The Gravedigger's Daughter
by Joyce Carol OatesSign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
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Read in May, 2008
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
So what's the dark fear that lies in the inner heart of all erudite nerds? Namely this -- that no matter how educated, intelligent or well-read you are, there are always going to be a certain amount of very well-known authors you have never read at all, not even one single page of, and that at an...more
So what's the dark fear that lies in the inner heart of all erudite nerds? Namely this -- that no matter how educated, intelligent or well-read you are, there are always going to be a certain amount of very well-known authors you have never read at all, not even one single page of, and that at an...more
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Read in February, 2008
A character's worst fear should be to appear in a Joyce Carol Oates novel. It's pretty well guaranteed his or her like is going to suck.
Still, though, I keep picking them up. And as decently written as they may be, I'm miserable right along with everyone else. There's never a glimmer of hope, a break from the compounding gloom. As a reader, the weight lands firmly on your shoulders for the length of the book. Join us for a walk of pain.
Gravedigger's Daughter is no exception. I felt for t...more
Still, though, I keep picking them up. And as decently written as they may be, I'm miserable right along with everyone else. There's never a glimmer of hope, a break from the compounding gloom. As a reader, the weight lands firmly on your shoulders for the length of the book. Join us for a walk of pain.
Gravedigger's Daughter is no exception. I felt for t...more
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Joyce Carol Oates is probably our most prolific writer. I've read so many of her novels, and she always gets me in her spell. She often writes of troubled young women who become victims to brutish men because of making bad choices and having low self-esteem. She has killer lines, which she often uses as repetitive phrases or tropes effectively throughout the book. She can do so much in one line, for example:
"<i>Mrs. Chester Gallagher<i>
Each time she signed her new name it ...more
"<i>Mrs. Chester Gallagher<i>
Each time she signed her new name it ...more
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I guess I liked this book, but reading it once is plenty for me. It was very well-written, but I just could not handle how ungodly depressing it was. Honestly, the main character can't seem to go ten pages without getting the shit kicked out of her (literally and figuratively) by all the Mean Bad Men in her life. First there's her father, who goes apeshit when his daughter dares to enter a spelling bee (I still don't get that); then there's her husband, who chooses beating the shit out of her as...more
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Read in August, 2007
This story depicts the tale of the Shwarts who, in the mid 1930s, fled Nazi Germany and have been reduced to life in a tiny cottage while their father, a former school teacher, can only find work as a cemetary caretaker. Perceived and actual intolerance by members of the community only exacerbate the family's frail mental health and, ultimately, tragedy strikes when our protagonist, Rebecca, is only 13 years old. The reader witnesses Rebecca's trials of youth, her struggles to escape an abusive ...more
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Read in May, 2008
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Read in April, 2008
This was my necessary breezy read after the last one. It's the second thing I've read by this author, who seems to be really well-appreciated by the world, but I am still ambivalent about her work. It is easy to get into but also easy to fall right back out of- I guess that's what I will say. She is very prolific, though- it could be that I'm just reading the wrong things. This one is about a woman who has a really hard childhood and young adulthood and gets a lot of abuse, and then she goes...more
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Read in November, 2008
After a busy month where there was just no time for reading, I've devoured this book. Although it was painful and difficult to continue, it enticed me to stay with it just to see how things developed. It's a story of a German immigrant family whose youngest child is born in New York harbor. Both the parents slip into madness at their demeaning life and isolation in America. The children are survivors though. The girl witnesses tragedy at age 13 and is left a ward of the county. Independent,...more
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Read in November, 2008
recommended to Melani by:
no onerecommends it for: Oates fans only
I have read numerous books by Oates, because her stories are sufficiently engrossing to provide me escape. This tale is no exception. It has all the usual JCO components - alcoholism, danger, obsessive love affairs, life-altering choices. Yet, I'm always left feeling cheated at the end of her novels. In this one, it seemed as if she opted for a cheap literary technique to end the story, rather than struggling to write a less cute or safe ending. And, I'm getting tired of her use of italics ...more
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Read in February, 2008
Once again, I must diverge from the critics who loved this Joyce Carol Oates novel. Apparently I didn't learn my lesson with "We Were the Mulvaneys." I don't know where to start, so I'll just list the major problems: a bloated and disjointed narrative, overwrought prose, and a nonsensical epilogue. Good times...
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Read in November, 2008
I was so relieved to finally finish this book. It was so boring that I am actually frustrated when I read positive reviews of it. FYI people, the horrible writing is NOT a "metaphor" for the jumbled emotions of the main character. I promise.
