One thing for sure – Oates can write. Her Twitter antics might convince you she is not a serious writer, but she is.

We Were The Mulvaneys is a juicy novel with quite a selection of antiheroes that creep up on you slowly, and you’re not sure when exactly you started hating them.

The Mulvaneys are the golden family which gets undone by their own misogyny, bigotry and weakness of character. The biggest asshat, of course, is the father, who believes that the offense done to his daughter was done to him really by proxy. It was an attack on him, something was taken away from him. The community whose respect he tried to earn so hard committed the ultimate act betrayal and disrespect. Like so many backwards fathers, he thinks his daughter’s virginity belongs to him. So any crime committed against her is actually committed against him and his property. The father’s unhealthy obsession with female virginity can be noticed very early on, when he is courting his future wife.

The novel is so psychologically intricate – Oates documents all the little things, the minute failures in communication that build up until everything reaches the point of no return. I particularly enjoyed the description of how the family communicates through their pets in a way of avoiding having difficult conversations. The daughter’s only act of rebellion noted was this one time when she broke from this established form of communication and snapped at her mother. It was such a small thing, but it left ripples. As a person with an easy access to her store of anger and rage, I found the mother’s and daughter’s inability to get angry perplexing and frustrating, but possibly, understandable in its context.

It was also interesting how the whole family, the parents especially, believed their own hype of being this picture perfect unit, the embodiment of the American dream, whereas to this reader they didn’t seem that special to begin with, therefore their downfall wasn’t as surprising as it was to them. When the reality started contradicting their own image they built in their heads, well, that’s too bad for reality. We never actually see the family through any outsider’s eyes, so we have no idea if their opinion of themselves is shared by their neighbours or if it’s just some group delusion.

The book is written from the POV of Judd, the youngest child of the Mulvaneys. This narrator occasionally becomes omniscient, he remembers things he wasn’t around for. This structure might sound messy, but was in fact very intricate, ellipting the main event, which nonetheless overshadows the whole story to the end.

Recensione originale: https://sonnenbarke.wordpress.com/201...

...Il colpevole non è lo stupratore ma la vittima.

Di chi è la colpa di uno stupro?

Si può pronunciare la parola stupro in una famiglia americana tanto cristiana e tanto perbene?

In una famiglia americana tanto cristiana e tanto perbene, una "vittima" di stupro non sarà invece la colpevole, e non contaminerà tutta la famiglia?

I Mulvaney sono la classica famiglia che noi italiani diremmo "del Mulino Bianco": cristiani, belli, simpatici, divertenti, buffi, innamoratissimi, semplicemente perfetti. Michael e Corinne hanno quattro figli: tre maschi (Mike Jr., Patrick e Judd, il minore) e una figlia, Marianne. La vita dei Mulvaney a High Point Farm, una fattoria in una sonnacchiosa ma ridente cittadina dello stato di New York, viene descritta per filo e per segno nella prima parte del romanzo, perché dobbiamo capire fino in fondo quanto questa famiglia sia meravigliosa. I Mulvaney non hanno un solo difetto, sono perfetti e tutti li invidiano e li ammirano.

Ma è possibile che le cose vadano sempre bene per questa famiglia perfetta? Purtroppo, la risposta è no. Un giorno, infatti, a San Valentino, la bellissima, dolcissima, cristianissima e popolarissima Marianne viene eletta reginetta al ballo della scuola, e quando torna a casa niente è più come prima. Marianne, infatti, è stata stuprata da uno dei ragazzi presenti alla festa.

Inizialmente il padre reagisce con violenza nei confronti della famiglia dello stupratore, la madre pronuncia la parola "stupro" davanti al medico di famiglia che parla soltanto di "abuso sessuale". Ma i fratelli non capiscono granché, soprattutto Judd, che viene tenuto all'oscuro dei fatti in quanto ancora quattordicenne (Marianne ha 17 anni all'epoca dei fatti). E Marianne? Marianne, molto devota, è convinta che la colpa sia sua perché era ubriaca (in realtà l'hanno ubriacata con l'inganno, dicendole che si trattava di cocktail all'arancia). Ovviamente, essendo ubriaca, non ricorda molto bene l'accaduto, perciò non se la sente di denunciare lo stupratore perché, in ogni caso, è colpa sua, di lei.

