, and lack of punctuation dragged my eye across the page and made the book very difficult to put down. I read most of the last two hundred pages in a single sitting and can’t remember the last time I finished a b More...

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Nov 21, 2007

Carla rated it:

Foxfire never says die.
I have a Tattoo, based from this Book and the Movie that followed,...that starred Angelina Jolie. ;)
It's the story of a group of misfit girls, who fight back. Yes, they are a girl gang, but they aren't the offshoot of a boy gang. They aren't the girls of some local hoods. They are the ones running the show.
You are my Heart, Joyce. Foxfire Forever.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 18, 2011

Leilani rated it:

I like the way in which the book was written. Different from what I'm used to. Some interesting revelations on the self and growth. My favorite:
"Say there's a mirror you have trusted to give you a solid unblemished surface reflecting the world then suddenly it breaks and shatters revealing a thousand new surfaces, miniature angles of seeing that must have been there all along hidden in the mirror's bland face, but you hadn't known. Who is, who was. Whoever's reading this, if any More...

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Aug 04, 2011

Laurel rated it:

Set in the late '50s-'60's, this book chronicles the lifespan of women's gang. Legs Sadovsky is the gang leader, and she utilizes feminist guerrilla tactics in order to combat childhood sexual abuse, racism, classism, and just general injustice. At some point in the book, however, these tactics become even more extreme and radical, which leaves the reader wondering--at one point does activism become self-serving and addictively destructive. Wonderful book. Love Joyce Carol Oates. If you've seen More...

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Dec 28, 2008

Adele rated it:

Really, this is the only *novel* I've read by the infamous Oats. To be honest, any opinions about the book have been eclipsed by the more recently watched film starring Angie Jolie as a lesbian with a mission. Cut to Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley fame singing awful songs in what was a more awful movie, and you've basically ruined anything associated with this story. Hey, I like girl gangs as much as anybody else, but truly, my absolute inability to remember anything meaningful about this novel has l More...

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Feb 14, 2010

Steen rated it:

I wasn't really sure I was going to finish it, but once I got past the way she wrote it it was alright. Although it drove me nuts when Maddie who is telling the story would refer to herself in first person but switch to third person a sentence later. The book kept my interest enough for me to finish it but it was one of those 'meh' books for me. One I won't read again. Legs was an interesting character, the rest of them mostly, aside from Maddie, seem to have been just there for the most part. L More...

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Oct 20, 2007

Nicole rated it:

Just 'eh.' Not as exciting as a book about a girl gang should be.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 03, 2009

Anna rated it:

I appreciate that Oates took what on the surface is a purely titillating story of a group of "bad" girls who take revenge on their male aggressors and gave it more depth by inviting the reader to partake of the girls' deeper feelings of sexual shame, guilt, insecurity, and jealousy. She captures the thoughts and feelings of teenage girls really well. The book was a fun read but it did not leave me much to chew on afterwards. Also, I didn't like the skipping around between first-pers More...

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Jan 14, 2012

Christina rated it:

This is a really fun and exciting read, my favorite JCO work thus far. Here, Joyce Carol Oates is at her best. With such a young cast of characters Oates is at full liberty to show the smooth transition between social marginalization in childhood and an adult life that was far from ideal, a life of thievery. The links between poverty, social marginalization, institutionalization, and crime are clear to those who have experienced them. Never have I found a work of fiction that combines all th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 18, 2011

Chad rated it:

There is a chaotic energy that permeates Joyce Carol Oates' "Foxfire" such that with every word, it seems to be reaching up through the page, grabbing you by the scruff of your neck, and demanding that you pay attention to it. The narrator and principal characters are, for the most part, ordinary girls existing on the fringes of the mainstream in the 1950s. They are, to an exent, a bit more angry than the rest of us, but they are recognizable as real people. But Oates does not achie More...

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May 10, 2011

Sonia rated it:

Non avevo mai incontrato la Oates nelle mie letture e ora trovarla nelle parole di Maddy-Monkey e nei gesti di Legs è stato un incontro determinante.
E' la storia di una gang femminile degli States negli anni 50, una gang che vuole lottare contro il maschio, contro gli uomini e che si ritrova a comportarsi esattamente come gli stessi uomini, nelle loro violenze, nei loro agganci, nei loro imbrogli.
E' un libro duro e delicato allo stesso tempo. Una storia drammatica e a lieto fine, in un certo s More...

