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We Were the Mulvaneys

3.57 of 5 stars 3.57 · rating details · 41,120 ratings · 1,767 reviews

In her 26th novel, Joyce Carol Oates has written a rich, complex saga about a seemingly ideal family that is suddenly rocked by the date-rape of 16-year-old Marianne Mulvaney. This shattering event touches off an extraordinary journey into 25 years of shameful secrets and despair, culminating in the unforseen miracles that can bring a family closer together. Making We Were...more

Paperback, Oprah's Book Club edition, 454 pages

Published September 1st 1997 by Plume (first published September 1st 1996)

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Sep 20, 2010 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

Six months after the death of Joyce Carol Oates a couple of her fans will visit her grave. Just underneath the keening mournful almost-Canadian wind as they stand by the graveside they will hear to their consternation a little tiptappy scratching noise. From underground. They will run run run to get the caretaker who will get the police who will get the bigger police. They'll all hear the sound. Tippytappy, scritchscratch. They'll hum and haw, and then they'll exhume the body. When they crack op...more Six months after the death of Joyce Carol Oates a couple of her fans will visit her grave. Just underneath the keening mournful almost-Canadian wind as they stand by the graveside they will hear to their consternation a little tiptappy scratching noise. From underground. They will run run run to get the caretaker who will get the police who will get the bigger police. They'll all hear the sound. Tippytappy, scritchscratch. They'll hum and haw, and then they'll exhume the body. When they crack open the coffin next to JCO's earthly remains they'll find a neat 600 page typescript of the new novel. It will be Joyce's 53rd. Oh, what's that you say? Her 54th - they found another one in the boot of a car she used to drive - and it's another masterpiece you say?

Yes, JCO is the Vacuum Monster of contemporary lit - you remember, the one in the Beatles' merry psychedelic cartoon Yellow Submarine - whatever he sees - SLURP - it's gone, vacuumed into nothingness. JCO does the same except when she SLURPS up something, in its place there appears another neat 600 page typescript. Joyce sees Marilyn - SLURP - "Blonde" - turns on the tv and clocks Jeffrey Dahmer - SLURP - "Zombie". I read a review once and the reviewer was imagining that inside the copy of his JCO novel there was a handwritten note which said STOP ME BEFORE I WRITE AGAIN.
Having said all that - is she any good? Well, alas for you authors who cough out one 200 page novel every ten years, the answer is yes, sometimes, but "We Were the Mulvaneys" isn't the one to convince anybody - that would be "What I Lived For" which is a stone masterpiece. This whopping Mulvaney book promises much and for the first 250 pages is compulsive, propulsive, and then like a toy balloon you blew up and tried to tie but your fingers fumbled and whoosshhhh it zaps away from you and spirals and biffs and thwaps into every wall and every corner of the room and finally peters out and dies into someone's cup of coffee, this novel just seems to get away from its author - she writes and writes and writes about the four Mulvaney kids and their two parents and in the end it was all very herkyjerky and exactly where JCO should have shone her fearless psychological searchlight was exactly where she appeared to shy away from - i.e.

(***BIG FAT SPOILER***)

the father's rejection of his beloved daughter after the daughter is raped - date-raped to be precise. Now why would he do such a thing? And why would his good Christian-hearted wife put up with him doing such a thing, and actually go along with it and not see her daughter when it broke her heart? JCO loves to get into her character's heads and does so very well, but here - right here at the sore spot of the whole book, the axis around which the fate of the family revolved, the point at which their ascent turns to descent - here is where she backs off, never an explanation of this central appalling cruelty. This may be very intentional but if so the intention was lost on me. And because of this, as I realised we were never going to explore this painful area, and that the novel, like its characters, was going to tippytoe away from it, I got mardy and disgruntled and I began not to care. When I got to the five page description of the final illness of Muffin the cat (a cat, not a cool person with catlike powers) my lack of gruntle was turning into outright mockery. Five pages about this cat's kidney problems and no pages about why the father can't stand to look at his daughter after she's raped. I think Joyce lost the plot.
Four stars for pages 1-250ish, two generous stars for pages 250ish to 454.(less)

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Oct 12, 2007 Anna rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: a very patient person.

