سیاهاب

by Joyce Carol Oates, مهدی غبرایی (Translator)

book data

1,071 ratings, 3.49 average rating, 119 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		17%
4		32%
3		34%
2		12%
1		3%

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published

2007 by نشر افق (first published May 1st 1992)

details

Paperback, 160 pages

literary awards

National Book Critics' Circle Award (1992)

isbn

9643692809

description

Based on National Book Award-winner Joyce Carol Oates' novella about the Chappaquiddick scandal, this tragic and beautiful new opera enthralls as a ha…more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1,535)

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Jan 30, 2008

Christopher Hong rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

I appreciate the concept/conceit of this novel: giving a voice to the woman who died in the notorious Chappaquidick accident which briefly engulfed Ted Kennedy's life in scandal. A scandal, which largely sensationalized the life of Mary Jo Kopechne, who died in a car accident whose circumstances are reasonably suspect. But Oates' novel (or what I can recall, having read it in high school), seems less intent on realizing Kopechne's life as it is intent on villainizing Ted Kennedy or rather the ar...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

6 comments

Jul 23, 2009

Robert Cooper rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

Though Joyce Carol Oates has been for many years a literary lioness, this is the first of her novels I’ve read. It is very powerful. Closely based on the Chappaquiddick incident, it’s about a young woman who at a Fourth of July party meets “The Senator” (aka Ted Kennedy); they hit it off and decide, in the evening, to go to his motel; since they are on an island, they make for the ferry. Running late The Senator, a lot more lit up than the road, tries a shortcut, misses a turn and th...more

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Mar 02, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

bookshelves: fiction, read_in_college

A very long time ago in a distant land known as the 90's, I was working with a woman who also liked to read during her lunch. She asked me if I had any interest in going with her to hear an author she liked go speak. I had never heard of this Joyce Carol Oats woman. (Seriously.) So we went to this huge church in St. Paul and the place was packed. I was surprised - This many people for some author? Hu. Cool. (I know - I was young and pretty darn clueless.)

We were all just sitting the...more

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Nov 24, 2009

Sterlingcindysu rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

Read in July, 2009

(copied review) “She was the one he had chosen.'' This is Kelly Kelleher's thought as she leaves the party with a senator, as much a symbol of her desire to change her life as it is the fulfillment of a romantic dream. She's a young woman struggling to assert herself, but this rash move ultimately ends in tragedy. Oates makes readers feel that they are along for the very frightening ride in the car with Kelly and her senator in this shocking, all-too-familiar story. It's fast paced, almost as ...more

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Mar 28, 2009

Shelley rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

bookshelves: 1001-list, read-2009

Read in March, 2009

I believe that Joyce Carol Oates shows great genius. This short but powerful book was disturbing to read – so I’d have to say that even though I appreciated the writing, I would be very careful recommending it to anyone.

Based on the true story of Ted Kennedy and the Chappaquidick accident in 1969. Told from the viewpoint of the young Mary Jo Kopechne, these 154 pages were designed to replay the crash scene over and over again, each time from a slightly different perspective. I w...more

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1 comment

Dec 19, 2009

Rebecca rated it:

(review of isbn 0525934553)

Read in December, 2009

The second book I've read now from Oates. Didnt enjoy it as much as the other but it was okay. She runs on from one sentence to the other and at times this is suitable and at other times, it can be very confusing. You know from the very beginning, this book is about Kelly dying in this car, beneath the black water. There were timehen I had a sense of hope, like maybe the ending would change. There were times as I read, I could feel myself lose my breath, the descriptions of water filling her lun...more

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Nov 27, 2009

Taryn rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

bookshelves: what-i-read-in-2010

Read in January, 2010

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

Okay, so, confession time: until I read this book, I had no idea what the infamous 1969 “Chappaquiddick incident” referred to. I knew it had something to do with Ted Kennedy, and I knew it was bad, but that’s where my familiarity ended. Well, reading Joyce Carol Oates’s Black Water brought the incident into stark, sad, and horrifying detail. Pretty sure I’ll never forgot what happened at Chappaquiddick now–this novella is based off of what we know of the events of that night.