C'è bisogno di ben poco tempo perché l'intera situazione familiare cambi e anche la famiglia cominci a vedere Marianne con altri occhi. I Mulvaney vengono messi in disparte e ormai disprezzati da tutti: ovviamente la gente gode a veder "cadere" una famiglia che sostanzialmente ha sempre invidiato, più che ammirato. Il padre mal sopporta questa situazione e finisce per non riuscire più a guardare in faccia sua figlia, come se, appunto, la colpevole dell'onta della famiglia sia lei. Quando lo dice a sua moglie, lei non dice altro che "Lo so". Non si infuria, non lo aggredisce verbalmente, non lo prende a insulti, non cerca di farlo ragionare né con le buone né con le cattive.

Corinne è una moglie che si dimostrerà, nel corso del romanzo, tanto innamorata da essere succube del marito. Corinne dà sempre ragione al marito, i figli vengono sempre in secondo piano se si tratta di tutelare il benessere del marito, che poi a suo parere coincide con il benessere familiare.

È inevitabile perciò che Marianne venga allontanata dalla famiglia, ma naturalmente è per il suo bene, e comunque le permettono di portare con sé il gatto Focaccina, quindi dov'è il problema, alla fin fine?

Da qui il romanzo si dipana nel raccontare la vita successiva dei vari membri della famiglia. Una famiglia, ovviamente, ormai decaduta, ma comunque sempre felice, allegra, divertente, anche se ormai non invidiata più da nessuno. Anche perché, è inutile dirlo, la felicità della famiglia Mulvaney da questo momento in poi è puramente di facciata. Così forzata da far venire il voltastomaco.

Questo libro mi ha fatto più paura di un romanzo dell'orrore. Perché parla dell'attribuzione delle colpe in una sonnacchiosa provincia che più che americana è, credo, universale. Potrebbe benissimo essere la provincia italiana, dove molto, molto spesso, accade che la vittima di stupro sia invece considerata la colpevole, magari perché vestita in maniera "troppo provocante" oppure perché, come nel caso di Marianne, ubriaca. Che importa poi se è stata fatta ubriacare con l'inganno. L'importante è che era ubriaca. E poi, in ultima analisi, l'importante è che era donna, quindi la colpa non può che essere sua. È sempre la donna a commettere un errore, l'uomo ha degli istinti e, poverino, gli è difficile controllarli. Sta alla donna non provocarlo in alcun modo, neanche con la sua sola presenza.

Prima dello stupro di Marianne incontriamo un altro stupro nel romanzo, sottaciuto o ammesso a mezza bocca: lo stupro di gruppo di Della Rae, una ragazza che forse ha qualche problema di ritardo mentale, e di cui i ragazzi della scuola "si approfittano" a turno, una sera. O meglio, "si divertono" con lei. Perché dai, in fondo che cos'è lo stupro, è una parola errata per designare un po' di sano divertimento. I ragazzi hanno degli appetiti, com'è normale che sia, e devono pure potersi sfogare un po'. Poi comunque, torniamo sempre lì, la colpevole è la ragazza, che sicuramente li ha provocati, e che in ogni caso è un po' zoccola. Di sicuro ci stava. Si è sicuramente divertita anche lei. E poi lo voleva, oh se lo voleva.

Lo stesso Marianne. Dopo lo stupro, la scuola si riempie di scritte oscene rivolte verso di lei. Del resto, è lo stupratore stesso a dirglielo: "lo volevi anche tu". Che la piantasse di fare tanto casino.

Ma il punto è che la povera Marianne non fa casino per niente. Decide di non denunciare, si assume fin da subito tutta la responsabilità dell'accaduto. Inoltre, Gesù le dice che bisogna porgere l'altra guancia, che chi soffre è con lui, ecc ecc. Marianne non può non credere a Gesù.

Una famiglia americana è un romanzo agghiacciante. Una mia amica l'ha definito "orrendo", e sono perfettamente d'accordo con lei per quanto io l'abbia promosso a pieni voti. È orribile perché ci sbatte in faccia una situazione orribile. Ma più che la situazione orribile (lo stupro), è il contesto a essere orribile. L'atmosfera di accusa, di colpevolizzazione. Come dicevo, ci ho rivisto tanti fatti che avvengono quotidianamente anche nella nostra Italia (nella quale peraltro per non essere colpevole di uno stupro la donna deve necessariamente essere stuprata da uno straniero, nel qual caso è sempre una vittima).

