I haven't read much by Oates and had heard alot about this one. Unfortunately, I didn't know the story line. But, when she started referring to "it" happening, I was extremely curious. But, the "it" is a date rape of a teenager. I almost threw the book across the room...the same feeling I had the prior week with Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle because it also deals with a teenage rape.

I am biased about this, I will admit. But two books in one week about rape? I finished neither book.

I will read jacket blurbs more carefully in the future!

First an admission of how I read this book. I happened to find it in a thrift store for 99 cents, and I read it daily on my bus trip to and from work. Reading it daily, but only a few pages at a time may or may not have colored the way I view it.

If you are looking for a quick read, full of action, plot and intrigue, this is not the book for you.

But if you are looking for a writer at the top of her game, taking the time to set her story in intricate, though necessary, settings of place, plot, character and backstory, then by all means take the journey Joyce Carol Oates is inviting you to take.

I have read others say that Oates spends too much time on minutae, the definition of which is certainly in the eye of the beholder, that she should have gotten on with the story. I disagree. Every story that she tells, every detail that she describes about High Point Farm, the animals, the smells, is essential to a full understanding of the story that follows. Reading this to pass the time as the bus rolled along, I found myself in the middle of the world she so vividly describes, and less concerned that she was wasting my precious time.

This is also a novel that can be read on many levels. Certainly it is the story of the deterioration of an American family, but it is also the story of how difficult it is to break the bonds of love once forged. It is also a story of the fragility of self-esteem solely based on how others view us, which, of course, can turn on a dime, with underscoring threads of the fundamental coldness of nature itself and the inevitibility of death. These themes are interwoven with the philosophies of Christianity, Darwinism, and the age of reason that in Oates' skilled hands seem not to compete with each other so much as to cooperate, and perhaps even complement.

If you are also looking for a book with easily identifiable heroes and villans to relate to, cheer for and boo and hiss at, then again, this is not a book for you. The characters Oates' draws are human, with all their flaws and weaknesses. Every single one of them is unpredictable, at time unfathomable, at times loveable, and at time detestable. Just like life itself.

And like life itself, there are no easy answers.

This will be a book I will find impossible to forget for quite some time, if ever.

I asked one of my friends to recommend a good book to close out the year, and this is what she suggested. And just...wow! This was a superb read. The writing was impeccable and the story was riveting. I’ve always wanted to read something by Joyce Carol Oates, and I’m so glad to be able to say I finally did.

The story is about a family living on a farm on the outskirts of a small New York town, mid-1970’s. The writing immediately insinuates you into the Mulvaney family, their history, the place they now live, friends and neighbors, what their lives are like, family dynamics, quirks. You feel like you know them, and they seem cool, likable. Until the day their seventeen year old daughter is raped at a school dance. From that point on, we witness the family’s complete implosion, with each character dealing with “it” in their own way, going completely off the rails into a downward spiral that lasts for years. It’s gratifying to see that there is some closure and redemption by the end, but you’ll have to read for yourself to see exactly what that is and how they all got there, and that’s a heartbreaking ride.

Rape is a difficult subject, and a book with this subject at its core may not be for every reader. But if you’re looking for something with great writing and an in-depth examination of character and motivation, you might find this one hard to put down.

i didn't like it much. i am a big fan of her stories. it opened well, but once the event happens, which the books turns on, it falls apart and i lost interest in the characters. i think there are novels that should be long stories. its because the theme is great, but the plot, the characters, the story do not need the length of a novel to develop. and instead do not stand under the weight of that much scrutiny. i liked the movie brokeback mountain by proulx [sic], but her short story was a lot better. at times the movie dragged and that was because it was too long. scene after scene of frustration and anger over living a lie was wasted in the movie. the story gave a clear, but concise glimpse. the reader got it. here i think it was the same for oates. where in stories like "where are you going, where have you been" she communicates so much in a matter of pages, i think she communicates so little over the matter of a novel. a horrible thing is done to a family member, the family feels unable to address the wrong at the time, and consequently they disintegrate. and one third into this book that is clear and we read about it for another few hundred pages.

