Black Dahlia & White Rose: Stories

L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories #4

by Joyce Carol Oates

Chez Joyce Carol Oates, les aspects les plus triviaux de la vie quotidienne peuvent tourner au cauchemar. Ces onze nouvelles dérangeantes et inventives en offrent encore une fois la preuve, disséquant les sentiments et les actes de personnages aux prises avec un univers lisse en surface, mais toujours susceptible de basculer. L'horreur n'est jamais loin : variation autour du meurtre du célèbre Dahlia noir, colocataire de la future Marilyn Monroe; tourments d'une prof vieillissante dont le désir d'enseigner vire à la catastrophe ; angoisse d'une adolescente arrachée par la police à son cours de maths ; mésaventures d'une femme au foyer insatisfaite qui croit voir un intrus chez elle... Comme à son habitude, Oates démontre son sens aigu de l'observation et son humour noir décapant quand elle croque les réactions désordonnées d'une mère apprenant que sa fille est victime de violences ; les tribulations d'un couple d'Américains en pleine crise de la quarantaine à Rome ; la rage rentrée d'un enfant non reconnu ; ou les efforts pitoyables d'un homme en quête de rédemption... Une chose est sûre : les nouvelles de ce recueil procureront au lecteur rires nerveux et délicieux frissons.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Horror, Literary Fiction, Literature, Historical Fiction

Audio

First published June 6, 2011

About the author

Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not saying that Joyce Carol Oates's Black Dahlia & White Rose was not an intriguing idea. Two of the most iconic women figures of the twentieth century, Elizabeth Short (aka Bettie Ann Short, aka The Black Dahlia) and Norman Jean Baker (aka Marilyn Monroe, associated with white roses, re: her last photo shoot, and then Joe DiMaggio left white roses on her grave until he died), who both lived in LA in the mid-forties, seeking fame and fortune in the movie industry. Both had absentee fathers, both transformed themselves from pretty small town girls to glamorous sex icons Bettie was working on it, at least), with the help of predatory males.

Both died young, Short at 23, was killed and left in a vacant lot; Baker killed herself with barbiturates at 38. Both sought fame and fortune in films, but in the 1mid-forties neither had a film contract. They agreed to pin-up photograph shoots to try to boost their images above the thousands of other young women who came to Hollywood to become the next Jean Harlow. Chasing one of the American Dreams.

Oates has it in her fiction--and it's not that crazy an idea--that Short and Baker were roommates, so we can see their ordinariness and similar ambitions, both ending in tragedy. Short was a waitress when she died, a young woman who became associated with rich and famous men, including mobsters, and was not successful in making a career in film, but at the time Monroe was also unknown, just trying to figure out how to make it work. And for a decade or so she certainly "made it," acting in a few very good movies, before it all seemed to dry up and she died in ignominy and shame.

I listened to this longish short story, and I think it is certainly well-written, with touches of humor laced through the social critique of the quest for beauty, and sex symbolism, and I listened to it because of the recent movie on Marilyn I have yet to see, but I thought this story told me nothing really new. Still, powerful and sad, these two American stories, seen here as intertwined, are made to be seen as essentially the same story.

[Cody · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather uneven collection, unfortunately, but most short stories collections feature at least a couple duds! Like Joyce Carol Oates’ 1991 collection Heat a solid half of Black Dahlia and White Rose is made up of winners, the rest . . . uh, not so much.

Here’s my ratings of each story:

“Black Dahlia and White Rose”: 5⭐️
“I.D.”: 5⭐️
“Deceit”: 5⭐️
“Run Kiss Daddy”: 4⭐️
“Hey Dad”: 2⭐️
“The Good Samaritan”: 5⭐️
“A Brutal Murder in a Public Place”: 1⭐️
“Roma!”: 1⭐️
“Spotted Hyenas: A Romance”: 2⭐️
“San Quentin”: 1⭐️
“Anniversary”: 5⭐️

Overall a fairly mediocre collection, with a run of terrible stories in the middle, this one is slightly buoyed by gems such as “I.D.” and “Deceit”, both showing this writer working at the height of her powers. But overall I wouldn’t recommend new JCO readers start here.