Shelves: advisory2007-2008

This book is about a large family, the Mulvaneys, living all happily and blahblahblah until something terrible happens to the sole daughter. Although the book is basically about this event and the aftermath, it takes about 100 pages to actually get to the plot. The beginning of the book goes on about the Mulvaneys and how wonderful they were, describing their house and its inhabitants with a little too much detail. Most chapters had this basic formula: Narraration of some memory a character had/...more

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Aug 21, 2007 Sammy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: a-the-best

By the end of this book I was crying. I just want to start with that and get it cleared out of the way. It wasn't just a sniff and the threat of tears, I had actual tears running down my face and snot streaming out of my nose. I was leaking enough that I actually had to put the book down and go grab some tissues.

This book is very emotional, not just with how it makes the reader feel, but with how it's written. There was something unique about Oates writing that reflected a purely emotional conne...more By the end of this book I was crying. I just want to start with that and get it cleared out of the way. It wasn't just a sniff and the threat of tears, I had actual tears running down my face and snot streaming out of my nose. I was leaking enough that I actually had to put the book down and go grab some tissues.

This book is very emotional, not just with how it makes the reader feel, but with how it's written. There was something unique about Oates writing that reflected a purely emotional connection. The way sentences and phrases were repeated was reminescent of the speech of someone in a highly emotional state. It reminded me of when I am very angry or upset and am trying to convey something towards the source of my anger/sadness/passion and I feel the need to repeat what I find so important, even if it's really a minor issue. That was how Oates writing felt a lot of the times. It's probably why I found myself getting upset, frustrated, curious, or sad, because she wrote in a way to help push those emotions to the front.

Of course the subject matter really increased my emotions. The things this family went through and how they dealt with is enough to break your heart just hearing about it, let alone suddenly becoming very involved. All the characters are sympathetic, even Michael Sr., who is pretty easy to hate. Everyone we encounter is flawed and real and that makes you feel for them so much more. Of course the one you feel for the most is Marianne, the true victim in all of this. Yet, somehow she manages to move on with her life and become the strongest of all the Mulvaneys. She's filled with hope and love and the fact she maintains that after her rape and then the odd rejection of her family is truly amazing.

The last part of the book and the ending was very bittersweet. As much as you want to be happy you can't help feeling something is just not letting you achieve that. It's probably the same thing the Mulvaneys are feeling by the end. Somehow we've become the Mulvaneys by just a few chapters into the book, so truly whatever they're feeling, you're now feeling. That just got you all the more involved in the book, because of course you want to know everything that happens and why. It also makes the book that much harder to put down.

I've read Foxfire and want to reread it now, but I remember it's tone and style being extremely different from We Were the Mulvaneys. I haven't read any of Oates other works, though. Do they all vary from each other? Do they live up to the greatness of We Were the Mulvaneys? Should I try out her other works, or am I just destined to be disappointed after this book? I would love to hear your opinions on Oates other works as well as what you thought of We Were the Mulvaneys. Did y'all enjoy it as much as I did and have it affect you like it did me? Please share.

To sum it all up, I think the Los Angeles Times Book Review says it best: "Will break your heart, heal it, then break it again."(less)

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Sep 10, 2012 Alea added it · review of another edition

