Rating: 
Summary: Details, Details, Details
Review: I've never been a fan of the author's writing style, and since I've enjoyed most of the books on Oprah's list so I decided to read this book. I like a story that gets to the point, but Oates tangles the story up in needless details on every page. When a character enters the barn, you have to wade through three pages about when the barn was built and what the mother has stored in it since she got into antiques and how a child got to bid on a termite-infested rocking horse in an auction. Details are important to a story. There have to be enough to visualize the place and people and to believe the plot. I found none of these in this story.The Mulvaneys own beautiful acreage called High Point Farm. The father has a prosperous business, the parents are well respected, members of the Country Club and solid citizens. Their four children are nothing short of perfect. The oldest is the star football player, the next excels in academics, and the daughter is popular enough to be a prom princess and a cheerleader. The youngest child is Judd, the primary voice in the story. It is through 14-year-old Judd's eyes that we most clearly see the family blown apart when his sister, Marianne, is raped the night of the school prom. From that moment forward, the Mulvaneys seem to be caught in a whirlpool of pain, exile, and misery that ends only after a tragedy occurs. Michael Mulvaney senior is unable to cope with the rape of his daughter and unable to control his rage and depression over her unwillingness to press charges. She is sent away to live with a relative because he can't stand to look at her. One by one the other children move out or on to college, all internalizing the anger their father felt. The story is a moving one. The characters are interesting and three dimensional if somewhat off balance and in serious need of counseling. If Oates could just control the need to provide so much unnecessary detail, the story would flow better and the reader be more willing to read to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Should Do Well With Oprah Fans
Review: We Were The Mulvaney's is a perfectly acceptable read, full of Oates' trademark rich, yet simple storytelling about what goes on just below the surface of our lives. As has been the case previously for me with Oates' books, the fact that she's so prolific somehow makes me feel like she hasn't poured everything she has into this book, leaving me less than overwhelmed. That may be an unfair analysis, but I have the highest respect for Oates and have read better, more powerful novels and short stories from her in the past. Maybe that's why I could only give this book three stars -- it just doesn't measure up to what I know she can do. What We Were The Mulvaney's does do well is paint an engrossing portrait of an American family and its own personal tragedy. Mom, Dad, Marianne, Mike Jr., Patrick and Judd become real, believable characters under Oates' care. The story unfolds in bits and pieces, never forgetting that it's not one person's story, but a family's. Although it clocks in a whopping 400-plus pages, it's a much quicker and easier read than one might anticipate, which should keep Oprah fans turning pages in anticipation of some sort of acceptable conclusions. Indeed, the reader's expectations come to fruition and one closes this book with an unsettling, yet satisfied feeling. We all know of a family like the Mulvaneys. In fact, a lot of us probably think we are the Mulvaneys. What Oates does is make us realize that especially in the dynamics of a family, we're not always what we seem to be. If this book does nothing else for Oprah fans, I hope it inspires them to read other, better Oates novels, including Black Water; Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart; and, most recently, Blonde. It is then that you'll come to better understand the shortcomings of We Were The Mulvaneys.
Rating: 
Summary: A Detour from Joyce Carol Oates, and I love it!
Review: Joyce Carol Oates has departed from her usual style with "We Were the Mulvaneys". Unlike many of the readers who reviewed this book, I loved it. Oprah Winfrey said that the story still haunts her though she read it over a year ago, and I can see why. The characters are real. You can almost feel and smell the texture of their lives. I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days. Great work Ms. Oates.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as I'd hoped
Review: I heard of this book first on Oprah's show and was so excited that I went out and bought it right away. I had read the previous book club addition "House of Sand and Fog" and loved it,as well as many other "oprah" books which I loved, but I can't say the same for this book. I really tried to get into this book, but like some reviewers, I found the writing to be choppy, with too many boring details about the people in this book and their past. The first 100+ pages is almost all about the background of each person, background that I dont think was all needed. I like background information, but this was to an extreme. I also did not like how the book seemed to be narrated as if somebody was telling a story that already had happened. It did not make me feel "in" the story. I would have given the book one star, however that would not be fair because I could not even bring myself to finish the book and only got to about page 200. As I see from the other reviews, many enjoyed this book, but it was just not the book for me.