[Stef Smulders · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first experience with this author and definitely a good one. Lots of variety and most stories do keep you curious and wanting to read on. The story selected as one of the best American short stories of 2011, I.D. is absolutely brilliant. As in the first, title, story Oates succeeds in finding the right voice of her character. The author has a sense of the absurd, the weird and of horror and suspense. In some stories I find her going a bit too far, like in the hyena story. There seems to be some lack of editing as well, resulting in errors with dates as in the Good Samaritan (the wallet was found in 1981 as the narrator says, but at the end she says that she was born in 1981) and unnecessary repetitions in the last story (about Vivianne's clothes).

[Julie N · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are going to read Joyce Carol Oates (and you should), I absolutely insist that you start with her short stories. I haven't read enough of her novels to definitively say they don't measure up, but I simply cannot get enough of her short stories.

This collection, which includes a story that is featured in The Best American Short Stories 2011, met all of my expectations. Her title story, Black Dahlia and White Rose, traces the brief intersection in the lives of Elizabeth Short (more commonly known after her murder as The Black Dahlia) and Norma Jean Baker (more commonly known as Marilyn Monroe). The rest of the stories continue with the theme, showing how darkness waits at the edge of our mundane lives.

Writing
I loved the way the stories were grouped. We open with the title story, then have a section that focuses on the relationships between parents and children and how they can go wrong. The third section has a distinct focus on women. Finally, the fourth section gives us pictures of imprisonment. My personal favorite story was the last, "Anniversary", although I also really enjoyed the title story and "I.D." One thing that I think is unique in Oates' writing is her ability to mediate between the popular (many of her works appear in what I'd consider the "glossy" magazines) and the literary (she has several well-earned spots in the Best American series). She's a master at inserting just the right amount of ambiguity into her short stories - that twist that really characterizes a great short story.

Entertainment Value
The stories are certainly dark, but not, I think hopeless. It's another line that I really appreciate short story author's balancing - the line between depressing the reader and making the reader think. If there was no hope in any of the stories, the collection would be depressing, but the appeal of a short story, for me at least, is in the ambiguity and the tension, so a happy ending every time won't work either. Oates is perfect at holding the right amount of tension. I think it is important to realize that short stories may not be for everyone, and that this set in particular does focus on explicitly heavy subjects.

Overall
If you're a fan of the short story, by all means read this. I loved it. If you're not a fan of short stories, this could be a good one to start with, if you are interested in darker, heavier themes with lots of ambiguity. If you're not a short story fan and you want to read something uplifting, this is certainly not Chicken Soup for the Soul.

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read many Joyce Carol Oates books scattered throughout her career, so I kind of know what to expect from her short stories and novels. This is no exception to the rule. The stories in "Black Dahlia & White Rose" all have the tension that something bad is going to happen or that something bad has already happened, and it's only a matter of time before the consequences are revealed. Some of these stories are riveting. Some of these stories are junk. A typical short story collection, but in this case that bad are really bad. "I.D." "Run Kiss Daddy" and "Good Samaritan" are embarrassingly bad, and I think that the common thread in these are they are not perspectives that Joyce Carol Oates is in touch with anymore. She writes about marriages and teachers and young people in stories set in the past very well, but when she tries modern times, teenage girls and young men in a current setting, the tone is way off and out of touch. She reminds me of Hillary Clinton in that way. You know. Where she can talk to the older generations, but when it comes to the 18 year old voter, she is embarrassingly out of touch. This makes me think that Oates is now to the place in her career where she needs to work more in her wheelhouse and slug them out of the park. It seems like those stories that are bad are bad because there is no continuity. Her inability to create a great narrative with a teenage girl as the main character is undercut by the things that she has the girl like and do. Oates has no concept of modern music or fashion or the way cellphones and social media are used. So she tries her best and falls flat.

That does not mean that some of these stories are pretty good. "Anniversary" and the title story are gripping and strong, but they are overshadowed by the mistakes. That makes this an uneven, sometimes cringe-worthy collection.