Il titolo originario in inglese mi sembra molto più conforme allo spirito del libro: “We were the Mulvaneys”.
Eravamo, quando ancora la famigghia Mulvaney era un modello alla mulino bianco, tutti insieme appassionatamente a lavorare nella fattoria, a primeggiare tra i membri della comunità locale, a collaborare, a parlottare attorno al tavolone per pranzo e cena, a sorridere e sorridersi.
L’articolo indeterminativo della traduzione italiana sembra invece voler definire i Mulvaney come una famigl...more Il titolo originario in inglese mi sembra molto più conforme allo spirito del libro: “We were the Mulvaneys”.
Eravamo, quando ancora la famigghia Mulvaney era un modello alla mulino bianco, tutti insieme appassionatamente a lavorare nella fattoria, a primeggiare tra i membri della comunità locale, a collaborare, a parlottare attorno al tavolone per pranzo e cena, a sorridere e sorridersi.
L’articolo indeterminativo della traduzione italiana sembra invece voler definire i Mulvaney come una famiglia qualsiasi, quasi un emblema dell’America del secolo scorso.
Se così fosse,le famiglie americane mi starebbero sulle scatole tutte.
Ho provato una antipatia insostenibile per Corinne ora et labora e per la montagna di sabbia Micheal sr., genitori inadeguati e ottusi, e per la dolce sperduta sconsolata Marianne, vittima all’ennesima potenza, vittima dello stupro, dei suoi stessi genitori, delle malelingue e del proprio smisurato senso di colpa.
(e lo so, avrebbe dovuto farmi tenerezza, la Marianne principessa, e invece il suo nascondersi fino a diventare quasi evanescente, un fantasma buono, teso a cancellare ogni traccia di ego sotto il lavoro, sotto i panni stracciati, il suo scappare per anni e anni da ogni possibile barlume di autoaffermazione, la sua esistenza dedicata alla cura degli altri a patto che di sé non rimanesse niente, mi hanno indispettita)
Naturalmente, certe dinamiche familiari, soprattutto se relazionate ad un certo tipo di ambiente sociale, sono proprie del mondo occidentale moderno e non è difficile riconoscerle anche tra le famiglie di casa nostra:
“I membri di una famiglia che hanno vissuto assieme nella surriscaldata intensità della vita familiare si conoscono poco. E' una vita troppo diretta, a distanza troppo ravvicinata. E' quello il paradosso. La contorta realtà che lascia perplessi. L'esatto contrario di ciò che ci si aspetterebbe. Perché ovviamente non stai mai a pensare a quei rapporti, mentre li vivi.”
Ed è così.
Il narratore, Judd il figlio minore, il piccolo, fossette, e vai ancora con tutti i nomignoli, racconta della sua famiglia, racconta dei Mulvaney, con il debito distacco, da adulto, quando ormai tutto si era sgretolato e ricomposto in nuove e diverse forme di raggruppamento “familiare”.
“Pensare, formulare pensieri, è una funzione della dissociazione, della distanza. Non puoi utilizzare la memoria finchè non ti sei allontanato dalla fonte della memoria.”
E’ solo allora, che alla rabbia e al dispiacere, può subentrare una sorta di malinconica tenerezza per quello che un tempo era stato.
In questo la famiglia dei Mulvaney può porsi come “una famiglia americana” e oltre.
Di certo sarebbe stato meglio non averla proprio, una famiglia, piuttosto che averla avuta come quella dei Mulvaney, tutta chiacchiere e apparenza, e nel momento del bisogno e del sostegno, sticazzi.
Forse è per questo, che a questa lunga saga familiare, ho preferito la Oates del romanzo breve Acqua nera.(less)

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Dec 02, 2007 Grant rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 21st-century-american-literary-nove

i didn't like it much. i am a big fan of her stories. it opened well, but once the event happens, which the books turns on, it falls apart and i lost interest in the characters. i think there are novels that should be long stories. its because the theme is great, but the plot, the characters, the story do not need the length of a novel to develop. and instead do not stand under the weight of that much scrutiny. i liked the movie brokeback mountain by proulx [sic], but her short story was a lot b...more

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May 13, 2008 Ann rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one

Recommended to Ann by: No one

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

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Aug 15, 2007 Clare rated it 1 of 5 stars

I really needed Joyce Carol Oates to give me a break on this one. I was still reeling from the horrible experience I had of accidentally reading part of "Zombie" but I was prepared to try to forgive her. But even though no one in this book gave anyone else an ice-pick lobotomy, it was entirely devoid of any heart, hope, or mercy. I just don't need this in my life - there's nothing about this book stylistically that elevates it above its oppressively miserable story.

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Dec 14, 2009 Rea rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: nobody

Shelves: abandoned

It is extremely, extremely rare that I don’t finish a book. I actually had to create the ‘Abandoned’ shelf specifically for this book. But after 106 pages I’m not going to waste my time reading the remaining 348; if you can’t grasp your reader after 100 pages you never will.