...more Okay, so, confession time: until I read this book, I had no idea what the infamous 1969 “Chappaquiddick incident” referred to. I knew it had something to do with Ted Kennedy, and I knew it was bad, but that’s where my familiarity ended. Well, reading Joyce Carol Oates’s Black Water brought the incident into stark, sad, and horrifying detail. Pretty sure I’ll never forgot what happened at Chappaquiddick now–this novella is based off of what we know of the events of that night.

In Black Water, the young and painfully idealistic Kelly Kelleher has a chance meeting with a man only known as the Senator at a party one summer’s eve off the coast of Maine. Over the course of the party they connect and flirt and drink, and the Senator convinces her to catch the ferry back to the mainland for a night in his hotel room. Drunk, lost, and trying to make the last ferry, the Senator drives the car off a bridge and into the swamp. He manages to escape, but leaves her behind in the car to die.

The book flashes between Kelly as she’s trapped in the car, her time spent at the party, her college days, and even her life as a young girl. Learning her backstory, like what she studied in college, and how passionately she believed in progressive politics, and her interactions with family and friends, makes you grow closer to her, care about her–even as you know that she’s going to die. She’s a regular girl, Oates says, and this happens to us all the time: we are with people who violate our trust, but in this instance, Kelly dies because of it.

The most difficult part for me was that even though I KNEW what happens to Kelly, because we all know what happened to Mary Jo Kopechne in real life, there are these flashes of hope that made me think maybe, just maybe, she’ll survive. She vivdly imagines that Senator will dive in and save her, he’ll call an ambulance, and she’ll go to the hospital surrouded by her family, and even how she’ll explain to them how she’s a “good girl” despite being ready to have an affair with him. But you know the whole time, she’s really in a sunken car, surrounded by cold black water.

Oates’s tone when the omniscient narrator is speaking is terse, sparse, almost cold. I think she did an amazing job writing from Kelly’s point of view, too–her thoughts become less and less lucid as the air in the submerged car runs out, and while her life doesn’t flash before her eyes, Kelly does experience random memories, things that at another time probably seemed unimportant but are given poignancy and meaning at the end. Oates hits her usual themes of power, death, love, and sex, and the place where they all intersect, with characteristic accuracy.

Black Water only clocks in at 160 pages, but damn if that isn’t the tightest and most heart-wrenching 160 pages you’ll ever read. It’s a hard read, but a worthwhile one.

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Sep 14, 2009

Roozbeh Estifaee rated it:

Read in September, 2009

I read the Persian translation by Mehdi Ghabrai, and oh! My god! What a terrible translation it was! He had spoiled the whole novel, and he had done it bad! Actually, I guess reading this version of the book, I can't claim that I've read the book written by Oates. This surely was something else!
The novel is based on a true event. A car accident in which a young girl was sank with the car in the black waters of a small rural river. Her company was a senator who survived the scene but did no...more

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Sep 04, 2008

Gregory Baird rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

bookshelves: books-read--2008

Read in September, 2008

“You love the life you’ve lived, there is no other.”

For a scant 154 pages, “Black Water” packs quite a brutal punch. Oates will have you squirming in discomfort as you read about Kelly Kelleher, who after a car accident on page one spends the entirety of the novella trapped in a car underneath the titular black water, helpless and alone and waiting for help that very likely will not come. She has been abandoned and left to die by her companion, an unnamed but familiar S...more

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May 09, 2007

Kelly Franklin Robinson rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

Read in April, 2007

Joyce Carol Oates managed to write an entire novella that, in real-time, takes place in the course of about five minutes. And very artfully done. It’s a book that can easily be consumed in a single sitting: yesterday I bought it, walked to the park and sat down on a bench, and finished it about an hour and a half later. It’s the type of read that’s broken into short segments, each segment leading you to automatically turn to the next. The rhythm of the prose synchs with the terror of the n...more

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Mar 29, 2007

Magnus rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

Owns a copy — Read in March, 2007

WARNING: Ending details may follow

Not being American and not being old enough to remember the Chappaquiddick incident involving Senator Ted Kennedy, I read this book with no prior knowledge of neither the real-life incident nor of the book depicting it. A close reading of the book tells me that it is a very good book, and learning more about the incident it depicts only makes that impression stronger.