[Una Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had heard of Joyce Carol Oates and was excited to read something by her. I heard her stories were a little dark and disturbing and thats certainly true. In darkness, if there is some profound point it is an understandable and forgivable trip to take the reader on. This does not seem to be the case with these stories. I guess I was waiting for some humanity, even love to emerge from these stories but it all seemed like a thinly disguised sneer at humanity, a hysterical laugh at the murder of an innocent sparrow and disgust rather than compassion in light of a young woman's brutal murder. There is no charactor that illicited any response in me other than to continue reading vainly in search of something that wasn't shock, misery or hate. Darkness is not depth and depth is what these stories lacked. I cannot believe life is this devoid of lightness and deeper meaning. I know despair is the literary norm, but after an evening of reading these stories I was literally gasping for a little light and real sensitivity.

I did enjoy some of the stories as entertainment and the writing is often beautiful, dramatic and flawless. That is her stories at their best. At worst they are the literary equivelent of a tv show like Criminal Minds or CSI, all shock horror and terror, without mercy for her charactors or readers. Not a pleasant reading experience.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the latest macabre, morbid, and masterful collection of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates, one thing is clear: being a woman is hell, whether you’re a Hollywood starlet or a Jersey suburbanite, a teenager, a mother, a wife, a divorcee, or a widow. Throughout the book, female characters suffer relentlessly from betrayal, abandonment, neglect, trauma, and abuse, while their male counterparts are at best negligent, oblivious, and insensitive, and at worst lecherous, sadistic, and deadly. As a critique of gender relations wrapped in literary horror, Black Dahlia & White Rose fulfills what the Roman lyric poet Horace called the ideal of drama: to educate and delight. READ FULL REVIEW HERE http://bit.ly/XgrZX0

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a super batch of JCO Short stories with as many unusual characters as you could ever want in the usual JCO style.

[Freesiab BookishReview · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't go 5 stars mainly because there were a couple stories that didn't fit, or seemed to try too hard. Maybe 4.5. The stories were rich, haunting and disturbing without anything actually happening. Several, I wanted to see as novels or at least novellas. They drew me in. All the characters were so rich and their flaws so real, or so unexpected. Had she taken out three of the stories it would have been perfection and added a little length to a couple. Brilliant book.

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been on my to-read for a while and I really like Joyce Carol Oates, but also am not a huge fan of short stories and so have been kind of dragging my feet. I wanted something a bit light (this is not it) and short stories seemed like a good plan right now as my attention span has been limited. Overall the stories are okay, but I wasn't really overwhelmed by any of them. Oates collects them in sections; each of which addresses a feminist topic.

Section 1: Black Dahlia & White Rose: This is the only story in this section and is the title story. I have read about the Black Dahlia in other places, but did not realize that she had crossed paths with Marilyn. I liked the presentation and point of view in this story (first person, but switched perspectives). This is really just about violence against women. Oates does nail the female intuition/evaluation on whether to trust or be alone with a man: "For always in that first instant if you are female an instinct comes to you: can this one be handled, or no. & if no you must flee. But if yes it will be worth your while to advance to him, if he beckons." As the physically weaker (but intellectually often stronger) sex, we evaluate men before putting ourselves in a position of vulnerability.

Section 2: The stories in this section all had to deal with inter-generational (father/daughter and mother/daughter) stuff.
ID: I really liked this story. It was very well done and as a mother of a middle school kid, I could really picture Lisette struggling with being an adult and grasping the task ahead of her while also trying to pretend it was not happening.

Deceit: I liked the implications of this story. The mother is neglectful and so can be considered mildly abusive (out of neglect), but it is really the friends who are torturing poor Kimmi. My favorite moment was Candace's alarmed: "'Happy? For Christ's sake, no one I know is 'happy'. This is the USA. Are you 'happy'?'"

Run Kiss Daddy: This was a weak story. Reno is grasping at his second chance (second family!), but otherwise there wasn't much here. It was mostly just a lot of repetition. Interesting cynicism though: "He hadn't yet grasped this simple fact of human relations--the more readily you give, the more readily it will be taken from you as what you owe."

Hey Dad: This was a cute little snippet. Clearly there are lots of famous men who have children out there of which they are not aware. I also found myself wondering about whether it is possible that the mother had told the truth. There was no implication of that in the story, but something about the tone made me wonder.

