Leah's review
Beasts (Otto Penzler Books)
by Joyce Carol Oates
Interesting review. Have you read any other Joyce Carol Oates, and can you compare it to any of her other work?
Leah's review
Beasts (Otto Penzler Books) by Joyce Carol Oates
Leah's review
rating:
bookshelves:
21st-century,
american-literature,
purchased-2008,
read-2008
In finishing the novella, I remain wholly unenthusiastic about its premise and conclusion. The characters were adequately developed: Gillian, Andre, and Dorcas made the [un?:] holy trinity of main characters. The peripheral, secondary characters seemed heavy handed: Sybil? Marisa? ...They seemed written in as part of another story line that was never quite developed or integrated.
It's incidental to me that while the book takes place at a women's college, ostensibly among close friends, each action and behavior seemed totally encapsulated in the individual character. There is little non-superficial interaction between anyone, excite for Gillian's insipid fawning. Maybe that was the point, that each individual is completely isolated from one another ... but were that the intention, I remain even less impressed with this work.
I expected the book to fit more into the tradition of being John Fowles-esque, insofar as the character becomes very much a victim of others ...more
It's incidental to me that while the book takes place at a women's college, ostensibly among close friends, each action and behavior seemed totally encapsulated in the individual character. There is little non-superficial interaction between anyone, excite for Gillian's insipid fawning. Maybe that was the point, that each individual is completely isolated from one another ... but were that the intention, I remain even less impressed with this work.
I expected the book to fit more into the tradition of being John Fowles-esque, insofar as the character becomes very much a victim of others ...more
Interesting review. Have you read any other Joyce Carol Oates, and can you compare it to any of her other work?