A pagina 487: "Non so che cosa mamma abbia raccontato a Sable Mills di papà. Della nostra famiglia. Sono incline a credere che le abbia detto pochissimo. Quali sono le parole giuste per riassumere una vita, tanto affollata confusa felicità che si conclude con un atroce dolore al rallentatore."
E' un buon riassunto di tutto il libro.
E Oates è maestra nel "dolore al rallentatore". Cominciamo a conoscerla veramente bene: un iniziale strappo, a scelta stupro, assassinio, suicidio, scomparsa comunque che viene a lacerare la favola raccontata inizialmente. Risaliamo poi, a controcorrente naturalmente, tutto il fiume della storia famigliare o individuale - ad un certo punto devono pur convergere - e le crepe inizialmente invisibili si allargano quando una scossa esterna irrompe. Le crepe c'erano. E' forse il modo moderno di leggere quello che è stato il nostro grande soggetto sin dai miti greci: il destino?
Inutili i tentativi di felice fattoria o famiglia modello raccontata nella parte iniziale del racconto con tutto l'immaginario annesso: gatti adottati, cani affettuosi, bestioline ferite che trovano rifugio nel cuore della famiglia retta con grande piglio da una madre tanto più amabile quanto imperfetta. I figli sono una piccolo esercito di quattro efficaci ragazzini, eseguono in squadra i lavori domestici che riempiono le giornate in una successione frenetica, la perla è la unica figlia. A lei succederà qualche cosa, e questo sarà la crepa. Il processo più interessante da seguire è la lenta discesa. Credo che noi spesso ci chiediamo come si reagisce ad una violenza, saremmo più forti? Sapremmo tenere assieme i pezzi rotti?
Qui no; la forza del racconto è di riuscire a mostrare, senza mai descrivere processi interni ma, come lo voleva Balzac, soltanto attraverso il racconto di gesti, comportamenti, azioni, scenari esterni la trasformazione del destino di ogni membro della famiglia a partire dal momento in cui nessuno, in famiglia, è più capace di vedere o di guardare Marianne, la figlia perfetta. Noi siamo portati dallo sguardo degli altri, ci viviamo e respiriamo. Il dolore finisce per essere più forte in colui che lo infligge che in colui che lo riceve.
La storia raccontata fa ombra sulle nostre storie; non è soltanto “americana” questa famiglia, è umana.
Peccato l’epilogo, questo sì, molto americano. Le grandi tragedie, greche o moderne, non prevedono ricuciture, riunioni, salvezza collettiva, quello è per i films…

4 Reasons "We Were the Mulvaneys" was one true deep disappointment:

1) I had already given J.C.O.s my full endorsement after reading "Zombie", a speedier version of "American Psycho" and "The Tattooed Girl", also a speedy version, this time of something long and droll by the likes of Roth. This is a sad disaster. I take everything I said about her back & now I realize why some people stopped being fans altogether.

2) Speaking of speed- this "family saga", which is more like some episode in a lame, average, overly-self-conscious family's life, and the aftereffects of said episode (which--can you believe it? are BAD) is unnecessarily l-o-o-o-n-g.

[Don't also:] Read: "The Little Friend" by Donna Tartt. This much time invested in something should reap benefits, no?

3) I am ashamed to be seen reading anything baring the "Oprah's Book Club" stamp, but I must say that I am never truly deeply disappointed by the selections. (Some do manage to achieve classic status.) Until now. (Is this the very reason the club dismantled and lost the cred????)

4) You read a book to reach its conclusion, and the author's brave effort to astound is plainly seen. This book is skimmed at the end, when J.C.O. seems to be thinking about her paycheck* alone and useless detail is piled upon nonsensical minutiae, so so much--you just f###ing want to finish the f###ing thing! (Excuse a reader's blatant frustration)

I guess I will be more careful with my selections from now on. Yes, I still consider J.C.O. an author (prolific--if anything) who truly grabs my attention. I'm a sucker for a story, and when it gets going not even a considerably awful hypothetical slap to the audience by a too-cocky, too-disappointing writer can make me stop reading it altogether.

*ALSO, I WANT TO ADD THAT I WANT TO RESCIND MY PREVIOUS OPINION ABOUT J.C.O. AFTER "BLONDE", SHE CANNOT DO A SINGLE THING WRONG.

Alors la. J’ai pas les mots.
Je ne m’attendais à rien mais certainement pas à cette intensité la
Et cette fin, chapeau madame. Voilà comment conclure une telle histoire

