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21st out of 31 books
—
3 voters
State of Grace
by
Joy Williams
Nominated for the National Book Award in 1974, this haunting, profoundly disquieting novel manages to be at once sparse and lush, to combine Biblical simplicity with Gothic intensity and strangeness. It is the story of Kate, despised by her mother, bound to her father by ties stronger and darker than blood. It is the story of her attempted escapes−in detached sexual encoun...more
Paperback, 260 pages
Published
February 19th 1990
by Vintage
(first published 1973)
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I paused some dozen or so pages into this book to reflect upon a couple of matters that had arisen and become wedged against the rhythmic current of the narrative—firstly, that I was struggling to grasp what exactly what taking place within the lilting snapshot vignettes of a wounded girl's life that had passed before me; and, immediate upon this, that the whole was comprised of sentences, of a peculiar cadence and texture, whose stricken beauty and enigmatic allure held me utterly enthralled. I...more
Sep 14, 2007
Alika Yarnell
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Women who are anti-fluff
Shelves:
fiction
The writing/language throughout was stunning, many lines were highlighted just because of the language. Overall the story left me with a cold, sad, intense feeling--a kind of mourning. So many people died, it seemed. Even though there was new life at the end. And a feeling of stillness, peace, letting go, hope. But that was only for a few pages. The rest was pretty bleak. But still, good writing. Interesting use of the first person in the first and last section, but omniscient in the middle sect...more
May 18, 2012
Mariel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Every umbrella I've ever had I've lost
Recommended to Mariel by:
Every houseplant I've ever cared for has died
"If he were free," he says aloud, nodding toward the leopard, "he'd be hunting incessantly." He says the word with astonishment. "Incessantly."
Did I tell you that my Jean Rhys kick of last month was because of Joy Williams? I shouldn't be surprised now, I guess. "Oh." State of Grace was Joy Williams' first novel, published in 1973, and it could be her own Jean Rhys novel if you squint hard enough at the very Jean Rhys cover of the woman on the couch to see the blood stains and ignored filth. (I...more
Did I tell you that my Jean Rhys kick of last month was because of Joy Williams? I shouldn't be surprised now, I guess. "Oh." State of Grace was Joy Williams' first novel, published in 1973, and it could be her own Jean Rhys novel if you squint hard enough at the very Jean Rhys cover of the woman on the couch to see the blood stains and ignored filth. (I...more
Although I liked some parts of this book quite a bit, I was mostly distracted by the stream of consciousness style that takes away any story momentum that the book tries to gather. I guess it just wasn't what I wanted to read at this moment. In fact, I've been reading so much Leonard Michaels lately that it probably suffered by comparison. I actually tried to play a trick on myself for a while and pretend it was a Leonard Michaels book to see if I would like it more, but that didn't last long.
I...more
I...more
May 22, 2012
Sarah Beth
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
[some joke about Lil B and Florida girls]
Shelves:
dirty-south
A fragmentary book, all the words came out faster than she could say them. I have the bad habit of reading Joy Williams too quickly, my eyes practically just skim the page. Her short, rapid sentences demand to be read that way. Inevitably, I go back and re-read and get confused.
It's almost like scripture, needing those little chapter and verse numbers to sort of divide all the holiness into little paragraphs. Her familiarity with the Bible is really evident in this book and I have a definite fe...more
It's almost like scripture, needing those little chapter and verse numbers to sort of divide all the holiness into little paragraphs. Her familiarity with the Bible is really evident in this book and I have a definite fe...more
Beautifully written, the language is poetic and you get lost in it sometimes, in a good way...it's written in the way you think when you're boozy or stoned or simply elated. You really get a glimpse into this girl's mind.
