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Summary: This book resonates...
Review: Anytime a book embeds itself in my mind; anytime a book leaves me ANGRY at certain characters and has me crying for others; then I know it's found a place with me.We Were the Mulvaneys is just such a book. It is about the nature of humanity. It is about coping and forgiving. It clearly illustrates that a happy ending is a matter of perspective; that our perception of LIFE itself is totally a matter of perspective. If you like to get *into* the characters in the books you read, you'll love this book. Character development is very deep and each character becomes real during the reading and long after.
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Summary: Could have been so good....
Review: I read this book for two reasons: i generally like books by joyce carol oates and as a former english teacher i like to keep up with what is being read by the masses and usually oprah's book club books are very popular. i was so disappointed. this book was way to long without the language being intresting. while the subject was good, and one we should look at over and over again in our country, (the subject i mean is one of denial) ms. oates just didn't do justice to the idea that grew in her head. the repetition of animals confused me. how was she using them in this story? were they supposed to be the common bond that kept the family connected? most of the characters were certainly nicer to their animals than to each other. was it a way to show their emotions? i don't know. very confusing. i finished the book because i always try to but i have to admit upon finishing my thoughts were not "good one joyce." rather they were "whew, glad that's over."
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Summary: Great Book!!!
Review: If anything tragic has ever happened to your family, you will understand the emotional fall-out experienced by the Mulvaney family. Each member of the family dealt differently with guilt, helplessness, revenge. Most recovered over time. Their individual feelings were developed beautifully by Oates. Loved the book. High Point Farm and the Mulvaneys will live in my memory for a long time.
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Summary: Let's Get To the Point
Review: This book drove me crazy. You must read 100 pages to fine out what the book is about. It's obvious that the author likes to write and write and write. Meanwhile, the reader gets lost more than once wondering what is going on!! I did not like the Mulvaneys. What kind of mother would send her only daughter, a true victum, away and stay with her selfish, drunken husband? It seems as though she did not have any compassion at all! And this was a GOOD family???? I just finished "Sing Me A Bawdy Song" and it is a truly great book that moves along. It is fun to read and does not drag on and on and on.
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Summary: Like Pulling Teeth
Review: I know of no other way to describe this book, forcing myself to read it was one of the hardest things I've done lately. Would rather spend an afternoon in the dentist chair.
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Summary: Richly developed characters.
Review: Although Joyce Carol Oates often writes of the darker side of life, she has always been one of my favorite authors. Most aspects of this book I liked. The characters are wonderful, multi-dimensionsal and sadly believable. (I wanted to kill Mike Mulvaney Sr. What a selfish wuss of a father!) Although the delicate/strong Marriane's goodness is almost incredible she still comes across as believable because we've all probably seen someone like her in the real world. Mama Mulvaney, as the loyal to the wrong person mother, and the aloof but sensitve brother Patrick are also wonderfully real characters. The story line works well with this cast of Mulvaney's. The one problem I had with the book was the ending. It seemed strangely out of sync with the rest of the novel....
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Summary: Not worth it!!!
Review: I was so disappointed in this book! Reading generally brings me great relaxation, but not with this book. I could not believe how the case of rape was handled and how the rapist was dealt with. This book is 450 pages long and could be 200. The author went on and on about trivial things. I continued to read the book thinking it would get better, but it never did. For those who have not read this yet, don't waste your time or money.
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Summary: The Reality of Families
Review: What a confusion of feelings this book arouses! Jealousy, pain, anger, annoyance...and heartbreaking tenderness, amusement and, finally, triumph. There are few better ways to chronicle the changing attitudes on the American landscape, than to look at the evolution of the nuclear family. For those who are too young to remember it, "We Were the Mulvaneys" could be an undergraduate course in Middle America family dynamics in the 1950's. For those who do remember it, this book can serve as a reminder of our origins, and the struggles that we went through, to arrive where we are today. If you require brain candy, please don't read this book. But if you want to meet a family that can draw you in to its life, and make you feel the pain and joy that its members share, then you will not be disappointed in "We Were the Mulvaneys".
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Summary: Interesting character development
Review: We Were the Mulvaneys starts by introducing the reader to a wonderful family. In other words, if you ever imagined the perfect family, this would be it. Happily married parents with four children (one daughter and three sons) - they are well respected in the community, fairly wealthy, and don't seem to have a care in the world. But soon enough certain disaster strikes and slowly the family starts to fall apart. In one way or another three of the children end up leaving home soon after and rarely have an urge to go back. It is hard not to feel sorry for the youngest son left at home to watch Dad's life and business slip away. Much less, to see Mom's spirit disappear. Actually, it is difficult not to have pity on any one of the Mulvaneys. This being my first Joyce Carol Oates novel, it took a while to get used to the style of writing. I noticed many forms of fragmented sentences that I sometimes had to go back over and read again. But in the end, this method seemed very effective. What really took away from the book was the wait to find out what happened to cause the downfall. After I found out I almost felt like there was no need to read the rest of the book. But I did... and was worth it. Just witnessing J.C. Oates' ability to define such well rounded characters makes this book worthwhile.
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Summary: Shows us the fragility of family
Review: I loved this book! Not often does a book so disturb me that I feel it in my guts. The only other instance of that is John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces". I couldn't finish that book because Ignatius was so well written that I found him completely disgusting and couldn't bear to read another word. That's good writing. And so is Oates' writing in depicting the Mulvaneys. I was so frustrated by the characters' reactions to the rape that I found myself telling them to get over their individual hurts and deal with it as a family before everything goes wrong! But it is fiction, so they don't get over themselves and everything does go wrong, for a while. I love the use of animals to parallel the lives of the characters. "High Point" is the name of the farm, and of course they have to leave a place called high point to hit the lows. A previous review said that Eprhaim is a son of Joseph who symbolizes redemption. They live in Mt. Eprhaim! These wonderful symbols added great depth to a disturbing story. Some reviewers were complaining this book was too wordy. That complaint calls to mind Mozart in the movie "Amadeus" when he was accused of using too many notes in his music. He said there were exactly as many notes as he required. That is true with any artist, and so it is true with the artist Joyce Carol Oates. She painted a picture of the power and frailty of family, and a potent picture it is.
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