The Good Samaritan: I struggled to read this one. First, it lacked the inter-generational theme of the others in this section and so I kept wondering what the hell it was doing here. And THEN the dates were totally fucked. It starts with "on the train from Utica in the late fall of 1981" and then says that Anna-Marie's driver's license gives her DOB as 1974 (making her 7...not 27, which is what I think she should have been)...so then I was trying to figure out if the story should have been set in 2001, but at the end the narrator reminds us that it was 1981 (20 years ago). BUT THEN! at the very end she says that she (the narrator) was BORN 1981...huh??? I think Anna-Marie's DOB should have been 1954 and the narrator's 1961, but I just didn't enjoy and wasn't able to concentrate on the story because of the stupid editing discrepancy.

Section 3: This deal with domineering husbands. The women in these stories were so similar I actually wondered why she gave them different names. There was also the fantastical/shape shifting element to these stories.
A Brutal Murder in a Public Place: So this was just fantastical. And rather set the tone for the hyenas to come later. It was short, but not all that interesting. I think Oates was going for a Metamorphosis tone, but it just was odd. I liked "you can tell that these trees are not artificial because they are shabby, desiccated. The artificial endures. Living wears out."

Roma! and Spotten Hyenas: A Romance: So Alexis and Mariana and Pearce and David were essentially the same people. I wasn't sure why this wasn't just one long story about a trip the couple took to Rome (to try to rekindle/enjoy themselves) and then when they got back home the wife could just turn into a hyena. Rather fantastical and unbelievable. The women were just flat and boring. Yes, I get that the husbands are as well and that the women are in reaction to them, but it also seemed so depressing.

Section 4: This section was focused on prisons. It was less female focused than the other sections, but these stories both took place in classrooms in jails.
San Quentin: I didn't get it. Really, I just wasn't sure what this was. I know that it was several inmates perspectives in a class, but there didn't seem to be any story here...just free-word association almost.
Anniversary: This was better (although they were different prisons, the Vietnamese seemed to be the same as in the San Quentin story). More interesting development and I liked the dual meaning for "bleeding out" at the end. The vague resolution worked for me.

Overall they were okay for short stories, but I wasn't impressed. I like Oates longer stuff better.

[L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't write reviews on books often, but I have to for this collection because of some of the negative reviews I've read that I feel don't give an accurate portrait of what the book actually is.

It is dark, macabre, and at points some stories teeter on the deeply disturbing; however, if you are familiar with Joyce Carol Oates, this pretty much falls in line with her overall writing. If you're not familiar with her, be warned (if you want a glimpse into her style, Google "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", easily her most famous short story).

That said, part of the reason these stories are so haunting is because they take the hidden secret lives of ordinary people (from whom nothing surprising would ever be expected) and thrust them into the spotlight- people with mundane, "normal" lives that would otherwise never be examined. Some are more compelling than others, but I suggest reading them one at a time, letting them sink in, not all at once in a single sitting. Many would make incredible novellas or novels, and all leave you slightly uncomfortable and wanting more. This is not a collection for a "lazy" reader who wants everything resolved- you have to use your imagination.


There are no parts of any story that would be too graphic to hear or see on the evening news. Suspenseful, yes; creepy, occasionally; overly emotionally distressing, no. I borrowed my e-copy from the library, and I plan to order a hard copy because like any excellent writing, these pieces must be read over and over.

[Briar]

I don't want to rate this because I've only read about 20-25%, but ugh, I had to write up something about it, at least to remind myself in the future of why I didn't finish this.

I've wanted to read Joyce Carol Oates for so long I can't even remember why I first put some of her books on my TBR. I found this collection for $1 a year or so ago and was very excited to finally check out her writing. I was even happier to have found a collection of short stories--instead of a novel--first, because I generally like short stories and find them to be lovely introductions to an author's writing style.

To say I'm underwhelmed would be an understatement. I was bored almost to sleep, and I despised the writing style. If this is representative of her writing, in general, I won't be reading anything else of hers and I feel like I wasted a dollar.

I very much wanted to love, or at least like, this book, but I had to set up a rewards system for myself to make it as far as I did.