The book opens when Rebecca is around 20 years old, married with a son. She's walking home from work and being followed by a strange man. Oates takes forEVER to get through this opening scene, which loses any suspense it could theoretically ha...more
The book opens when Rebecca is around 20 years old, married with a son. She's walking home from work and being followed by a strange man. Oates takes forEVER to get through this opening scene, which loses any suspense it could theoretically ha...more
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Read in October, 2008
Loved this book! It really made you think. Especially how we at times assume things & through lack of communication see things differently. How fear & hate can consume us. If we could just be honest with our feelings, with questions, and concerns. And not be afraid to ask. To be understanding & welcoming of differences - to embrace them as opposed to mocking or degrading them.
This story is that of a German/Jewish immigrant girl who's identity is changed throughout the book....more
This story is that of a German/Jewish immigrant girl who's identity is changed throughout the book....more
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Read in October, 2008
An okay book. The writing was great (a little long-winded - I skipped over chunks of pages with unnecessary information), but the story was a little stilted. The book is told in the first person, which could explain why I felt unsatisfied at the end. Nothing was explained; I spent most of the book wondering if the main character was Jewish because her family never mentions it - all we know is that they left Germany right before WWII. None of the characters were really likeable. Hazel/Rebecca see...more
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Read in October, 2008
Being a fan of Joyce Carol Oats I must give this one a high rating. Her writing is brilliant and the words in this book tumble out onto the page. Her characters are well developed and are recognizable permutations of previous characters in other books. The themes are also recognizable: the rising from poverty into the relms of the wealthy and privileged, violence - always violence and the threat of violence - secrets, seething anger and strength disguising as weakness and humility, the loss of ...more
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Read in October, 2008
It was a little tough to get into, since I'd been reading fluffy chicklit and this was much more serious, but I think it was well-written and got more interesting as it went on. Three stars doesn't seem like enough, but I wouldn't rate it among my favorites. I would give it a 3.5 if that were an option. Lots of times Oates doesn't write in complete sentences, which was a little distracting for me.
It's hard for me to imagine living a life like Rebecca, going from an extremely unhealthy fam...more
It's hard for me to imagine living a life like Rebecca, going from an extremely unhealthy fam...more
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Read in January, 2008
I had just read the Glass Castle when I read this book. That may have skewed my enjoyment of the book. I so enjoyed the Glass Castle and this had a similar theme, of a narrative of a young girl growing up in a dysfunctional family. She escaped becoming the victim of a serial killer, but not knowing she took the name of one of the victims to escape a bad marriage. She lived her life keeping secrets and holding back from truly enjoying life. It was a good book, but I felt a little let down at...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
JCO Fans
I enjoyed this book immensely. Dark, yes. Depressing, yes. Hard to take, hard to bear, hard to imagine, yes. But SUCH a great story. JCO is one of my favorite authors, and it surprises me because I am not drawn to dark depressing people. Apparently if books were people...
Partly I couldn't wait to see what would happen next, and part of me had a sick feeling that I knew what would happen next, or that it would be worse than what I could imagine. I knew it would be dark and horrifying, ...more
Partly I couldn't wait to see what would happen next, and part of me had a sick feeling that I knew what would happen next, or that it would be worse than what I could imagine. I knew it would be dark and horrifying, ...more
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Somehow I confused Joyce Carol Oates with Margaret Atwood when I was at Borders and grabbed this one thinking it was Atwood. Both authors tend to write densely layered stories with themes of long-held secrets, rebelling against the status quo, and marginalisation, and this was no different. Oates has taken me some getting used to, ever since reading (and practically beating to death in essay and analysis) Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been in college (word up, Dr Machon!). There is a detac...more
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Read in July, 2008
I'm right in the middle of this book. I've always been a big fan of Joyce Carol Oates. As Forrest Gump would say, she's like a box of chocolates -- you really never know what you're going to get. I read "Them" when I was about 15, and I've been reading her stuff ever since. I remember being locked into "Bellefleur" in front of the Home Place fireplace one winter for days on end... I couldn't leave the bertram chair. "Blonde" was an amazing book about Marily Mon...more
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Read in April, 2008
I really enjoyed this book, although at many times, it was dark and disturbing and I wanted to reach through the book and yank some sense into the main character, Rebecca/Hazel. "What are you DOING???" I wanted to shout more than once. I was struck with how much utter crap Rebecca/Hazel could take, and just when I'd about given up on her, she would pull out a backbone.
Overall, though, I really got into the story, always wondering what was going to happen next, and I did get inves...more
Overall, though, I really got into the story, always wondering what was going to happen next, and I did get inves...more
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