Il titolo originario in inglese mi sembra molto più conforme allo spirito del libro: “We were the Mulvaneys”.
Eravamo, quando ancora la famigghia Mulvaney era un modello alla mulino bianco, tutti insieme appassionatamente a lavorare nella fattoria, a primeggiare tra i membri della comunità locale, a collaborare, a parlottare attorno al tavolone per pranzo e cena, a sorridere e sorridersi.
L’articolo indeterminativo della traduzione italiana sembra invece voler definire i Mulvaney come una famiglia qualsiasi, quasi un emblema dell’America del secolo scorso.
Se così fosse,le famiglie americane mi starebbero sulle scatole tutte.
Ho provato una antipatia insostenibile per Corinne ora et labora e per la montagna di sabbia Micheal sr., genitori inadeguati e ottusi, e per la dolce sperduta sconsolata Marianne, vittima all’ennesima potenza, vittima dello stupro, dei suoi stessi genitori, delle malelingue e del proprio smisurato senso di colpa.
(e lo so, avrebbe dovuto farmi tenerezza, la Marianne principessa, e invece il suo nascondersi fino a diventare quasi evanescente, un fantasma buono, teso a cancellare ogni traccia di ego sotto il lavoro, sotto i panni stracciati, il suo scappare per anni e anni da ogni possibile barlume di autoaffermazione, la sua esistenza dedicata alla cura degli altri a patto che di sé non rimanesse niente, mi hanno indispettita)
Naturalmente, certe dinamiche familiari, soprattutto se relazionate ad un certo tipo di ambiente sociale, sono proprie del mondo occidentale moderno e non è difficile riconoscerle anche tra le famiglie di casa nostra:
“I membri di una famiglia che hanno vissuto assieme nella surriscaldata intensità della vita familiare si conoscono poco. E' una vita troppo diretta, a distanza troppo ravvicinata. E' quello il paradosso. La contorta realtà che lascia perplessi. L'esatto contrario di ciò che ci si aspetterebbe. Perché ovviamente non stai mai a pensare a quei rapporti, mentre li vivi.”
Ed è così.
Il narratore, Judd il figlio minore, il piccolo, fossette, e vai ancora con tutti i nomignoli, racconta della sua famiglia, racconta dei Mulvaney, con il debito distacco, da adulto, quando ormai tutto si era sgretolato e ricomposto in nuove e diverse forme di raggruppamento “familiare”.
“Pensare, formulare pensieri, è una funzione della dissociazione, della distanza. Non puoi utilizzare la memoria finchè non ti sei allontanato dalla fonte della memoria.”
E’ solo allora, che alla rabbia e al dispiacere, può subentrare una sorta di malinconica tenerezza per quello che un tempo era stato.
In questo la famiglia dei Mulvaney può porsi come “una famiglia americana” e oltre.
Di certo sarebbe stato meglio non averla proprio, una famiglia, piuttosto che averla avuta come quella dei Mulvaney, tutta chiacchiere e apparenza, e nel momento del bisogno e del sostegno, sticazzi.
Forse è per questo, che a questa lunga saga familiare, ho preferito la Oates del romanzo breve Acqua nera.

Molte cose avevano nomi in codice a High Point Farm. Come i nostri nomi, che potevano creare una certa confusione perché dipendevano da stati d’animo, circostanze, sottointesi.

Famiglia. Bellissimo.

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.

Un mese per leggerlo, poche ore per leggerlo. Amato, odiato, divorato, prolisso, bellissimo, angosciante, irritante, tenerissimo, minuzioso, essenziale, respingente, affascinante e soprattutto: impossibile da terminare.
Sì, perchè questa famiglia e il suo "lessico familiare" sarà impossibile dimenticarli. Stivaletti, Ciambella, Focaccina, Piumotto e Fischietto, Germoglio, Pizzicotto, Ranger... Mammamia che scrittrice! così difficile ma così semplice quando intuisci come entrare nella sua visione, nel flusso e nella sua scrittura.
Affascinante iniziarlo, difficile leggerlo, semplicissimo terminarlo e, infine, impossibile staccarsi da questo romanzo.
Con pretesti vari dopo averlo iniziato ho inframmezzato la lettura con parecchi altri libri, poi l'ho proprio accantonato certa di avere una meraviglia per le mani, ma nel momento sbagliato,
Infine due giorni fa l'attrazione è stata fatale. Non ero arrivata a metà e mi sono buttata letteralmente a capofitto.
Faticosa la Oates, ma non richiede sforzo, ammacca e ripara. Stupendo!

I have seen this movie on TV several times and finally found the book at the library. I was suprised at how long it was...nearly 500 pages...but I was excited to finally be reading it. In this novel, Oates tells the story of a near-perfect family...mom and dad in love, 4 loving siblings, all living in a small town on a farm filled with love and animals. Everything is going along fine until the only daughter, who is beautiful and universally loved, suffers a tragedy. From this point on, the entire family dynamic changes. Instead of coming together and working together to get past the tragedy, each member of the family drifts away and the family is irrevocably torn apart. The storyline is wonderful, but the book was too long and there were too many unnecessary details. I kept waiting for more to happen and kept reading faster and faster, hoping to get to some major plot development, but things dragged on and on. When I finally finished the book, I just felt incredibly depressed. The ending wasn't payoff enough for watching this family which has once been so loving and happy, tear each other and themselves up and ruin years and years of their lives. Just very, very sad.