[Mary Taitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like it very much, too much scary stuff and violence against women. The stories were well-written but depressing. I usually like Joyce Carol Oates, but this is my least favorite so far. (Will not read again).

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good stories, others not so much.
My favorite was "Black Dahlia & White Rose" following closely by "ID"
I also enjoyed "Anniversary"
I wasn't a big fan of "Run Kiss Daddy" or "A Brutal Murder in a Public Place"
"Roma!" and "San Quentin" were my least favorites.

[Ali Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I was disappointed overall after watching a true crime about Black Dahlia, pulling this off my shelf, jumping right in, and a bit later realizing its an entirely random collection of stories that have nothing to do with the titular one. That was okay tho!! I think I got a decent feel for Oates' writing though this is my first of hers? She seems to like choose your own endings (it was all a dream vibes). There were definitely some really good moments and persisting themes of the horrors of girlhood usually charm for some reason. This collection was certainly haunting, at times unsettling. I would undoubtably recommend just the story Black Dahlia and White Rose. The foil Oates crafted between a mythicized murder victim and pre-fame Marilyn Monroe was unique, creative, and compelling, like truly got me.

favorites: Black Dahlia and White Rose, ID, Deceit, Roma, Anniversary?

also looking for non fic recs on the Black Dahlia Murder

[kaley · Rating 4 out of 5]

joyce carol oates is the blueprint for every book written by women, from a woman's POV in the 21st century. in this essay i will

[Juliet Ottaviano · Rating 2 out of 5]

SPOILERS!!! ❌❌❌ MANY SPOILERS BELOW!

I remember enjoying “Because It Is Bitter & Because It Is My Heart” by JCO, so I thought this book of short stories would be a good read, especially with the title story centering around the fascinating tragedy of the Black Dahlia murder.

Most of them were very disappointing though, especially as the book progresses they got worse. I’m not a literary expert so I’m sure I’m missing some of her subtleties and nuances. As an everyday book lover, many of these stories left me wondering “WTF why was this written?”

Here are my thoughts:

1. Black Dahlia & White Rose - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I love JCO’s descriptive abilities, it was so easy to visualize this story. Marilyn’s tone was extremely irritating to read, with all the stutters and “oh golly gosh!” Snow White-ness. Marilyn/Norma Jean seemed flattened into a one-dimensional, pitiful, shallow creature (haven’t read or seen “Blonde” but have heard similar complaints). I did enjoy the Dahlia’s parts, and the tone JCO used: bitter, ironic, melancholy, humorous, haunting. A quick read, sad and disturbing.
2. I.D. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - by far my favorite story! JCO’s writing about being a 13 year old girl, fitting in, talking to older boys, being a little wild, felt so relatable and authentic. I was really struck by the main character, Lizette’s eye watering the whole story thanks to her mostly-absent father’s rage. The hints dropped about the mom seem to indicate that she was a prostitute, and I think Lizette knew that deep inside since she proudly (& defensively) stated her mom is a blackjack dealer at a casino which “you need to be trained for”. In my opinion, the body in the end is 100% Lizette’s mother, and I’m certain poor lizette knew it too and her brain jumped into self-protection mode by denying it. The way JCO described Lizette’s buzzing, foggy, surreal thoughts was SO good and nightmarish. I can picture the end so clearly, Lizette back in her brightly lit school cafeteria, telling her friend everything is fine, “why the hell not?!” in a surreal, utterly manic tone. This one was powerful and stayed with me!
3. Deceit - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Another one where JCO’s powers of description and tone were top notch! Obviously the mother is an empty, shallow, drug-addled, selfish narcissist who never should’ve had kids, as she knows. Her daughter is being physically hurt by her own best girl friend, described as “masculine”. Is it a case of one of those pre-teen girl super consuming, controlling, obsessive friendships (think Heavenly Creatures minus the murder)? Or is it possible mom is somehow responsible for the bruises?! I really don’t know, and what a stressful, ambiguous ending!
4. Run Kiss Daddy - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - in this one, again JCO did an amazing job conveying the tone of anxiety, mania, & nightmarish surrealism. The male narrator mentions his ex-wife and two grown children as part of his previous life. While digging a patio at his new lake house he owns with his second wife and step children, he finds the corpse of a little girl - this is peak nightmare quality writing, as he mentions briefly that he & his ex wife had to hide the accidental death of his young daughter, and he wonders if this is her body. He then rushes on to say “no that was a different time, a different lake house and plus my daughter is alive and I never hurt her!” Deeply stressful that he buried the body once more, but not before he takes a blue glass bead necklace off the little corpse. He then washes the necklace and gives it to his new step daughter (who he’s also mentioned has clear blue eyes that he’s fascinated by, like the necklace). He emphasizes throughout the story the need to protect his “new” family, and it seemed that by giving his step daughter that necklace, he’s “transferring” to her the essence of his past, dead daughter…..saying “I couldn’t protect her, but I can protect you. You will make right my failure to protect her.”
5. Hey, Dad! - ⭐️ - waste of time. Nothing happens! Boohoo your dad didn’t know your mom well and wanted you to be an abortion. Goes no where.
6. The Good Samaritan - ⭐️⭐️ - this one started off promising, I was sure it’d be a cool story. NOPE! Not much happens and no resolution. The narrator finds the wallet of a woman who turns out to be missing, and when returning the waller to the husband, inserts herself into the situation out of a sense of loneliness and craving something….trying to fill the emptiness inside. She seems infatuated with the smelly husband, but I’m not sure why. I get that he’s handsome & “exotic”, but otherwise he is inappropriate, unhinged, overbearing, and understandably desperate for info on his missing wife! I was sure he was going to assault/murder the narrator but no, she goes home….and nothing happens. It’s vaguely implied that the wife may have committed suicide? Also what’s with the timespan - it says clearly the story takes place in 1981, but the missing wife was born in 1974, then at the end states the narrator was born in 1981….what am I missing??? I may be too dense and missing what’s not clearly spelled out in this story, but after finishing this book I’m pretty sure there IS no “below the surface”.
7. A Brutal Murder in a Public Place - ⭐️ - probably too vague and surreal for me to understand. At least it was quick
8. Roma! - ⭐️ - what on earth is the point of this story?! Her husband is a cold jerk and a creep, and the lady is a doormat (a dynamic we’ll see several more times in this book). They like to peep into the windows of the apartment building across from their hotel in Rome, but then in the light of day the narrator can’t find the apartment building she’s so fascinated by and goes into a mild panic. Then returns to the hotel. The end. WHY!
9. Spotted Hyenas: A Love Story - ⭐️⭐️ - another one that might just be over my head. By this point in the book I was praying for a less vague story and this was not it. If I’m understanding, the narrator suddenly remembers an instructor from college after 20 years and at the exact same time, he suddenly remembers her, so kindof a psychic connection. She pays the instructor a visit and sees the hyenas he studies and is outwardly afraid and a little repulsed by the animals, but is simultaneously fascinated and stimulated. The hyenas and her former instructor awaken a primal, passionate instinct inside of her, which has been repressed by a dull life with a cold, self-absorbed husband. I think she ends up running off with the instructor, and….possibly killing the husband? The end was completely surreal so I am not sure how literally I should take it.
10. San Quentin - ⭐️ - just why? It’s written in “broken English” and is just unintelligible and not a story! It’s hard to even say what this is about.
11. Anniversary - ⭐️⭐️ - not horrible, certainly less infuriating than several other stories. It was frustrating reading about how she and the idiotic “co-teacher” broke all of their simple rules for teaching in the prison, but I suppose understandable since it’s sure it was nerve-wracking the first time. I think this could’ve made a good novella if longer and more fleshed out.

These stories were nearly all extremely vague and inconclusive. They were basically all about violence perpetrated against women. I got the sense in several stories that JCO enjoyed “punishing” her main characters. They were not horrible stories, I think I just need more solid storylines and less of the Hemingway “tip of the iceberg story” approach.

I will try reading again in a couple years to see if I can pick up on anything that I missed this first time!

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm so disappointed because I wanted to like this, but it was only "okay." The first story, Black Dahlia & White Rose was probably my favorite because it explored the murder of Elizabeth Short from her point of view, but it also explored perspectives from Norma Jean Baker/Marilyn Monroe and a man who was more interested in Norma Jean than her, etc. I especially enjoyed the way it was written, which was refreshing... This first story is available to read online: http://celestialtimepiece.com/2011/05...