So what was wrong with it? The writing is absolutely atrocious, it reads like it hasn’t been edited. It is laboriously repetitive, Carol Dates seemingly forgetting what she has written from chapter to chapter. Descriptions a...more It is extremely, extremely rare that I don’t finish a book. I actually had to create the ‘Abandoned’ shelf specifically for this book. But after 106 pages I’m not going to waste my time reading the remaining 348; if you can’t grasp your reader after 100 pages you never will.

So what was wrong with it? The writing is absolutely atrocious, it reads like it hasn’t been edited. It is laboriously repetitive, Carol Dates seemingly forgetting what she has written from chapter to chapter. Descriptions are repeated at nausea, sometimes in the same chapter .i.e. Page 65 “She then zipped the bag shut again and hung it in the farthest corner of her closet beneath the sharp-slanting eaves.” Then Page 68 “Quickly zipped the bag up again and hung it in the farthest corner of her closet, beneath the sharp-tilting eaves”. Also repeated at nausea is the family name, full names of each character and all their nicknames, numerous times, over and over again.

The narration is completely confused. The book opens with Judd, the youngest son being the narrator but Carol Dates can’t seem to make up her mind whether she wants Judd as the narrator or whether she wants the narration in 3rd person. Perfect example: (page 91) “Because Judd Andrew Mulvaney was the last-born of the Mulvaney children, because I was Babyface, Dimple, Ranger…” The punctuation is bizarre with sentence stopping short making it harder to read and jerky. If she was trying to go for a quirky writing style she badly missed.

But that’s not all! I disliked all the characters from the start especially Corrinne the mother, whom I find annoying and flaky. Also after 100 pages, despite being told their nicknames for the thousandth time and described what a great family they are, all the characters are simply caricatures. You don’t feel you know/understand/sympathize with any of them. They are simply devoid stereotypes; the older sporty brother, glass-wear nerd brother, miss popular/good girl sister, etc. The plot is predictable as well, sister gets rape, everything comes crashing down...yawn!...

It made the Oprah Book Club in 2001 and that can be the only possible explanation as to why it is a best seller.
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Jul 22, 2008 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, oprah-s-book-club

I have seen this movie on TV several times and finally found the book at the library. I was suprised at how long it was...nearly 500 pages...but I was excited to finally be reading it. In this novel, Oates tells the story of a near-perfect family...mom and dad in love, 4 loving siblings, all living in a small town on a farm filled with love and animals. Everything is going along fine until the only daughter, who is beautiful and universally loved, suffers a tragedy. From this point on, the entir...more

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Jan 28, 2008 Sherry rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Be warned that just about everything in this review will give something away.

I would have given this four stars, but I just couldn't. I was too aware of Oates manipulating her poor characters, and I just couldn't believe the basic premise. There is a wonderful, close, warm family and the daughter, too-good-to-be-true Christian is brutally raped, but refuses to press charges. This is taking turn the other cheek a bit far, in my opinion. The rest of the book tells how that action--that supposedly...more

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Mar 17, 2008 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This book starts off slowly, with sweeping descriptions of the landscape and the perfection of the Mulvaney family's idyllic life on their farm in upstate New York. It picks up, though, and the real story begins as the family's perfect facade is destroyed.

Essentially, this is the story of how a single event, and our reactions to it, can shape our entire lives. The lone Mulvaney daughter, Marianne, is raped following her junior prom. The attacker is never brought to justice and the shame surroun...more

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Aug 06, 2008 Leigh rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: genre-novels, ownership-borrowed, 1975-1999

This was the first Oates novel I read (as opposed to her short stories, which I liked), and it didn't do much for me. It's a very cultivated, cohesive book--never more strikingly than in the parallelism between the first and last lines, both of which echo the title--and yet something doesn't click. It's a little too cultivated and cohesive, a little artificial. The characters shade into stereotypes: Mike the jock, Patrick the bright loner, Marianne the pure-hearted and wronged daughter, and Judd...more

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Jan 31, 2008 Christy Hart rated it 2 of 5 stars

I haven't read much by Oates and had heard alot about this one. Unfortunately, I didn't know the story line. But, when she started referring to "it" happening, I was extremely curious. But, the "it" is a date rape of a teenager. I almost threw the book across the room...the same feeling I had the prior week with Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle because it also deals with a teenage rape.

