Rating: 
Summary: satisfactory read with strong characters and plausible plot
Review: This well written ( no loose ends, common threads, well developed characters, and plausible plot) story should be sold in formal wear
stores next Spring, before the proms.I am not a retailer or a shopper! While the Mulvaneys as a family spin down and out because of denial and choices that were not always
smart, the individuals do develop and become folks with values, perhaps
better than the ones they were at the beginning of the text.
You will know these people as individuals for a long time after you have loaned the book to someone else.
Rating: 
Summary: boring...
Review: Her worst book in years. Full of stereo-types and unpleasant
characters who deserve what they get. And what they get isn't much.
Angst: been there, done that. The characters are completely
unsympathetic in that their absolute selfishness and
narrow-minded values make caring about them not possible. If
I met these people I wouldn't like them so reading about them
is not at all interesting.
It seems JCO has burnt herself out. When she's not writing
about people dismembering eachother she is writing about
boring, obnoxious people. Maybe she needs a break...
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful multi-layered look at people we all know.
Review: If there was ever any doubt that Joyce Carol Oates is
certain to endure as a 20th century master, We Were The Mulvaneys guarantees her position. We all know
people like the Mulvaney's...we may even be like them
ourselves. Oates gives us such a chillingly real and intimate glimpse of the inner life of this "charmed" family.
I found myself cringing in recognition as Corrinne
blissfully carries on her life of denial while her family dissolves. This book has real appeal for readers who like
to get inside the lives of their friends and neighbors.
How does Oates know so much? This is a multi-layered
book of wonders. On one level, it is pure good storytelling. But deeper than that, the book is an important psychological study of family and presents some fascinating questions about how we live our lives.
Rating:
Summary: Rich in beautiful language
Review: Hurrah!I listened to the book on cd, and I must say, although I enjoyed it and felt the actor did a great job, I missed actually reading the language used by Oates throughout the book.
She is, apparently, a master of the written word (this is my first Oates book). It was a pleasure to read (okay, hear). I typically do not like heavy description in fiction, but I actually found myself enthralled with the scenery and characterization because it was just so enjoyable to hear the words Oates put together. If you are the type of person who gets excited over well-written sentences (a fellow former English Major or language-loving dork, like me), this is a great book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Very slow read where little of anything happens
Review: It's rare that I don't finish a novel. I started this one two years ago, struggled to get two thirds of the way through, and then stopped, intending to finish it later. I never did. It was very slow and totally failed to spark my interest in either the plot, what little there was of it, or the characters. I did check with the Amazon reviews before stopping though, just in case the book took off in the last third, but it was obvious from the reviews that the last third was more of the same. It's the only book from this author I've ever tried to read. I did not choose it myself but was given the book, with a recommendation, and since the author is very well known I gave it a try.
The first thing I noticed was the woolly and fluffy writing. The author was intent on painting every scene in tedious detail, and it took ten pages to cover what could easily have been covered in one, or less. The result is a very slow read where very little of anything happens. The story's about an initially happy family of six living on a farm near a small town in upstate New York, a region I know well, and did not need described in such detail. Things go wrong for the family when Marianne, child number three, cheerleader, and devout Christian, is raped on her prom night, and the whole town finds out. This happens well into the novel, not in Chapter One or Two. The family then slowly disintegrates, the full details of which disintegration I didn't read the last third to find out about.
That's the plot. No regrets about stopping. Lots of regrets about wasting my time on it. I suspect the novel is aimed at highly emotional people with strong feelings, which the wordy, fluffy prose is designed to trigger; that could explain most of the high ratings it has gotten. It probably leaves the more rational readership cold, which would explain most of the many low ratings, which I regret having to add to.
Rating:
Summary: Why would anyone finish this book????
Review: Even more importantly, why did someone make a tv movie off it? This family appears to be close-knit, loving, and rich in faith but a catastrophe - when the daughter is brutally raped - tears it all apart. The father becomes hateful, abusive, and cold, the mother wrings her hands and cries but stands by and lets her daughter be victimized yet again. How can any reader have sympathy for "parents" like this who are anything but loving? This "loving" family punishes the victim. I had no sympathy whatsoever for these characters and found myself hoping the dad would get offed and mom too for her spineless lack of mothering when her child needed it most. The author's purple prose detracts from the story as well. Can't recommend this one at all.
Rating:
Summary: You Won't Ever Forget this Family Saga!
Review: This is the first of Joyce Carol Oates which I have read, and though it was a bit long, enjoyed this family story very well.
The story begins with the family history. The Mulvaney's were a wealthy farming family who prospered well and whom everyone knew.
They were picture perfect with their four children; three boys and one girl. But as we all know, perfect doesn't last forever, and when Marianne keeps her rape a secret, and it's finally discovered by her mother Corinne, the family simply falls apart from there. And Marianne, for reasons I never understood, was exiled from her family.
The dad, Michael Mulvaney, resorts to drinking, and becomes a terrible alcoholic, and Patrick, the second of the boys, attempts to murder Marianne's rapist.
Marianne wants her parents love so badly, especially that of her father. But by the time wounds are healing, it is almost too late.
The book is very sad, and gets a little better toward the end. It is worth the read for sure if you like a family story.
Rating:
Summary: personally haunting
Review: I don't remember quite where I was or whom I was talking to when, in conversation, I recounted some troubling times in my life. Thw woman I was talking to said to me,"you should read 'we were the mulvaneys'."
I tried to make a mental note of the book title but in my haste forgot about our conversation while rushing off to do other things. Several months later, I was food shopping and as I headed down the isle of books, "we were the mulvaneys" literally dropped to the floor as I passed. Ironically, it was the last book on the shelf. As I held it in my hands, I remembered the conversation I had months back. Of course, I bought the book. (who buys books in a grocery store?) The book had so many parallels to my own life I could not believe someone had put this into words and called it "fiction". The book is beautifully written and the story is haunting and sad, and for some people like myself, very true. While WWTM has a permanent place on my bookshelf, I still cannot recall the person that day who told me to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Underestimated
Review: Ok, I'll admit that I got rather bored with the first 150-200 pages, but the family's history was an important and necessary part of the book. I had to force myself to read for awhile because the story seemed so uneventful, but that was needed to learn the characters and feel close to them...feeling so close to the characters enabled you to really feel their heartache and happiness. This is an amazing book that brings you through a family's life which began almost sickeningly perfect then dragged through horrific pain, separation, resentment (and pretty much every horrible thing you can think of) and ends making you feel relieved and overjoyed. Honestly I can't even do justice to the book....just read it!!
Rating:
Summary: Impenetrable -- and you don't want to break through!
Review: I started this book with high hopes, which were dashed all too soon due to impenetrable prose, thin images, and sloppy meandering. I read other reviews to learn what the title referred to because after 100 pages, it was just too much for me. Ms. Oates doubtless has earned an esteemed place in American fiction, but this book sure doesn't encourage me to read anything else to find out why.
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