The Tattooed Girl
by Joyce Carol Oates
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 612)
Read in September, 2007
This has to be one of the worst books I have ever read. The only reason I finished it was because it was a book club pick. The whole book is filled with anti-Semitic slurs. I couldn't care less about any of the characters. It was difficult to find a redeeming quality to anyone. Also, certain facts are never discovered (what was Seigl's disease and who tattooed the girl and why???) I really wonder if the person who wrote the blurb on the book cover read the same book that I did. It was nothing li...more
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Read in October, 2007
Ugh. The synopsis on the book jacket is pretty deceiving. It makes this "tattooed girl" seem so alluring and mysterious, which made us book club members curious about reading it. Well, this story is a big depressing angry mess. It's all about ignorance. The author guy has no clue his assistant is a stupid anti-Semite, and she has no clue about much of anything. It's hard to feel sorry for her. There were small glimmers of good writing, but not enough to save this book.
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Read in October, 2008
The main protagonist is Joshua Seigl, a writer who after having published a very celebrated book in his youth finds himself unable to complete any projects. He meets Alma, a young woman with weird tatoos all over her body. He offers her a job as his assistant and she ends up living in his house helping him out when he gets sick.
Alma comes with a troubled past and has met up with a young man who's abusing her and using her to earn him money and to get back at Seigl who he hates because Seigl is...more
Alma comes with a troubled past and has met up with a young man who's abusing her and using her to earn him money and to get back at Seigl who he hates because Seigl is...more
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Read in June, 2008
The best thing I can say about this book is the portion at the end. In this copy, there was a bio and an interview with the author. I love Joyce Carol Oates. Her short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" has a Flannery O'Connor ring to it. I have read Blonde, a large novel based on Marilyn Monroe, We Were the Mulvaneys, and her non-fiction book Faith of a Writer. All of these impressed me. However, the Tattooed Girl was not nearly the caliber as the other works. I ...more
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The Tattooed Girl, by Joyce Carol Oates, is a cleaver romantic novel. The book follows a middle-aged Jewish author name Joshua Siegl and a peculiar girl named Alma Busch in her twenties. It tells the story of the two and how they find comfort and interest in each as they form an unusual relationship. Oates is a highly proclaimed author and a graduate from Syracuse University. She is the Author to books such as Blonde, The Gravedigger’s Daughter, We Were the Mulvaneys, and Broke Heart Blues.
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Read in April, 2008
I picked this up in the library on a whim. I'm rarely disappointed with Oates. I needed some fiction to get me through the dull moments while subbing and this one was great. Like "We Were the Mulvaneys" and "The Gravedigger's Daughter" she writes about mankind. The pros and cons of it. The rags to riches or the spiraling downfall. This is another one of them. And the ending is incredibly if not tragic. Sort of an exclamation mark at the end of the sentece when it wasn...more
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Read in January, 2007
This is my favorite of her books and I've read a lot. I hope that she is finally recognized for her work and is awarded the Nobel this year. Come on Horace. The States aren't completely bereft of literary achievement.
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Read in November, 2007
This book was okay, but I never really felt invested in the characters or cared what happened to them. By the time I started to like them, all I had left was an overly dramatic and fast ending. I haven't read other Joyce Carol Oates books, but this one felt like a teacher trying to be naughty - the violent, sexual, and just plain icky passages in the book felt forced and out of place. Usually I am not offended by graphic stuff, but this just didn't belong.
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Read in February, 2008
Another great book by Oates; this time one that came out in the last few years. I thought that this novel in particular is a great example of how she cuts back and forth between points of view, without confusing the narrative -- just enriching it. The story was engrossing, and I thought it moved along well. The ending was surprising in an unsurprising way, if that makes any sense. :) You'll have to read it to find out!
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I didn't like the ending at all, but it was a great read. Very intense.
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I haven't read much Oates, but I've found that you have to be in the right mood to read her--otherwise you'll either become depressed or incredibly depressed. Her writing is very dark. But she writes really well and creates memorable, complex characters. This book is about a Jewish writer who unknowingly employs an anti-semitic woman--and yet I think this book could be called a love story.
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Read in April, 2008
Not my favorite Oates book. I have been an avid fan since high school, but had gotten away from reading much fiction the last few years. This book is classic Oates. Dark, mostly to the point and well written. I was not expecting the twist ending, and was then blown away by the second twist although we should have know from when we first met her that the sister would be the spoiler.
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