Rating: 
Summary: Tedious and Painful... don't buy into the hype
Review: For all the great reviews this book has received, I found it to just be terrible. The writing was overly descriptive and the characters shallow.
Rating:
Summary: Hoping for much more
Review: When I opened the book I was very excited to start reading this book. I was quickly bored and found myself struggling through it. There were few parts when I was intrigued and happy I stuck it out, but I was bored shortly after that. I wasn't a fan of the writing style, which didn't help much. I did find the family dynamics and how the events played out interesting, but it was lacking a hold power for. I was pretty disappointed in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow but worthwhile read
Review: This book took me awhile to read, but by the end I felt a great sense of resolution. There was a great development and depth of characters and they changed right before your eyes. This is one of those books that ¾ of the way through I felt like it could be shorter and by the end I wish I could give it more than 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow Motion Family Disintegration and Quick Reconnection
Review: The Mulvaneys were living the American dream . . . until their perfect daughter, Marianne, was brutally raped while drunk on Prom night. No one in the family is able to deal with the reality, and their inability to cope drives a splintering wedge into the family and into each of their lives. You can see the collapse coming, like the inevitable deflation of a large balloon after a tiny hole develops, but Ms. Oates wants to take you through every last possible humiliation before allowing healing and reconciliation to occur.Interestingly, Ms. Oates chose to date this novel into a time when rape was still not spoken about much in public . . . and premarital loss of female virginity was viewed as a moral lapse (even when caused by rape). The events would have different consequences today. She also doesn't focus that much on the rape, so this isn't a book about how a family can recover from such a trauma. Rather, she appears to have chosen as her theme that we need to be more open and communicative with one another. The family's collapse is due to their inability to face facts, help one another and move on. In that sense, the theme of this book is very much like the theme of Ms. Oates's more recent book, The Tattooed Girl. We Were the Mulvaneys will appeal most to those who enjoy reading about the intimate details of family life, fun with pets and the pleasures of hobbies, gardening and outdoor life. Ms. Oates brings much enthusiasm to her portrayals of everyday events and thoughts that will ring true in their details. This book needed a strong editorial hand, but didn't get it. It's about three times longer than it needs to be to capture the story that Ms. Oates tells. She makes a big point of having the youngest child, Judd, narrate the story . . . but everyone else narrates parts of the story that are larger than Judd's narration. The Judd narration seems tacked on rather than helpful. She would have done better to have had someone further removed be the narrator and play a bigger role. Ms. Oates also telegraphs her story . . . and you just have to keep reading page after page as she plays it out in constantly repeating detail around the same themes. To me, Marianne is by far the most interesting and sympathetic character. I would have enjoyed reading a book that developed her story much more than this one did. She struggles with the normal feelings of guilt associated with being a victim while trying to follow the right Christian path of forgiving those who sin against her. Her path is a long and hard one, and Ms. Oates decides to skip the essential moments when she is healed. At a time when many families are living economically fragile existences, this story will resonate with some as Mike Senior's reactions to the rape cause him to destroy his business. Other than that, there is little reason to read this book. If you want to learn more about how a person and a family should recover from rape, try a nonfiction book on that subject. As I finished this book, I realized that we cannot tell and show others too often how much we love them.
Rating: 
Summary: We Were the Mulvaneys
Review: Disturbing - yes but only because it hit so close to home. I couldn't stop reading, couldn't wait to finish it, and couldn't wait to take it to the used book store and not see it again on my night stand or on a bookshelf. I didn't recommend it to anyone, not even my husband who reads on his train commute every day. Funny, I hadn't thought about it again until I saw it included in this book list. So, is this a good review or a bad one? I love her writing style and character development, and guess I'd have to say I love her close-to-the-bone fearlessness, too. Buy it, read it if it grabs you, and pass it on . . or not.
Rating:
Summary: We Were the Mulvaneys
Review: I have read 22 books in the last three months from cover to cover, but I have to tell you I got halfway through this one and had to stop. I was told the biginng was slow but I found the middle was even slower. The characters don't make sense. So I stopped out of sheer boredom. I may pick it up again and try to finish it, but for now I am moving on!
Rating:
Summary: Difficult to get through, but well worth the time spent
Review: WE WERE THE MULVANEYS by Joyce Carol Oates Here's a book that I struggled with to finish, but by the time I was done with the book, I realized my time was well spent. WE WERE THE MULVANEYS by Joyce Carol Oates is a story of a once-happy family that seemed to have it all, but slowly falls apart after a tumultuous incident occurs to one of the members of the family. The Mulvaneys are comprised of six persons: Michael Sr. is the head of the household, proud father and wonderful husband. He runs a roofing business in town, Mulvaney Roofing, which he is highly successful at. His wife, Corinne, holds down the fort, spreading love to all her children and to the love of her life. Her obsession over antiques adds to her other eccentric qualities, making her even more loveable. Mike Jr. is the oldest child, the all-around athlete and is very popular in school. Patrick is son number two, the one with the brains. He of all the children seems to be the one that likes to be alone the most and seems happiest with his thoughts and his books. Marianne is the only daughter of the family, the cheerleader type and all-around popular girl in school. Like her mother, she is a very devout Christian girl, and believes in the ideal of "turn the other cheek". Last but not least is Judd. He's the baby of the family and also the narrator of this long intense drama that tells the tragic story of their family. Life is grand for the Mulvaneys. Home life is one busy event after another, as they live on a farm where they each handle various chores. It's busy work from morning until night but it's rewarding. Everyone seems to be happy, and there doesn't seem to be a thing wrong. But, on Marianne's prom night, something does go wrong. And as much as she tries to hide this tragic incident that scars her for life, her family eventually finds out as well as the entire town. From this point on, life changes for the Mulvaneys. The disintegration of the family is slow but sure, and it is hard to believe how far they get from that happy family they used to be. Judd chronicles the story of their family in detail, focusing on various members at a time. The book can be difficult to read, as I found Oates' writing tedious at times. However, by the time I reached the last page, I saw where she was going with this story, and I am glad I read it. I don't recommend this book to everyone. It's not an easy book to read, but for those with the patience to get through it, they will be rewarded.
Rating:
Summary: Oprah Was Right!!!
Review: Super book! Funny, sad, brought me to tears and made me reflect on my family. Writing style reminded me of Pat Conroy. The beginning of the book is slow, but when it gets going it is a page turner! After finishing the book, I had to go back and read the first couple of chapters. A winner! Don't miss this book!
Rating:
Summary: Time for a better book.
Review: I'm a third of the way through the book, and page after page, I keep wondering when the story will go somewhere, when the characters will move me, when will the storyline develop. It's become a tedious read, as I have no feeling - like or dislike - for the characters. Perhaps because none of them are believable, and there's a shallowness that oozes through most of them. I finally decided I need to find out if other readers had my experience, so I came online to read some reviews. Now I know it's time to move on, to pick up the next book on my shelf, and donate The Mulvaneys to the thrift shop. The last book I read was Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much Is True", and while I know that's a hard act to follow, life is too short to waste it on this kind of writing.
Rating:
Summary: Just ok
Review: I found this book to be very difficult to finish. I kept waiting for something more to happen. I couldn't understand why some chapters were even included. If you have a choice between this book and another one...I'd go for the other one.
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