Personalmente è un libro che consiglio, però con l'avvertenza che c'è la concreta possibilità che non riusciate a stomacarlo. Intendiamoci, non ci sono particolari raccapriccianti, è il contesto a essere stomachevole. Tuttavia, se pensate di riuscire, leggetelo, perché è un libro veramente forte e importante. Chissà che riuscisse ad aprire un po' gli occhi a qualcuno che li ha già semi-aperti.

This is my second JCO novel and I finished this one in two sittings. I loved this novel. The main plot line is the undoing of the happy, highly functional Mulvaney family from a rural Chataugua NY area. (An area I'm very familiar with.) The story is told from the point of view of Judd, the youngest of the Mulvaney children. I was able to appreciate Judd's view of the world as I too was a younger member of a large family. I know exactly what it feels like to be missing from a huge part of the family history; to watch older siblings struggle through late adolescence and to not always understand what is going on and to not be told anything. JCO did a fine job showing this experience through Judd. I loved the Mulvaney family and I was rooting for them the whole way. That said, there were times I hated them because they were being so cold to each other (Robt Sr, Corrine, Patrick), times when I wanted particular family members to self-destruct because I hated them so much (Robt Sr and Corrine) and times when I wanted them to heal (Marianne, Patrick, Judd, Robt Jr). There were parts of this book that made me cry. I never cry over books. I don't like putting spoilers in my reviews--but like a real family, your feelings about all of these people will vacillate over the course of the novel. I will also tell you that in the beginning when they are happy, you can understand why people may have been jealous of them; everything was just right, but as things unravel you will feel punched in the gut, sick, and then profoundly sad when you realize some events change people forever and things can get better but never can be the same again.

I Mulvaney, una famiglia americana degli anni sessanta/settanta: una famiglia numerosa, quattro figli, due genitori molto innamorati, una tenuta. Felicità e prosperità erano il loro marchio distintivo.

“Eravamo i Mulvaney, vi ricordate di noi?

Forse pensavate che la nostra famiglia fosse più grande. Ho incontrato spesso persone convinte che noi Mulvaney fossimo virtualmente un clan, ma in realtà eravamo solo sei: mio padre, che era Michael John Mulvaney Sr., mia madre Corinne, i miei fratelli Mike Jr. e Patrick e mia sorella Marianne, e io, Judd.”

Fino a quando Marianne non fu stuprata.
Attorno a questo tragico evento la famiglia si sgretola e perde la propria unione.

Non sapranno più riconquistare la propria identità. Ci proveranno più e più volte, senza però riuscirci. Perché non avranno il coraggio di scoperchiare il tetto della casa in cui chiudono i propri segreti.

“Marianne leggeva avidamente Charlotte Brontë. Non solo l’obbligatorio Jane Eyre che aveva già letto al liceo, che amava e la faceva piangere, ma anche Villette: che eroina inattesa, l’appassionatamente casta Lucy Snowe. E un’antologia delle lettere di Charlotte Brontë. Da cui copiò:

Dall’oscurità sono uscita, all’oscurità posso facilmente tornare.”

Ogni membro della famiglia cercherà di farsi giustizia

«Dopo che me ne sono andato quel giorno, quella domenica di Pasqua, ricordi? Mi sono svuotato. Il veleno che avevo nel sangue è colato fuori. Come fossi stato malato, infetto, e non me ne fossi accorto finché il veleno è scomparso. Però non rimpiango nulla. Penso che la vendetta debba essere bella. I greci lo sapevano. Sangue chiama sangue. Credo che l’istinto della “giustizia” sia innato, presente nei nostri geni. Il bisogno di ristabilire l’equilibrio.»

Joyce Carol Oates frantuma le certezze del mondo borghese. Va al cuore delle relazioni per dimostrare che non esistono le famiglie perfette. Esistono le persone con i loro errori e le loro qualità. Esistono i legami che durano.