I am biased about this, I will admit. But two books in one week about rape? I finished neither book.

I will read...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Tima rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Grandmothers

Recommended to Tima by: My Mother

Shelves: read-in-2012

Really Early Bird comment: I really strongly dislike the current narration style. Pleh!

Basic Summary: "Perfect", popular, loveable Mulvaney family is adored by their town. Until, their only daughter is date raped on prom night and the town turns on them. Only it's much snootier and more boring than it sounds. All the kids go off and implode into messes, the Father becomes a drunk (not a spoiler!). I wouldn't call the book predictable but I wouldn't call it riveting.

The narration style drove me...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Joy H. marked it as watched-film-only

Shelves: suggested-by-goodreads-member, adapted-to-film, might-read

Added 2/19/10.

10/26/12
Today I finished watching the movie adaptation of We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates via a Netflix DVD.

"We Were the Mulvaneys" (2002)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313769/
http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/We-Were-...
NETFLIX DESCRIPTION: "In 1976, in the small town of St. Ephraim, N.Y., the Mulvaney clan lived what most people would consider the American Dream. But mum's the word when one year, a tragic incident occurs that the family -- and townspeople -- vow never to men...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Jackson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: family, betrayal, heartache, redemption, favorites

I love Joyce Carol Oates and enjoy her way of describing the characters in such detail while still advancing the story. This is the second book I've read by her (I read "Them" last month) and it fell a bit short of "Them" but was still a very good book. You have to like somewhat sad and depressing stories to like Oates and this one is no different. Your heart breaks at times and you can't help but feel for the family as they progress or regress in certain scenarios. This book is definitely worth...more

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Jan 03, 2008 Olanma rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: someone who gives book a second chance:)

You need patience to read this..for it takes about 5 chapters to get into this book, that's the downside of it. The first couple chapters are about family this, family that but as you read on, things take a turn and its a book that you cannot put down. It took me about 5 months to get through the first couple chapters, I kept putting it away, reading other stuff, going to school..but i felt like i had to give the book a chance and once you get through all that family stuff, you'll find yourself...more

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Jul 31, 2007 Brenna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

wow, was this sad. something horrible happens to a daughter of a family that regards themselves as pretty much the happiest people they know, and as a result the family starts to unravel. the parents act the worst. their choices seemed somewhat unbelievable, which made it easier to read. after i'd decided the parents were unbelievable and was able to step back a bit, i felt a tad manipulated by the author's narrative flow, which dragged things out and chopped up storylines, and by the sad subjec...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Lisetta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Pagina dopo pagina, ho provato un crescente senso di angosciante smarrimento, di fronte ad una storia che purtroppo riflette una realt�� molto diffusa: quella delle fragili dinamiche famigliari. La famiglia Maulvaney, non �� altro che una famiglia come tante; perch�� come tante, ostentano una felicit�� non libera e spontanea, ma studiata e costruita. Ecco che allora la loro casa si trasforma in un palcoscenico, teatro delle loro vite; non pi�� figli, non pi�� una madre n�� un padre che, spogliat...more Pagina dopo pagina, ho provato un crescente senso di angosciante smarrimento, di fronte ad una storia che purtroppo riflette una realt�� molto diffusa: quella delle fragili dinamiche famigliari. La famiglia Maulvaney, non �� altro che una famiglia come tante; perch�� come tante, ostentano una felicit�� non libera e spontanea, ma studiata e costruita. Ecco che allora la loro casa si trasforma in un palcoscenico, teatro delle loro vite; non pi�� figli, non pi�� una madre n�� un padre che, spogliati dei loro nomi ne assumono altri -dei soprannomi- pi�� consoni al ruolo da recitare. Ecco allora sorrisi ��al neon��, ecco quel recinto, che richiede costantemente manodopera, perch�� quel recinto come fosse una vera barriera, delimita la loro bella fattoria, e li divide da ��gli altri��: le gente comune .

