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Summary: The gem of early 2001, a reminder of why you should read,
Review: Upon first glance one might think of "We Were The Mulvaney's" as a script to something you might find on the Oxygen Channel starring Meredith Baxter Birney. I emplore you to look further. This book is the first of 2001 to make it on Oprah Winfrey's Book Club, and for good reason. Joye Carol Oates has moved away from the sometimes gothic, and dark vibes of her books that may rest in your recent memory. This work is much more enlightening than say, "Zombie" or "What I Lived For".Here were take an intensely intimate journey with an all too realistic american family in its most trying time. You'll find that the family mirrors a much larger one which all are a part of, our community. This book raises pertinent questions on such issues as blame, crisis, life, and the american family. The books will beg the reader's attention with deep moments of what-would-you-do type introspection in moments when all the above come crashing to a centerpoint. It is through crisis that we learn the most about eachother and ultimately about ourselves. The author guides the imagination with images "the full moon, like a candled egg". High in detail and visual imagery, you'll feel as though you've benefitted and grown from an experience that we can only hope will never arise in real life. It is books like these that give meaning to reading anything beyond reference books and instruction manuals. Oprah and I greatly enjoyed it, I hope you will too. -M.Bits 2001
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Summary: Oates is a master of her craft. . .
Review: I read this book a few years ago after a good friend of mine introduced me to Joyce Carol Oates. The first book that I read by Oates was FOXFIRE: Confessions of a Girl Gang. Tremendous book there, and I was impressed at the range of Oates's writing. I suppose that is why she is one of my favorite authors; she has such a range of style that is really quite unparalled today. Read this book and discover why she is one of the two greatest living writers on the planet. Nicholson Baker is the other. This book certainly did deserve the National Book Award. That certainlywill help to get more people to read this masterpiece. fin
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Summary: A brilliant work by a brilliant writer.
Review: Among Ms. Oates' recent works, this stands out as one of the best. She is, I believe, the best American novelist of her generation. Her other recent novel of equivalent power is What I Lived For.
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Summary: Mulvaneys
Review: "We Were the Mulvaneys" is a touching book about the trials of family life that can be understood by almost everyone who is part of a family. No families are perfect, and Oates does a great job of telling a story about the unraveling of the Mulvaneys. However, the author doesn't leave a sour taste in the mouth of her readers because throughout the book there is a message of persevering through the tough times. Overall, a great read!
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Summary: WONDERFUL!
Review: It has been perhaps two years since I read this novel. Originally in hardcover when it was first published. The book STILL stays with me. It is a tragic and compelling story of a family that could be yours or mine. You will see the laundry folded and stacked on the stairs for each member to haul up to their own room. The brothers and sisters love(and hate) each other as do the mom and the dad.One event turns it all around. A gripping story. You won't be disappointed. Miss Oates weaves the tale enticingly.
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Summary: She can create a world but she doesn't know cars . . .
Review: A fine book, with "classic" Oates ominousness, now offset with another vision at the end. But, like the person who noted that Corvettes don't have backseats, neither does a "battery turn over" when a key is turned in an ignition (somewhere in the text--forgive me for not nit-picking it to death to find the reference). If a car's batery is rotating, you have real problems. I do not fault the author--but she definitely deserves better editing than the manuscript received. I hope her editor at Dutton sees this.
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Summary: Major, Major Error in Fact - No Backseat in a Corvette!
Review: Next to the last paragraph on page 155 of softcover edition: Marianne refers to the "shadowy backseat of the Corvette." This is where she was supposedly raped. To my knowledge, there has never been a Corvette with a backseat.
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Summary: This story will kill you...
Review: I read this book about a year ago and I can still remember the power that exuded from its pages. I would wake up at 4-5 am every morning and read a chapter or two, or three, depending on what part of the narrative I happened to be at. My job became secondary and, as a result, I was late a few times. To be simple, the book tells of a family in New York that falls apart after the daughter is raped by a young man who belongs to a prominent family in town. The town turns on the Mulvaneys and each Mulvaney goes his or her separate way. Sad, very sad. Joyce Oates is one of the masters of literature and she knows just how to braid your heart into taut, painful strands. I probably have ten of her books and each one is gothic and dark and full of emotionally-laden sentences, paragraphs and chapters. This book is certainly one that you will never forget.
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Summary: JOYCE CAROL OATES -- MY NEW FAVORITE AUTHOR
Review: After I finished what I would consider to be a masterpiece, I said to myself, "where the heck have you been that this is the first book you've read by this author." It took only 2 pages to hook me in. You know the feeling you get when you know right off the bat that you're going to love the book you just started -- that's how I felt with this one. The characters are so alive and you want more than anything for everything to be all right. You read each page with fearful expectation because you know it can't be. Oates has the ability of leading you to the end of the road but right before you get there she changes courses so that you still have to wait to see what's at the end of that road. To see the all-American dream family fall apart right before your eyes is somewhat depressing but it's also gratifying in the sadistic sense. The reaction of the father to the family tragedy was hard to believe but the reaction of the mother and the way she handled it was almost sinful. I wish I could remember the exact quote but somewhere in the book she refers to her husband as her "firstborn" instead of her "first love". Therein lies the true tragedy of We Were The Mulvaneys. Get this book for the summer and you'll have something you'll always remember the summer of 2000 for.
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Summary: a truly gifted and legendary author
Review: I have just finished reading "We Were the Mulvaneys" by Joyce Carol Oates. Once again, Oates has astonished and moved me as a reader. I was washing my Sunday night supper dishes after finishing the book and found myself staring out the window, into the blackness of night, and reflecting on where this family may have gone all wrong. What suffering was endured! Yet, one must remember - a horrific incident, causing tragedy to a seemingly idyllic family was brought upon them by themselves. Because they were the 'Mulvaneys', they could not bear to bring themselves to understand the true meaning of "family", so intent on public appearance and the forever dreaded - "what will people think?". They were cowards, all of them, in their disloyalty and then dismissal of their only sister, poor Marianne. I tried to understand what could possibly motivate their cold behavior to one another, Corrine's cold reproach to her only beautiful daughter. After all the hype devoted to what a happy and loving family the Mulvaneys were, how indulgent, what a terrific facade, how great was their acting talents! I believe this is what the author may have been attempting to invoke in readers. Did you place yourself in any of their positions? And if so, how did you fair? This book is well written to the point where one feels anger, resentment, sadness, and then exultation, and ultimately, happiness, however disconcerting. A book of many emotions, able to move one's feelings, until the very end. I ponder how others must feel, about themselves and their own families, after reading this family saga.
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