“Lascio me stesso alla terra per nascere dall’erba che amo,
Se ancora mi vuoi cercami sotto le suole delle scarpe.

Difficilmente saprai chi io sia o che cosa significhi,
E tuttavia sarò per te salutare,
E filtrerò e darò forza al tuo sangue.

Se non mi trovi subito non scoraggiarti,
Se non mi trovi in un posto cerca in un altro,
Da qualche parte starò fermo ad aspettare te.

Walt Whitman ~ Canto di me stesso


Immensa Joyce Carol Oates.
P.S. Ci sono tanti echi di Philip Roth in questo romanzo. In particolare, di Pastorale Americana.

Six months after the death of Joyce Carol Oates a couple of her fans will visit her grave. Just underneath the keening mournful almost-Canadian wind as they stand by the graveside they will hear to their consternation a little tiptappy scratching noise. From underground. They will run run run to get the caretaker who will get the police who will get the bigger police. They'll all hear the sound. Tippytappy, scritchscratch. They'll hum and haw, and then they'll exhume the body. When they crack open the coffin next to JCO's earthly remains they'll find a neat 600 page typescript of the new novel. It will be Joyce's 53rd. Oh, what's that you say? Her 54th - they found another one in the boot of a car she used to drive - and it's another masterpiece you say?

Yes, JCO is the Vacuum Monster of contemporary lit - you remember, the one in the Beatles' merry psychedelic cartoon Yellow Submarine - whatever he sees - SLURP - it's gone, vacuumed into nothingness. JCO does the same except when she SLURPS up something, in its place there appears another neat 600 page typescript. Joyce sees Marilyn - SLURP - "Blonde" - turns on the tv and clocks Jeffrey Dahmer - SLURP - "Zombie". I read a review once and the reviewer was imagining that inside the copy of his JCO novel there was a handwritten note which said STOP ME BEFORE I WRITE AGAIN.
Having said all that - is she any good? Well, alas for you authors who cough out one 200 page novel every ten years, the answer is yes, sometimes, but "We Were the Mulvaneys" isn't the one to convince anybody - that would be "What I Lived For" which is a stone masterpiece. This whopping Mulvaney book promises much and for the first 250 pages is compulsive, propulsive, and then like a toy balloon you blew up and tried to tie but your fingers fumbled and whoosshhhh it zaps away from you and spirals and biffs and thwaps into every wall and every corner of the room and finally peters out and dies into someone's cup of coffee, this novel just seems to get away from its author - she writes and writes and writes about the four Mulvaney kids and their two parents and in the end it was all very herkyjerky and exactly where JCO should have shone her fearless psychological searchlight was exactly where she appeared to shy away from - i.e.

(***BIG FAT SPOILER***)

the father's rejection of his beloved daughter after the daughter is raped - date-raped to be precise. Now why would he do such a thing? And why would his good Christian-hearted wife put up with him doing such a thing, and actually go along with it and not see her daughter when it broke her heart? JCO loves to get into her character's heads and does so very well, but here - right here at the sore spot of the whole book, the axis around which the fate of the family revolved, the point at which their ascent turns to descent - here is where she backs off, never an explanation of this central appalling cruelty. This may be very intentional but if so the intention was lost on me. And because of this, as I realised we were never going to explore this painful area, and that the novel, like its characters, was going to tippytoe away from it, I got mardy and disgruntled and I began not to care. When I got to the five page description of the final illness of Muffin the cat (a cat, not a cool person with catlike powers) my lack of gruntle was turning into outright mockery. Five pages about this cat's kidney problems and no pages about why the father can't stand to look at his daughter after she's raped. I think Joyce lost the plot.
Four stars for pages 1-250ish, two generous stars for pages 250ish to 454.

Added 2/19/10.

n  10/26/12n
Today I finished watching the movie adaptation of We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates via a Netflix DVD.

See my comments about the book below these comments about the movie.

"We Were the Mulvaneys" (2002)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313769/
http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/We-Were-...
NETFLIX DESCRIPTION: "In 1976, in the small town of St. Ephraim, N.Y., the Mulvaney clan lived what most people would consider the American Dream. But mum's the word when one year, a tragic incident occurs that the family -- and townspeople -- vow never to mention again. Beau Bridges and Blythe Danner star in this sensitive drama based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates."

