Small Avalanches and Other Stories
by Joyce Carol Oates
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 52)
Read in March, 2008
I'm still trying to figure out if I like Joyce Carol Oates' work. I disliked her book Beasts rather violently, which was probably the point. I cannot argue that her writing is visceral, evocative, and brilliant. It is. The writing itself is amazing. Some of the stories in this book struck me as really too dark for young adults - or at least, would have been really shocking for the young adult I used to be. There was an underlying, unrelenting grimness without hope in some of them....more
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Read in June, 2004
Though I would not recommend this for the average bear, I did appreciate all the short stories. I often think back on them and I remember many of them in great detail, which really speaks to the quality of the work. The storylines are obscure and the resolutions not-so-resolved but the characters are all so strong, which is quite the accomplishment for short story writing.
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This is probably one of J.Co's most accessible collections of short stories. It compiles her stories that (whether or not this is on purpose) get referenced the most in fiction writing classes. This is a great introduction to her writing, and very useful if you are a writing student yourself.
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As with any collection of short stories, some will appeal more to the readers than others, but overall, pretty interesting reads...
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Another favorite Oates collection. Especially good for the ladies out there.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.75 (36 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.77 (35 ratings) number of reviews: 5popular shelves
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quote
"you're an insomniac, you tell yourself: there are profound truths revealed only to the insomniac by night like those phosphorescent minerals veined and glimmering in the dark but coarse and ordinary otherwise; you have to examine such minerals in the absence of light to discover their beauty, you tell yourself."
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