Ma un rapporto fondato sulla finzione �� un rapporto fragile, cos��, quando un evento drammatico entra in scena -trasformando la commedia in un dramma con tanti atti ancora da scrivere- invece di unire i Mulvaney, ne decreta la loro fine, segnata dall��emergere dei veri sentimenti intrisi di rancore, percorsi da bugie e voglia di fuggire. L��incapacit�� di affrontare quella brutta realt��, l��impossibilit�� stessa di vederla per quello che ��, e di chiamarla con il suo vero nome: stupro, condurr�� all��inevitabile crollo di ogni illusione.

Allora, come �� possibile non provare incredulit�� di fronte ad una figlia che tende la mano per chiedere aiuto ad una madre, che invece le volta le spalle. Come non provare rabbia nel suo allontanamento da casa che la trasformer�� da bella ragazza pon pon, ad un corpo esile, denutrito vestito di abiti smessi; i suoi capelli prima belli e lucenti, sono ora smozzati da una forbice la stessa, che ha sminuzzato la sua anima. Come non provare un certo sollievo di fronte ad una vita che dopo anni di sbando lotta per ritrovare un piccolo posto nel mondo. Come non provare un senso di impotenza di fronte alla consapevolezza che una famiglia ha un grande potere sulla tua vita: pu�� amarti immensamente, o distruggerti inconsapevolmente. Per questo l��unica nota per me stonata �� un finale troppo da Happy end, non previsto��..!

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Apr 09, 2013 Daniela Mastropasqua rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sarebbero quattro stelle e mezzo se esistessero i mezzi.
Una lettura sofferta, una storia sofferta ma che ti entra nel cuore anche se fai resistenza. Una frase sulla copertina dice "è un libro che vi spezzerà il cuore, poi ve lo guarirà, poi ve lo spezzerà ancora", e vi posso assicurare che è vero. Ma andiamo con ordine: è il primo libro che leggo della Oates, ma penso che ne leggerò volentieri altri. Non tutto del suo stile mi piace: per esempio la sua prolissità è evidente, la passione che ha...more Sarebbero quattro stelle e mezzo se esistessero i mezzi.
Una lettura sofferta, una storia sofferta ma che ti entra nel cuore anche se fai resistenza. Una frase sulla copertina dice "è un libro che vi spezzerà il cuore, poi ve lo guarirà, poi ve lo spezzerà ancora", e vi posso assicurare che è vero. Ma andiamo con ordine: è il primo libro che leggo della Oates, ma penso che ne leggerò volentieri altri. Non tutto del suo stile mi piace: per esempio la sua prolissità è evidente, la passione che ha per i dettagli alcune volte è snervante, ma dopo le prime 100 pagine ti ci abitui, e anzi, alla fine del libro ci sono rimasta male per le piccole cose non spiegate o non approfondite. Una cosa all'inizio mi urtava i nervi: l'uso dei nomignoli!!! Ogni membro della famiglia perfetta che conosciamo nella prima parte del libro ha almeno tre soprannomi, dei più ridicoli tra l'altro: pizzicotto, fischietto, fossette, germoglio, mulo.... AAHHHH!!! Che odio!
Ok, questi sono gli appunti che potrei fare all'autrice, ma andiamo avanti: la verità è che tutto questo a un certo punto (non saprei dire bene quale) diventa irrilevante perché tutto viene messo in secondo piano dalla storia che ti travolge. L'unico modo per descrivere questa trama, a mio parere, è: la dimostrazione di quanto la gente che si ama si possa far male. Per non parlare del fatto che non tutti dovrebbero diventare genitori... Una storia che potrebbe essere vera nella sua imperfezione, nel suo dolore, nella sua tragicità. Devo dire la verità, è anche da tanto che non mi capitava di piangere sulle pagine di un libro, questo è accaduto perché protagoniste sono anche molte storie di animali che mi toccano particolarmente il cuore, e per la prima volta nella mia vita, mi è capitato che leggendo un libro ho ripensato alla mia gattona, la mia Lilly che ha voluto condividere i suoi 17 anni con me e che ancora mi manca.
Ecco qua, a parte tutto, una lettura consigliata a chi sopporta letture lunghe (si tratta pur sempre di un romanzo di 500 pagine) e in particolar modo a chi adora essere coinvolto tanto da rimanere accartocciato alle pagine di un romanzo.(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

My undergrad features something called the Sophie Kerr Weekend where they invite the high school seniors accepted in the creative writing program to attend and hear an acclaimed writer speak. For my year, it was Joyce Carol Oates and I remember reading this book in preparation for her talk.