Once I got into it, I was riveted. Tammy Blanchard played the young girl, Marianne Mulvaney. She gave a sterling performance. Brought tears to my eyes which doesn't happen often during a movie.

Not all the member reviews at IMDb or Netflix were favorable but the story was engrossing and I was glued to the screen. Dark stories aren't my usual fare but I was curious about this one because the book was by Oates and I probably will never read it. Now at least I have an idea of what it was about.

One of the IMDb member reviews says: "The story is about a family that functions at a high level - as long as there are no bumps in the road. When the family is tested, not every family member has the inner strength or character to keep the family together." I thought the rest of review was good too. It's at: http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1840086/co...

Another IMDb member review had an interesting comment as well:
(This may be a bit of a *spoiler* but not much.)
------------------------------
"It might be difficult for the younger generations to understand the progression of this movie's plot. We know now that women have rights, too, that they are sometimes violated against their will, and that hidden secrets have a way of coming out against our will."

"But people just a few decades ago did not know that. Just three decades ago, a women was presumed to have invited a man to have sex with her if she cried rape. Sexual abuses were hushed, pregnant girls sent away in group homes."

"I suspect that women from past eras will find this film provoking, and the younger ones will do well to see how much progress has been achieved since. We still have a long way to go, of course."
FROM: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313769/r...
------------------------------

BTW, IMDb did not have any "External Reviews" on this movie. That might mean that it wasn't too well received by the critics or it might mean something else. I dunno.

Addendum:
Group member, Margaret wrote:
==================================
"Joy, it sounds from the experience you're describing with TGD [The Gravedigger's Daughter], as if We Were the Mulvaneys is another of JCO's [Joyce Carol Oates] novels you'd find very satisfying."
"It's also driven primarily by character and narrative, and isn't so much weighted down by the author's enormous brain! I do sometimes think that her reputation can be more intimidating than many of her books really are - she has a magnificent imagination, and she's a tremendous stylist, and I always feel that very confident, literate writers are 'easy' to read even when they're tackling pretty esoteric material."
==================================

See also:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
(This is a link to my group's discussion of: _The Gravedigger's Daughter_ by Joyce Carol Oates.)

n  6/9/13 - ADDENDUM:n
I've begun reading the book, We Were the Mulvaneys. I love all the author's descriptive details as well as the slant she takes on all her characters, really fleshing them out. I'll be a while reading this one!

n  7/2/13 - ADDENDUM:n
I have finished reading this compelling story. It held my interest all the way. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Rarely has such an acclaimed writer made such a startling and inspiring statement about the value of hope and compassion."

The only reservation I have is that the premise seems to be weak.  It's hard to believe that a father would disown his daughter (and never want to see her again) because she was raped. The whole story is based on that premise. The plot that unrolls afterwards is riveting but you have to accept that one weak premise.

The GR review of Goodreads member, Sherry, deals with the weakness of the premise. See her review at:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Note the "Spoiler Alert".

This is a story of how one terrible incident poisons and disintegrates a 'perfect' family.

The Mulvaneys live on a farm in New York - there is Mum, Dad, Mike (eldest son), Patrick, Marianne, Judd (youngest son) and a myriad of animals.

The story is told by Judd (he is now a journalist) over 25 years but it is not his personal story - more an exploration of each of the members of his family.

Be warned - this is not an easy read!

The subject matter is emotionally antagonistic and it is PAINFULLY slow. I have to admit that had I not been reading this for a group read I would have abandoned it at any time up to 50%.

Setting the scene of family life at the beginning is so cheesy I nearly threw up - urgh! And as this goes on and on...and on you start thinking come on and tell me what the hell happened...now!

I don't want to give away what happens but you will be shouting, shaking your head and pumping your fist at a) what happens but b) (more importantly) how the incident is dealt with - it is this that gives the book it's edge.

A fascinating exploration of different people's reactions and consequences ensues. The book throws up so many questions about so many subjects and only at the end of the book are you glad of the slow pace and thorough prose.

This book forced me through a whole range of negative emotions but I came out the other side!

I wasn't overly keen on the ending  back to the cheese!  but overall this book was worth reading although I can't describe it as enjoyable.