I also enjoyed "I.D.," "Deceit" and "Anniversary." The others were mediocre, at best. They started strong but then fell flat.

A few things I didn't really enjoy: Now, it's probably because I listened to the audiobook version, but it was hard to tell when one story ended and the other began, and I felt unfulfilled. There was either no real resolution to some stories, and if there was, it was sometimes the same narrator that read the next story (there were three; one male, two females).

Another thing I didn't like was that JCO writes her teenager/adolescent characters to be too eloquent for their age. The expository and their vocabulary are too grandiose for a 13-year-old or a 24-year-old to be believable, in my opinion. However, when she wrote about a 60-something-year-old woman, I found it to be a little more believable. Perhaps she's letting "literary fiction" as a genre dictate how her characters act and develop?

Anyway... The creepy and depressing factor was there in some of these stories... I should say all, but not all of them could handle the moment that I know is possible in JCO's work. Perhaps the audiobook version of this collection was a bad idea, however, it might be a while before I decide to try to commit to this title again.

[Vel Veeter]

I remember being a college junior in 2002 and being in a Faulkner class. We were talking about who were the “real deal” writers in America. In 2002, the big ones were Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy, and(since this was a Faulkner class so we’re not getting too crazy) EL Doctorow. When someone asked about Joyce Carol Oates, the professor just said the same thing that I would say about Philip Roth, John Updike, and a few others: I can’t trust someone who’s written that much.

And this is one of those collections that confirms that. It seems so hard to trust the writing here when she seems to put out a new (usually long) novel each year and a collection of short stories.

She’s obviously virtuosic and a genius, but like a lot of geniuses, the output belies the depth. There’s just too much. And this collection is not strong. There’s a few, as there always are, very good stories. Her writing is always plenty good, and yet something is clearly lacking. There’s a lack of impression here. Her writing cannot mask the need to be a more mindful critic and editor. If her goal was more entertainment stuff, sure, but it’s clearly not.

The opening two stories are very good and then it winnows from there. I think the opening story about the Black Dahlia murder does make me more and more interested in Blonde, but otherwise I am good here.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this dark and disturbing collection of short stories and was surprised by some of the lower ratings. Although, I guess I can understand why Oates' work doesn't appeal to everyone, just like short stories don't appeal to everyone.

In addition to the grim tone, some of the later stories had more ambiguous endings, lacking closure, which is probably a bummer for those who, used to reading novels, expect a tangible and clearly defined beginning, middle, and end. I also felt the stories in the second half of the book weren't as strong as the first three stories, "Black Dahlia & White Rose", "I.D.", and "Deceit", which were by far my favorites.

Overall, however, I think Oates demonstrates a real talent for honing into the darker corners of the human psyche and human relationships, consequently capturing a sort of hopelessness that we all identify with and understandably fear.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy short stories of a bleak nature. This is certainly not an and-they-all-lived-happily-ever-after kind of book filled with uplifting moments. Yet there is something hauntingly honest about her characters and their misfortune that expresses something worthwhile.

[Linda Lipko · Rating 2 out of 5]

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with the writings of this author. There are instances when after reading one of her books, I swear never to read another, and then find one I haven't read and bring it home.

This is a set of short stories, each different, but alike it the typical noir of her writing style. The title is taken from the first story of Elizabeth Short, aka The murdered woman known as The Black Dahlia. The unsolved mystery remains to haunt. I'm not sure if Elizabeth was a room mate of Marilyn Monroe, but in this story the two beauties share an apartment while trying to make a mark in Hollywood. One is grossly butchered, the other goes on to ever-lasting fame.

Some of the remaining stories are ok, but not as strong as the first. Overall, unless you are an avid fan of Joyce Carol Oates, I can't recommend this one. But there certainly is something about her style that keeps me coming back for more.