Rating:
Summary: Wished it would finish already.......
Review: Good story, but too long, and didn't have to be. The only real feelings it stirred in me was the anger regarding what the father did to his daughter and the mother going along with it, and my sympathy for the daughter who never got the proper counseling and suffered tremendous low self esteem because of the parents' negligence. Though in the story, the family's needs for closure were satisfied (except Dad), mine weren't. I didn't think the ending was worth this book being 450 pages. I think of other endings of "sagas" like these with more enlightening conclusions and just thought this was weak and easy and needlessly drawn out, not to mention sort of predictable. But I can see the author's well meaning intentions and was kept interested throughout. It just also reminded me as a book I would have to read for high school or college.
Rating:
Summary: an Oprah disappointment
Review: The primary appeal for me of Oprah's other recommendations has been strong, engrossing characterization. After reading "I Know This Much is True" I carried the main character around in my head for weeks afterwords. In this book, however, I never came to care at all for the characters. This was particularly frustrating when there were major plot turns (a family disowning a much beloved daughter) that made no sense to me based on the bits of information I'd oreviously gleened from the characters. I concur with another author who stated that the style of moving back in forth in time (which I enjoy in other books) was incredibly annoying in this book. I skipped ahead and skimmed significantly more than I have with any other book. Up to this point, I've felt confident that an Oprah recommendation meant a book I'd be engrossed and engaged in from cover to cover. Not this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Better LateThan Never!
Review: Prior to "The Mulvaney's" I had not been able to become an avid reader of Joyce Carol Oates. I often had difficulty with the subject matter and frequently found myself responding in a negative , unrewarding way and that is not why I read novels. Ms. Oates is a consummate artist, a writer of very great skill, and a wonderful story-teller. "The Mulvaneys" is moving, warm, real, troubling and a pleasure to read. You can not read this book or any of her work if all you want to know is "what happens next". Her prose is flawless and chock full of those things which make great prose. It is not realistic to expect every reader to like her work, she IS a challenge, but well worth the effort(if that's what it takes.) This would be a great first Oates to read, if you need an introduction. I am baffled, though, that Oprah took so many years to find this book. It was published 5 years ago. That is when I read it, and have been reading others by Ms Oates since. I do not like everything she writes, but you very well might. A whole lot of people do!
Rating:
Summary: An unforgettable story....
Review: This book is absolutely beautiful and touching. It shows the dark side of humans but it has so much redemption and beauty in it, it lifts you up in the end. To me the most unforgettable character is Muffin, Marianne's cat. He survived and survived and stayed with Marianne until it was safe for him to move on and leave her behind. It moved my to tears.
Rating:
Summary: Good theme, Bad plot
Review: Though the underlying message In Oats' novel is powerful, the time it takes to get to that point is painful. A single word can send the narrator into a multiple page random story that does not relate in the least to what he was originally talking about. The thoughts seem unorganized as chapters jump from a daughter's trauma to the meeting of the parents. This book is also filled with repetition of family nicknames and descriptions, introducing the oldest son, Michael Jr., "Mule" and countless other nicknames as if it was the first time you were hearing of him. These tangents and repetition are frustrating and take away from what had the potential to be a great novel making the stpry somewhat boring and tedious.
Rating:
Summary: too cluttered
Review: Okay, I will be the odd person and admit that I did not care for the book. I found the text to be too choppy and disjointed. On more than one occasion, I was confused as to what exactly was going on in the story. Finally, after struggling to get at least half way through the book, I flipped through the remainder just to find out what the heck was going on. I love most of Oprah's list but this is one of those few that I wish I had not purchased or wasted time on...........
|