It's the first book by Joyce Carol Oates I've read, but I can definitely...more

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Jul 21, 2008

Kyra rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

Read in August, 2008

I thoroughly enjoyed Joyce Carol Oates’ “Black Water.” This was the first piece of writing by this author that I have read, and I definitely want to read more works by her in the future. The movement through time in this novel involved constant flashbacks, and then flash forwards. This back and forth between different time periods could become confusing if not done correctly, but it was done perfectly in “Black Water.” In addition, certain scenes were replayed multiple times, and i...more

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Mar 25, 2009

Nancy rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

bookshelves: biographical-fiction

Read in March, 1996

This is a compelling read even for readers who don’t remember the event it’s based on—the young woman who left a party with Senator Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick and lost her life in a car crash. Oates tells the story from the perspective of the victim. It’s been a while since I read the book—what I remember most is an overwhelming feeling of sadness for those whose lives were affected by this tragic event.

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May 22, 2009

Steven rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

Read in January, 1994

recommended to Steven by: generic recommendation for English teachers
recommends it for: poets and those who love or love to hate the Kennedys

Bold book about the Chappaquidick (sp?) incident. (Which name is harder to spell, the river or the victim?) The subject matter has elements of a classical tragedy--not unlike the entire Kennedy saga--and the structure of the book is unusual, weaving a fictional narrative together with more poetic elements. In the end, the book rises above most because it does so much in such a slim volume. Could be read in one sitting.

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Apr 14, 2009

Venessa rated it:

(review of isbn 0525934553)

Read in April, 2009

JCO loves to write about scandals and this book is based on the accident that Robert "Ted" Kennedy had in 1969 in which a young girl died. Honestly this short novel could have been a short story, but perhaps Oates was trying to emulate how at the moment of an awful death such as this you replay your life over and over again in different ways until you are on the brink of insanity with hallucinations.

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Jun 30, 2009

Juliegsorensen rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

Read in July, 2009

I picked this book up because I like Joyce Carol Oates' other books and it was required reading for my daughter's American Studies course at school. Oates again displays her amazing skills as a writer. Almost poetic in its structure, the book tells a tale of power, charisma and its impact on the 'victim'. Throughout the book, I could not resist picturing the real characters of the Chappaquidick (sp?) incident. How close to reality is this work?

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Aug 28, 2009

R. rated it:

(review of isbn 0330326759)

bookshelves: 2009

No connection whatsoever is made to the Doobie Brothers song. As a matter of fact, the only song on the radio is by The Beatles...and keeping with the alteration of facts, JCO refers to it not as "Eleanor Rigby" but as "All the Lonely People". Whether by airplane or car, All-American girls who fall for dangerous Kennedy boys never get far...

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Aug 25, 2008

Monica rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

bookshelves: 1001, 2008

Read in October, 2008

This lightning fast novella is an imagined retelling of the Chappaquiddick incident that cost Ted Kennedy his shot at the presidency. I'm not sure if its the elections, but I'm very interested in fiction about political figures lately (American Wife up next!). This one was high on Entertainment Weekly's New Classics list so I thought I would give it a shot. I'm glad I did.

This is my first Joyce Carol Oates and it seems like an ideal introduction. Her voice is lyrical but not anno...more

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2 comments

Jul 21, 2009

Mari Anne rated it:

(review of isbn 0525934553)

Read in July, 2009

UGH! What a disappointment from Joyce Carol Oates. Seriously this is one of the worst books EVER! The plot is basically four pages long and is repeated ad nauseum for about 163 pages. The book goes nowhere and makes no point and has unlikable, barely written characters. This is definitely one book that I feel I wasted time on!

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Nov 11, 2008

Kristy rated it:

(review of isbn 0452269865)

Read in November, 2008

recommends it for: anyone that loves literature and politics

I surprisingly enjoyed this book, and I applaud Oates for her ability to talk about one subject for such a long period of time. I have never read a book that is could be classified as political literature, and technically it is fiction even though it is based off of the Chappaquiddick Incident. The author's feelings are obvious, but I don't think that either of the parties involved were left unscathed.

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