[Megan Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yup, just two stars...it breaks my heart. Maybe it was unfair to attempt to read this after my favorite book of all time, We the Living Nonetheless, none of these stories grabbed me the way Oates usually does. The characters were undeveloped - I couldn't even vaguely connect with any of them. The topics seemed to strive too much to be "modern" throwing around terms like "cyberbullying" and "MySpace" (who even uses that anymore?) with an attempt to relate to the modern mother. And just when she was starting to reveal the darkness in each story, they abruptly ended too sweetly. Maybe I need to go back to her earlier works. Or maybe I've come to desire too much darkness through characters that remind me of myself. Hmmmm.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though I am a fan of JCO, this was not one of my favorites. It is too dark, dreary and depressing.

Right now, I am on the story "Run Kiss Daddy" and I am finding fault with it. I live in New Jersey and know the Delaware Water Gap. On page 96 she writes, "- across the river on the high pedestrian walkway, north to Dunfield Creek and Sunfish Pond and . . . ". There is no pedestrian walkway across the river (the Delaware River).

Also, she has the family living in East Orange. I am assuming this is a white family. East Orange is almost 99% African American. There are certain things that just don't ring true and they bother me.

Moved on to Hey Dad ...this one was short but really good.

I think her novels are far superior to her creepy, depressing short stories which for the most part, I don't care for.

[Juliet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m totally done with this book after 2 short stories.

The writing style is horrible! And the story? No proper beginning nor proper ending to it. It’s just a huge lots of scribbles that had not been edited nor proof read. Stuffs gets repeated throughout the short chapter. I guess if the repetitive information were removed, each chapter can be just under 10 pages.

I picked up this book because I am always interested in stories about The Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short. However this book failed to provide anything interesting about her that was not on wikipedia and even if this is a fictitious story about her and Marilyn Monroe, it totally failed.

The 2nd story? Yes I know you wear purple tinted sunglasses and you have deep purple lipstick. You don’t have to remind me every other page.

I wished I can asked for a refund of my time wasted on these 2 chapters.

Do not pick up this book!

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read JCO years ago when I was in high school. Now I see why I'm not a fan. I like dark but these stories were dreary and depressing. The characters weren't very well developed and some details like cyberbullying should not include things like friending or unfriending someone. The Good Samaritan was about a poor woman who had a scholarship and something like $30 in her pocket. Only an American would call being less well off than their peers "poor." It all depends on where you're standing where poor is. She paints a lot of main characters as victims. It just can't be this sad to be a woman in America. I didn't want to finish the stories after the Good Samaritan.

[Y · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dunno. Most of the stories start out interestingly enough, but then it gets bogged down midway through with details that just seem to go over the same thoughts for a good long while, bogging down the previous positive start, and ultimately ending with a highly unsatisfying cop-out of an ending. I suppose the author wants us to feel the buildup of emotions is the important part, but I think if you can't end the story well, maybe it should have been rethought better.

I enjoyed the one about the boy at his college graduation ceremony the most.

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Read" isn't the right word as I discontinued this book very early on. Oates often writes dark, disturbing, violent novels and it sounded like this could be one of them, judging from the description of a murdered girl at the very beginning. In addition, I listened to the audio version. The breathiness of the reader portraying Marilyn Monroe was very hard to take, though that seems to be how she actually did speak.

[Raul Clement · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read all but two stories in here and pretty much enjoyed them all. I'm deducting a star for the one story I didn't like as well as Oates's somewhat sloppy language. She'll sometimes put words in an order no sane human would use, as well as omit commas while adding unnecessary ones. It's hard to figure out her reason for doing so -- is it some obscure aesthetic statement or just that she writes too fast?

[David Macpherson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why do I do this to myself. I have now read four Oates books and have only liked one. Why do I think that this time, this time, I will get the fuss about her and dig her stories. This collection was very long or it felt that way. I felt every scene was overwritten, that every story could have been half the size. But that maybe just me wanting to get it over with quicker. The sad thing is I will probably try another of her books one of these days. Pity me.

[Eleanor Levine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection of short stories, some out there with hyenas, some in there with ghosts. She has a satirical thing about pharmaceutical company lawyers. Sometimes she is in Ocean County, NJ, and other times Los Angeles. CA. Readable, and if not, move on, it's easy, to another story. Love the one about the college graduation where a son (who was born out of wedlock), graduating with honors, sees his biological father (who is receiving an honorary doctorate), and doesn't say hi to him.