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Feb 10, 2009

Kristin rated it:

This was decent. Joyce Carol Oates writes in a pretty heavy, overtly emotional style. The character Legs seems a little contrived, and so do portions of the plot. However, it's entirely plausible to let someone like Legs, who seems to be the epitome of individuality and freedom, lead you down a path you rapidly lose control of. That's the point right -- doing things you've always wanted to or were maybe too afraid to because of what they meant. Somebody like Legs is equally necessary and destruc More...

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Nov 16, 2009

Jayaprakash rated it:

Joyce Carol Oates is the Lon Chaney of literature - the writer of a 1,000 voices. She chilled me with the sociopathic journalising of ZOMBIE, delighted with the purposely pompous, sometimes Gothic narrative of THE MYSTERIES OF WINTERTHUN and in Maddie Wirtz, professional stargazer and former girl-gang member, she has again created a unique voice to tell a powerful and hard-hitting tale. The girls of FOXFIRE are teenagers from the wrong side of the tracks who band together to try and be self-reli More...

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Dec 22, 2007

Amy rated it:

I remember seeing the movie based on this book in Blockbuster shortly after it came out on video, but I kept confusing it in my head with The Craft. So maybe that's why I was surprised to learn that, not only was it a book, but it was a book by Joyce Carol Oates.

I still haven't seen the movie, although I did Tivo an airing of it on Lifetime recently, but I gather that they decided to set it in the present day. The book is set in the 50's, where even the gangs seemed more innocent and q More...

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Nov 24, 2011

Kaitie rated it:

I kind of hated this book.

It's not that it was bad. I can see how people like it, I just didn't. I couldn't support the girls in their gang activity and I wasn't sympathetic towards them for most of the book. In addition to the characters, the writing really bugged me. Sentences just went on and on, so the lack of punctuation just drove me nuts. In my head, all those run-on sentences get read in a frantic, hurried way, which didn't lead to a very enjoyable experience.

1 comment like

Aug 05, 2009

Debbie rated it:

I read this book, admittedly, after seeing the movie on tv. It seemed like a completely different story. Or rather, that the movie was based on the first 50-100 pages or so of the book. Actually, I only somewhat paid attention to the second half of the movie, so maybe I'm wrong, but anyway, the tone felt completely different. In the book, it seemed like every man was a pervert, sexual predator and misogynist. Which the movie also touched upon, but not nearly as extremely. And I kept being More...

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Oct 27, 2008

Kyra rated it:

I really enjoyed “Foxfire” by Joyce Carol Oates. I actually liked the book “Black Water” by this author better, but “Foxfire” still contained the different components that made me want to read more books by Oates in the first place. The main character Legs Sadovsky is intoxicating. She has so many levels to her that you can’t help but be drawn into Leg’s and her causes. She is the epitome of a flawed hero, and as I was reading the novel, I was wishing that I had her courage. She may not hav More...

1 comment like

Jan 15, 2009

Cardee rated it:

Wowzer, this is such a tight narrative, the best JCO I've ever read. She kept up a quick pace that I never felt I needed a break from and did it for 328 pages: I think that's pretty masterful. Great characters, great everything, but maybe so great because directly afterwards I read Alice McDermott's After This, another good one, but so very different.

(yes, the word "great" appeared in this review 3 times.)

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Apr 12, 2011

Alexis rated it:

If anyone has read my other reviews, you should know that I love a book that shocks. And this books really does. I love the action, the words, and the fierce Legs, without whom we would have no story of heroic girls triumphing over the men that dominate their lives. Applause to Oates, who manages to capture the finest flawed characters and tell a story that I will remember forever.

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Jul 13, 2011

Dana rated it:

I have learned to love this author's writings. But this book was just too much for me. I gave up early on just because I could not handle the writing style in this book. I have never read an author that can change up topics, and writing style so much. Just because I did not like this book does not mean I will not read her again. Some of her books are my favorites.

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Mar 15, 2011

Sam added it

First of all, how good is this cover? But yeah, this was probably the first novel by Oates that I read. It must've been middle school, 7th or 8th grade. I was at my properly limousine liberal private school (that I love to this day), and this was the "feminist" novel that we read. I thought it was awesome but I can't remember a thing! I have to reread.

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May 01, 2009

Chris rated it:

Interesting writing style in this one, it took me a while to get used to. It flows as the characters thoughts do(without being totally stream of consciousness) but some of the sentences went on for more than a page. That drags a bit for me.

Would make a hell of an interesting movie, I think.

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Sep 10, 2011

Luisa rated it:

This was my first book from this author and I was very impressed. A very sensitive and well written incursion into the memories of a gang of adolescent girls in the 50s, from their own perspective. I particularly admired the complex and impressionist construction of the main characters.

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