Rating: 
Summary: We Were the Mulvaneys
Review: While this is not the best written book in Oprah's Club, the story, the character developement and reality of those characters is magnificent. If there has ever been any kind of crisis in your family - read this! Don't be turned off by the Author's poor showing on Oprah, she wrote a really good book.
Rating: 
Summary: worthy of the critical acclaim
Review: Oates' book, a brilliant depiction of family life and tragedy, was rightfully lauded by critics as one of her best in years. Her meticulous attention to detail is what brings the Mulvaneys to life. The Mulvaneys, and their tragedy, seem real because Oates gives them such honest and vivid characterizations. The long and flowing details, stories and tangents that she conveys give a sense of who these people are, why they have their respective beliefs, and why reconciliation is impossible. Those who have complained about the length and the attention to detail should wait for the movie so it won't be so hard to follow.
Rating: 
Summary: I finished the book out of a sense of obligation
Review: My sister gave this to me as a birthday present knowing that I had enjoyed books that seemed to be of a similar nature in the past. Unfortunately, this book was tedious, took forever to develop, and then scattered itself in a manner that caused confusion and broke the events into pieces that diced any interest I had developed in the characters and their lives. While this is by no means the worst book I have ever read, I can't say that I would ever read it again or recommend it to another. In fact, when I move at the end of the month, I can honestly say this book has a very good chance of winding up in the pile to go to Goodwill.
Rating: 
Summary: Too wordy
Review: Although this story deserves to be told, it could have been told just as well with half the words. I thought the characters were wonderful but the lenghthy descriptions bored me after a while. There is such a thing as saying TOO much!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Typical dreary ... book
Review: I didn't like this book at all. It's a typical "woman asvictim" ... pick. The destruction of the family is slow and terrible to read, and I didn't find the characters or their actions to be believable.
Rating:
Summary: WE WERE THE MULVANEYS
Review: Although this book is certainly not Ms. Oates best work, I liked it because I like her style of writing "way more than necessary" details and going off in tangents. As always, she writes about ordinary people, their innermost thoughts and their secret lives.For all of its pages, WE WERE THE MULVANEYS is basically divided into two thoughts: the story of a close-knit, loving family before a horrible incident happens to one of them ... and their gradual decline and disentegration after the incident. This book is definitely not for everybody and I could easily see how an action, romance or mystery lover would put it down quickly. If you don't like the first two or three chapters, you won't like the book.
Rating:
Summary: What was Oprah's Book Club thinking???
Review: If I borrowed this book from the library, it would have been returned after the first 25 pages. Since I bought it, I tried to give Oates a chance. So much unnecessary, mundane details...you find yourself scratching your head and detemined that "SOMETHING has got to happen soon!" Well, it never does. I found it extremely unrealistic and dull. Difficult to relate too and unlike most of Oprah's books, never draws you in...
Rating:
Summary: Dark, depressing, yet wonderful at the same time...
Review: I could not believe how wonderful this book was. When I had a day off, I began reading it in the morning, and finished it in the evening. It was that good!!! Ms. Oates's portayal of a hardworking family in upstate New York may not sound very exciting in the beginning. It's after the first few chapters the book all of a sudden takes a dark turn, following the events of Marianne's unfortunate situation at her prom (by telling, I'd be giving the story away, and why should I ruin it for you?). This is the type of work one could expect from Joyce Carol Oates. It is this unthinkable event that takes the Mulvaney family from a once respected family to a shame-ridden clan seen in the eyes of Mt. Ephraim, New York. From there, the family tries to regain themselves not to their original status, but to a level where they can cope with the circumstances. The story is told by Judd, the youngest member of the family who also appears to be the most neglected during this crisis. In his attempt to take a retrospect to his youth, he is able to show his family was able to overcome the obsticles that tried to tear them apart. Though this story is on Oprah's Book List, don't read it simply for that. Read it for the story, because only then you will appreciate the awesome writing style of Joyce Carol Oates.
Rating:
Summary: So what!
Review: This book was okay until I read a non-fiction book about the Viet Nam war. Then I ranked it low on the totem pole.
Rating:
Summary: Repetitive, and marred with a political agendum
Review: This is not a very good book. It is long winded without purpose, and repetitive. The grammar is not always very good. The writer's attempt to create a conversational tone results in too many sentences without verbs, and in parts is difficult to read for this. One also get the unpleasant feeling that the book exists to teach us a lesson on the vulnerability of women, perhaps also primal innocence, contrasted with the predatory sexuality of men and essential weakness of character. That, in any case, is apparently the author's view. The first person voice seems at the start to be a boy, the youngest sibling of the Mulvaney family. However this fails at several levels. Much of the time the readers perspective drifts away from the boy's world, and becomes that of the all seeing narrator who speaks to us in a slightly pontificatory tone, reporting inaccessible details of the subjective experience of, for the most part, the female characters. In fact, the raped sister is the true protagonist. At another level, the voice is clearly that of a female; the focus of interest and the style of analysis is quintessentially feminine. The book could not have been written by a male author. This may have been a more convincing presentation had the youngest sibling been a girl. However, I don't think this book could be saved with small adjustments; it is a mediocre family saga with social political agenda. Not recommended.
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