I appreciated this book for its cynical futility, the way Marianne was raped without absolution and how it tore the male members of her household apart. Further depressing to me than the rape was the resulting...more My undergrad features something called the Sophie Kerr Weekend where they invite the high school seniors accepted in the creative writing program to attend and hear an acclaimed writer speak. For my year, it was Joyce Carol Oates and I remember reading this book in preparation for her talk.

I appreciated this book for its cynical futility, the way Marianne was raped without absolution and how it tore the male members of her household apart. Further depressing to me than the rape was the resulting, lifelong estrangement from her father, made even more distant because we could only hear her voice as perceived by that of the narrator, her younger brother Judd.

More than any other book I've ever read, perhaps, my memory of this one got tangled up in all of the biases of where I was as a writer then, and how I looked back on this experience throughout college. At the time, I was drawn to depressing stories, and especially those whom the college that accepted me for writing said were well written. My mother, who attended the weekend with me, dismissed Oates and the story she shared with us (about a 15 year old girl being abducted) as overwhelmingly dark and uninspiring. Then, when Oates sat down to talk with the group of we admitted seniors, a friend of mine asked a question about being published without much experience, she was pretty disdainful. Now, my friend actually has a rather large following for her distinctive voice on social media sites, and I can't help but think of how blindly Oates misinterpreted her question and the media world that opened for my generation.

Back to the book: I have no clear recollection, but I certainly hope I realized how similar this novel is to William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury," which remains one of my favorites. Similarly, Faulkner sets up a sister's loss of sexual innocence as the downfall for a predominately male family, but this is also an allegory for the downfall of the antebellum south. In retrospect, I feel like there was more meat on Faulkner's bones, not only because his story had more of a sense of purpose, but because he didn't just stick to one narrator. This truly made it a familial experience.(less)

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Dec 05, 2012 Jeremy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Some spoilers appear throughout the following:

It's not about how the human heart breaks and heals, like it says on the back cover.

It's about rape.

Funny how the blurb on Goodreads calls it a date rape, given Oates' description of the event's aftermath (yes, it is the pivotal moment, and yes, Oates maybe drags out the setup a tiny bit), with blood, tearing of ... ugh, internal parts, bruises on the girl's private-part body, but anyway...

I know it shows off how little I've read, and how I'm not a f...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book--the writing style, the issues, the theological struggles, and most significantly the little truisms every few pages. I could not connect with Michael Sr. or Jr., but every other character had a compelling story line (even the cat, Muffin), all interconnected in family dynamics recently severed by tragedy.

The end felt a bit disjointed to me--a few too many band-aids too quickly. I would also caution reader friends who don't like swearing, because this novel has plenty.

A few qu...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Jonna rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to love this book, and I liked the way it started, but I never really felt any connection to the characters. There was no justification or explanation for why the characters (specifically the father and the mother) did what they did . . . at least none that would explain the extremes that took place in this story. The plot didn't make logical sense to me. There was real potential in the story line, but it never came to fruition.

The book is supposed to be written from the point of view...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Kate rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-modern

This was probably one of the worst books I've read, ever. I picked up this book on a thrift store shelf for 2 bucks and I'd like my two bucks back. In fact I never finished the book because I've just got only so much time in my life and I don't need to waste it reading overly sensitive, moralistic, white bread drivel.

It was on the Oprah's list! So what does this say about Oprah?

The book opens up on a scene set in Michigan in the seventies, a large white family whose papa works as a roofer and ma...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Renee Braverman rated it 4 of 5 stars

We Were the Mulvaneys

by Joyce Carol Oates

They were the perfect family living the perfect life. Members of the country club, a thriving business owner, four high-achieving children, and farmers with acres of land, lots of farm animals (all with names), and pets galore – even each child with a horse. They were a close-knit family, fun-loving, and with all the right virtues. Until the incident.