It is worth noting there is an interesting side theme concerning the animals and their roles in comparison to the humans.  I love that Muffin stays by Marianne's side no matter what happens. And there is a comment from Judd where he says his Dad would NEVER be sarcastic to the dog he loves!

This book is hauntingly familiar to Dreiser's "An American Tragedy." Four children, their parents and a marriage are all sacrificed on the pyre of the parents' self-perceived image in the community. Joyce Carol Oates is an author who is powerful enough to make us feel their initial disbelief and subsequent pain following the "incident." I found Michael Sr. to be the most dislikeable character because he used the rape of his daughter to justify his own despicable behavior when he was needed the most and I found the daughter to be the one most deserving of our compassion. This is a book that will make its readers take a good, hard look at the depth of their own meaningful relationships to see if they would survive a devastation of the magnitude suffered by the Mulvaneys. This book is about people who prefer to maintain appearances at all cost and the cost is, indeed, very dear.

Manau tai buvo labai geras pasirinkimas pirmai Naujųjų metų knygai. Pradžioje gal šiek tiek erzino smulkus gamtovaizdžio, gatvių aprašymas. Atrodo bando atpasakoti žemėlapį kaip iš taško A patekti į tašką B. Dabar, kai jau baigiau skaityti knygą gal ir suprantu kodėl viskas buvo taip smulkiai aprašoma. Ne tik gamtos ir miesto, bet ir kiekvieno Malveinių šeimos nario portretas aprašomas iki smulkmenų. Gana ilgai skaičiau šią knygą, todėl pasijaučiau, kad tapau jų šeimos dalimi. Kartu skaudžiai išgyvenau “TO” įvykio pasekmes.
Ši šeimos istorija mane palietė. Kiekvienas laikmetis turi tam tikras visuomenės nuostatas, taisykles, požiūrį į dalykus. .Ir manau kiekvienas savaip sudėtingas. Visi nori pritapti, būti mėgiamais visuomenėje. Kartais dėl to net paaukodami artimuosius. Skaitydama negalėjau neprisiminti dviejų man labai patikusių knygų, kurios kažkuo man panašios. Tai būtų Donna Tarrt Dagilis ir mano 2022 metų geriausia knyga Trent Dalton Berniukas nuryja visatą. Tai absoliučiai skirtingos istorijos, bet savo emociniu sunkumu, jas skaitant man jos visiškai vienodos. Įsijauti, išgyveni kartu ir nieko negali dėl to padaryti.

Joyce Carol Oates is amazingly prolific and reading this book I can see how she manages it. If you just hack it out without a pause to consider your word choice, your sentence structure, whether your characters are behaving with integrity, going back to edit or improve I imagine it is easy to churn them out. In fact she herself says this in the notes to the book where she claims this book just wrote itself. If so the book could be given a few lessons on what constitutes a sentence. Oates is a big fan of the short sentence and yes woop woop for short sentences with their power to pack a punch, but they do need to be a sentence rather than an adverbial phrase or subclause which is what many of them are. I found myself reading the same section over numerous times to try and have it make sense, like it was some complex technical tome rather than a printed soap opera. Just one example,
‘Where he’d spent much of the night, in Mike Jr’s old room , with Troy.’
And many sentences sound strangulated,
‘It had not been love at first sight except as each would insist afterward.’
How tiresome this book was. Rather than a successful, likeable family’s fall from grace I found the family unlikeable from the outset and the disintegration of the Mulvaneys unbelievable.
To start with I had to keep reminding myself that the main event happens in 1976 and charts the next 20 years. The description of the family, their interactions their day-to-day life was like a tv show from the 50’s like Happy Days in its wise cracking interactions, scatty mum, popular perky daughter (who despite it being 1976 I always imagined looking like good Sandy in Grease), big bearish dad and a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. So perfect as to be irritating if it was Oates’s intention to show just how far they would fall it backfired for me because I didn’t like them enough to feel any empathy for them regardless of how bad things became.
The mother, Corinne, – portrayed as the kind, mother earth, lynchpin of the family gets an easy ride. I found it difficult to like her, perhaps Oates overdid the quirky with her so that it went beyond endearing to annoying and found her character to be consistently polemical. She dislikes her husband’s rough drinking buddies that he has when they first meet yet equally dislikes the country club set he moves into as he becomes a successful businessman. She berates her husband’s need to have friends outside the family yet she willing fractures her family and loses her children on account of him.
The father Michael is equally difficult to fathom, one minute he is telling his oldest son that he should protect vulnerable girls from predatory guys and the next exiles his daughter and only sees her once, since she was 16, on his death bed because she fell foul of one of these predatory guys he was so acutely aware of. Again had to remind myself that it was 1976 not 1876 when they drive Marianne away in the night to live with a maiden aunt so they no longer had to look upon her.
The second eldest, Patrick, a studious boy for years suddenly becomes a vigilante of Liam Neeson like proportions. Marianne wafts through life as though in one of the Impulse adverts of the 1980s where every man she comes into contact with pledges their undying love and wants to marry her and everyone else is motivated to give her pay rises and promotions after a matter of weeks. None of which rings true.
450 pages of grating twaddle. One star for the book and one star for Muffin the cat who endured longer in the book than any creature could be expected to.
Moral: Don't read books that write themselves, look for an author.