It's a southern gothic, I guess-the main character is young but married and pregnant. Still, somehow, she's in the college sorority scene. She's a strong character but I kept wishing she would chose the opposite courses, do what I would consider the right thing. I didn't love th...more
It's a southern gothic, I guess-the main character is young but married and pregnant. Still, somehow, she's in the college sorority scene. She's a strong character but I kept wishing she would chose the opposite courses, do what I would consider the right thing. I didn't love th...more
Torrid, gorgeous, challenging, frustrating, stunning. I'm just going to reproduce the opening paragraph below:
"There is no warning of daylight here. It is strange to know that it is only twenty miles to the Gulf of Mexico and all that dizzying impossible white light, for here there is such darkness. Here when one can see the sky, it is almost always blue, but the trees are so thick nothing can make its way through them. Not the sun or the wind. And the ground never dries. The yard is rich mud wi...more
"There is no warning of daylight here. It is strange to know that it is only twenty miles to the Gulf of Mexico and all that dizzying impossible white light, for here there is such darkness. Here when one can see the sky, it is almost always blue, but the trees are so thick nothing can make its way through them. Not the sun or the wind. And the ground never dries. The yard is rich mud wi...more
I read this novel in my graduate school years and I couldn't tell you what it was about. I just remember that I had a religious experience with it. That it was frightening and amazing, and that I felt shaken during and after, frequently, when I was reading it.
A week ago I was in a friend's guest room and found it again. I picked it up and flipped it open, and I could feel, with a sort of weird feeling, what a profound impact this book had on my work. There are other works I could point to, wher...more
A week ago I was in a friend's guest room and found it again. I picked it up and flipped it open, and I could feel, with a sort of weird feeling, what a profound impact this book had on my work. There are other works I could point to, wher...more
In an interview, Williams once said, "Much of a writer's work is to unexpress the expressible as well as the opposite." She certainly does that in this book, and powerfully. There are certain things happening to the protagonist that I felt a keen sense of though they are never explicitly stated.
Slightly disturbing, and a little jumbled for me. But very, very interesting.
For my birthday Garrison gave me a bag of Soul Cycle swag and this book to borrow. Probably because he knows I am nothing but a southern goth who loves stationary bikes. JK Rowling, Gary- I love it all.
I had seen this recommended highly, so I ordered it from the library. But after reading for about an hour, I gave up. The first part is an incest story--though the cover flap says Kate's father is only "almost incestuously possessive," it's horrifyingly controlling & abusive enough to count as incest even if he never actually screws his child. And I find it too ghastly--unbearable.
The first third of this book was really beautiful but way lyrical and I was a little confused and had trouble paying attention. Then I fell in love with it & I'm gonna read the first third again. Also I feel bad about not ever having read Faulkner? Although the part of the book that sucked me in took place in New England and was more Hawthorne-esque.
"once, before i moved out here, i ate nothing for three weeks but froot loops. it became hallucinogenic after a few days."
I frequently have nightmares. They take two inarticulatable forms. There are no images in them at all. They are pure fear and dismay, a sense of the tremendous strength of the dark, a sense that I have not done what it was I knew I should have done.
I'm a HUGE fan of Joy's short stories but this novel didn't work for me. Sustaining that capricious, magical, lyrical style throughout 300 pages... I just think her style is better suited to the short story.
1 like · like · see review
Worth five stars for the prose alone. Williams's child characters strike me as wildly unconvincing but that's a small complaint considering that she's a total genius.
"People go you know. It's only you that remains. That's the way it will be. That's certain at least."
I must read more Joy Williams, I think I am in love.
I must read more Joy Williams, I think I am in love.
first read January 2, 2012 to January 8, 2012.
first review:
so moving.
first review:
so moving.
Mar 23, 2012
Brainorgan
marked it as not-read
State of Grace by Joy Williams (1990)
one of my favorite novels
Nov 22, 2011
Andy Moreno
marked it as to-read
bleak and depressing
more, much more later
May 16, 2013
Srishti Singh
marked it as to-read
May 13, 2013
j
marked it as to-read
May 07, 2013
branlyn
marked it as to-read
May 06, 2013
Jason
marked it as to-read
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updated Apr 14, 2012 08:18pm
That Gibbon comment is great, and Yourcen...more
updated Apr 15, 2012 02:22pm