The Rescuer

by Joyce Carol Oates

Lydia is a graduate student in cultural anthropology—a fellow at a prestigious university, with a bright future ahead of her. Harvey, her brother, is a seminary student driven by his god-besotted studies. The two have never shared much of anything except a mutual desire to escape the stifling confines of the home they grew up in and the parents they left behind. But when Lydia's estranged parents call her to say Harvey has mysteriously dropped out of seminary, Lydia begrudgingly sets out to "rescue" him—though the dark path into Harvey's new world leads Lydia herself through a threatening terrain of addiction, sexuality, and violence. An astute, insightful, and mordant examination of faith, family, and sibling ties, The Rescuer is Joyce Carol Oates at her best.

Genres: Fiction, Ebooks

Kindle Edition

First published December 26, 2012

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

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read a few books by this author and I know she has written many. In each book I have read of hers, the solid prose and insightful sentences are apparent, but her writing style is always different. This book was strange and like many of hers a trip to a darker side than we are comfortable with. She sort of turns her characters inside out, takes people successful in one way or another, and shows them falling for a lifestyle that is gritty and crude, as if under a respectable veneer there lies this degradable character just waiting to be revealed. Which is what she has done in this novel, with a brother and sister who are both successful in different walks of life. Yet there were lines in this book that were so wonderfully constructed that I can't help but admire her.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy story of a younger sister who leaves her own life to help her brother and gets sucked in to his pathology.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joyce Carol Oates and I have a love/hate relationship. Either her books sweep me in immediately or drop me cold and I just can't. I love most of her books; she is legend, her writing is super, her thoughts unique. This super short little novella left me in the middle.

Lydia is a grad student living her life and making her way. She gets a call from her parents begging her to go check on her brother, Harvey. She reluctantly agrees to do so. Harvey is now living in Trenton after dropping out of the seminary. She finds him living in squalor, seemingly ill or addicted to something. Lydia tries to help...meets all sorts of characters who seem to float in and out of her brother's apartment. Can she help Harvey? Is he doomed? Will he drag Lydia down to his own sad and depressed level?

This is a very short book, taking me barely two hours to read. JCO as always -- writes so well. The book is sad and full of despair, yet full of hope and love.

[Ked · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love JCO. When she's good, she's SO good. But when she's bad, she's really bad.

This was really bad. No plot to speak of, and a main character whose actions and motivations made zero sense. The descriptions of several POC characters were shockingly racist.

Also, I cannot get over the fact that the main character -- a 23 y.o. grad student in 21st century America -- states that she does not know how to pronounce "Beyonce." Like, what???

[Salty Swift · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novella centered on a college-age sister who is emotionally blackmailed by her parents to take care of her ailing, junkie brother who has dropped out of seminary. Wish some of the tangents were explored in greater detail, as the story could’ve been much more satisfying...

[Nina Ruthie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending was unsatisfactory. Of course the writing is fantastic and the is story interesting. While the characters trip to the dark side was compelling, I was left hanging with that ending.

[Heidi Garrett]

Hmmm…I read this last night in one sitting—for a quick JCO fix. I’ve always said she’s a fierce writer, but this little novella was a strange and troublesome read for me. Depressing is the first word that comes to mind. The second thing that comes to mind is the 1993 Chinese drama, Farewell My Concubine. My mind always travels back to that movie when the main character of a film, book, etc descends deeper and deeper into the mire, never to surface again. Does that happen in real life? Well, looking around at the human condition, and I don’t have to go far, there are members of my own family who once fallen have never risen again…but honestly, if I want this kind of “reality check”, I go to the news. When I read, otherwise go to art, I want my hopes, brightest visions, etc. to be fed, nourished, re-vivified. If I want to feed/support/validate my baser, lower self, again: the news will suffice. Not that I don’t love dark in my art. I do. You can’t not love dark and have any appreciation for JCO…or Dexter…hehe. But give me some light. The lights in The Rescuer are brittle, glaring, and neon. I don’t really get the story other than perhaps it displays a life devoted to the pursuit of tedious academic parsing rots the mind and stunts the will. Not sure though, as sometimes I can be a bit dense:D

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never having read one of Oates' books I was initially impressed by the wonderful, descriptive writing she uses. Unfortunately, almost half-way through this novella (lucky thing it is not a novel) I can't go on. I feel like I've been duped. The storyline, if you can call it at, is so stupid and too unbelievable. While I have no doubt that mental illness can drag people down into the depths of society, an intelligent person set on rescuing that person, brother or otherwise, would not willingly take themselves down that same path.

I wish I could give this book zero stars, but instead I can only recommend one doesn't waste their time reading it.

[Nancy Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting book. This is definitely a book by Joyce Carol Oates. It looks at family ties but more importantly at the ties between a brother and a sister and the inner workings of that relationship. Lydia attempts to "rescue" her older brother and in so doing enters into his world of drugs, gangs and killing. In doing this she learns that he is HIV positive, something that he is trying to hide from himself and from her. Am not certain any one at all is rescued here but it's certainly a dark look into his world.

[Beth Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a slightly odd novella. I think I was supposed to have taken away more than I did, but I don't quite know what it was supposed to have been.

You don't learn much about the main character Lydia. It seems as if she glides through life without much introspection at all.

The novella is more about Harvey, but we don't even get to learn much about WHY he is the way he is.

It's rather frustrating.

It seems as at least 1/3 of it describes smells and not even very well.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sister in graduate school in anthropology(?) comes to inner city Trenton to care for her seminary drop out junkie brother. She is the "Rescuer", perhaps, but she does a poor job of it. However, her brother may be seen to be a rescuer of her to live a little tinier bit more authenticate life. The ending was enigmatic, the sister can't ever leave Trenton it seems, like a Kafka situation.

[Freesiab BookishReview · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was a novella. The description made it sound very dark, which is what she's good at. What she isn't good at are novellas. Everything is going great, suspense, characters, secrets and an awkward end. I also didn't recognize her voice as much in this. Would have been a great novel.

[Rachel Kuhn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a lot of Joyce Carol Oates and this is probably my least favorite. It's just odd beyond her usual books and ended kind of abruptly.

[Joyce M. Tice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it OK, but is it typically strange. Drifting, falling, getting lost and never found.