Eravamo i Mulvaney

una grande saga familiare che sembra scritta oggi, anche per le tematiche anzi LA tematica, ma che in realtà ha quasi 30 anni

Neabejotinai vienas iš tų didžiųjų romanų, kurį vos pradėjusi jaučiau, kad laukia ilga, nelengva, daug kliūčių, sunkumų ir iššūkių slepianti kelionė. Tačiau tokios kelionės dažniausiai išmoko apie save daugiausiai ir lieka su tavimi ilgiausiai. Joyce Carol Oates klampi proza neleidžia atsipalaiduoti ir priverčia skaityti įsidėmint kiekvieną detalę, sustojant prie kartais pačios mažiausios smulkmenos, klausinėjant savęs tiek klausimų dėl veikėjų motyvacijos, tiek dėl autorės pasirinkimo tam tikrus dalykus atskleisti. Autorė kelionės nepalengvina, bet tikriausiai būtent todėl man ji ir patenka į mėgstamiausių sąrašus – čia skaitytojas yra lygiavertis autoriui, jam leidžiama sėstis šalia, o ne ant galinės sėdynės, ir viską patirti iš arti. Ir tai ne visada malonu.

Malveiniai nuo pat kūrinio pradžios piešiami kaip mano įsivaizdavimą atitinkanti tradicinė amerikiečių šeima. Didelė, garsi, turinti kartais keistų tradicijų, ir net jei ne visada tobulai sutarianti, kažkokiu būdu vis viena labai vieninga. Pasakodama apie šios iš pirmo žvilgsnio tvirtos kaip kumštis šeimos byrėjimą autorė yra labai rūpestinga su kiekvienu jos nariu – iki smulkiausių kaulelių išnarstome visus, ir būtent todėl ta šeima skaitytojui tampa tokia brangi. Jie – tai žmonės, kuriuos pažįsti, jie – kartais tavo paties atspindys, net jei iš pradžių gali pasirodyti be galo tolimi, atskirti vandenyno, kito laikotarpio ir visiškai skirtingos aplinkos. Tačiau žmogiškos patirtys yra universalios, o čia jų pilna. Ir dažniausiai jos skaudžios, tokios, nuo kurių norėtųsi nusisukti, į kurias mieliau nežiūrėtum. Bet būtent to pasekmes šis kūrinys ir meistriškai narsto, o skaitytojas paliekamas tvarkytis su krūva emocijų, kurias tai palieka.

Lietuviškai šis romanas suskamba nuostabiai, ir visa tai dėka vertėjos Ievos Sidaravičiūtės. Skaitydama negalėjau atsistebėti, kiek į tekstą įdėta meilės, pastangų ir tos tik Ievai būdingos magijos, kurią atrandu kaskart skaitydama jos vertimus. Niekas negalėjo geriau pasirūpinti šiuo didžiu romanu ir žinau, kad būtent lietuviškas vertimas prisidėjo prie to, kad kūriniu taip mėgavausi. Išsiilgusiems tikro, sodraus, klampaus ir tų kartais nepageidaujamų emocijų nevengiančio romano – Malveiniai laukia jūsų. Nenusivilsit.