It happens to one, Marianne, the only daughter, but it happens to all. How each member of the family...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Tina Cipolla rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my second JCO novel and I finished this one in two sittings. I loved this novel. The main plot line is the undoing of the happy, highly functional Mulvaney family from a rural Chataugua NY area. (An area I'm very familiar with.) The story is told from the point of view of Judd, the youngest of the Mulvaney children. I was able to appreciate Judd's view of the world as I too was a younger member of a large family. I know exactly what it feels like to be missing from a huge part of the fam...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Caterina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Caterina by: Gayle Francis Moffet

Shelves: done-reviewed

Something I have noticed, a similarity between Foxfire and We Were the Mulvaneys: Joyce Carol Oates has developed a pseudo-unhinged narrative style in which we are never quite in either first or third person. It worked in Foxfire. It didn't here. Judd, presumably narrating this piece, since he gets all the first person bits, is the second most ordinary Mulvaney ("first" goes to brother Mike). The fluidity of POV and the constant emphasis on the Mulvaneys being special made Judd seem at best an e...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Some authors have such an inviting, conversational voice that readers can't help but get absorbed in the story right away. Other authors construct complicated, awkward sentences that drone on and on and make it harder for the reader to get lost in the tale. Joyce Carol Oates' voice is somewhere between the two extremes.

This is the first book I've read by her, so I don't know whether the sentence construction is part of her style or the result of a lazy editing job, but I found the punctuation es...more Some authors have such an inviting, conversational voice that readers can't help but get absorbed in the story right away. Other authors construct complicated, awkward sentences that drone on and on and make it harder for the reader to get lost in the tale. Joyce Carol Oates' voice is somewhere between the two extremes.

This is the first book I've read by her, so I don't know whether the sentence construction is part of her style or the result of a lazy editing job, but I found the punctuation especially to be distracting, and so it took me longer to settle into the story and connect with the characters. The story also developed slowly, the first one-third of the book mentioning and hinting around the tragedy that befalls the Mulvaneys but doesn't define the events surrounding it until well into the book. I know Oates was probably either trying to build suspense or explain things the way the secretive Mulvaney family would, but it doesn't work. From the beginning, the reader understands that this family history will be brought to life by Judd, the youngest Mulvaney, who says on page 1, "I believe in uttering the truth, even if it hurts. Particularly if it hurts." So why, then, does it take him 135 pages to get to the juice of the story?

Somewhere toward the middle, though, I began connecting with the Mulvaneys -- especially the children -- and appreciating Oates' point. These people, who are all so different and yet somehow part of the same family, survived all the awful things that happened, all the awful things they did to each other out of love. Even poor Michael Mulvaney Sr. thought he was doing what was best by his children, who he loved dearly, justice-seeking "Pinch" took action because he loves his sister so much, and Judd helped out because he loves his brother. And ultimately, though separated geographically, the family held together because of the strength of that love, which never faltered.

The story did bring up a lot of questions, though, especially considering the idea of justice and Christianity's message of "turn the other cheek" to those who hurt you. Can one exist alongside the other? Can you bring a man to justice for killing someone while at the same time resisting "not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on they right cheek, turn to him the other also"? And if not, which is the correct way to handle things in those situations? Should you execute the killer to be sure justice has been served -- an eye for an eye? Or is responding to violence with violence only perpetuating the very type of behavior that we frown upon as a society? Should we all "do unto others as you would have done unto you" in hopes that our examples will be enough to quell the violence in others? I don't know, but Oates provides some interesting answers. (less)

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Mar 30, 2012 Crystal rated it 1 of 5 stars

This is the first novel I have read my Joyce Carol Oates. She has many, and the fact that I didn't like this one won't stop me from reading others. I honestly feel like I wasted days on this book. Just simply wasted precious time. Here you have a loving couple with 3 boys and 1 girl. The girl gets raped. The father is so anguished by it that he has her sent away for years and years. The mother actually agrees to this (as a mother myself, I can't fathom this thought, especially if my child had do...more

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About Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is also the recipient of the 2005 Prix Femina for The Falls. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and she has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. Pseudonyms ... Rosamond Smith and Laure ...more

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“In a family, what isn't spoken is what you listen for. But the noise of a family is to drown it out.” — 10 people liked it

“For what are the words with which to summarize a lifetime, so much crowded confused happiness terminated by such stark slow-motion pain?” — 10 people liked it

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