Rating: 
Summary: What if it were your daughter in the car?
Review: OK this is a hard book to read. You can read it in about an hour-it is short enough- but still, it isn't at all easy. The details of the horrifying last minutes of a young woman's life are repeated again and again -- like a refrain in a song. Sandwiched between these chilling moments of terror is the story of how she got there--in that car, filling with water, caught, the water slowly rising. And yes it is about Chappaquiddick --and no, it is not about the young woman's psychological development. It is about a senator who left her there, drowning, to die. The details about the young woman are backdrop that makes you realize she was a real person, with a real family, with real hopes and aspirations. This book is not about her except for the fact that, unexpectedly, her life was ended-because the Senator ran away-while she was left in the car, in the dark, waiting, while the water rose. To care about her you needed background about her life. So that story is told. But this character in the book could have been about any of us. Because what the book is about is the arrogance of power. Anyone of us might have gotten into that car, seduced by the allure of power. Any of us could have ended up being left there drowning. It isn't my preference to think about our famous Senator from Mass. as being the character in this story. But you'd have to be dishonest to deny it. Can he have done something this revolting and still do good later in his life? Could we / should we / ever trust a person with so little integrity &/or whose judgment is this far off course? - Run for cover; look for someone to spin the story to protect you; have another drink And how can we, those of us who would like to support liberal politicians (myself included) turn our backs on a needless death with an `Accidents happen' attitude. Indeed they do happen: especially if you provide the right ingredients I don't know how close this story is to the gist of the Chappaquiddick situation (not the detail but the larger actions.) But the story sure makes one ask a lot of questions that ought to be asked about what we expect from a political leader, about how class privilege functions, about how we let ourselves accept easy answers to difficult questions and compromise our own principles in the process...maybe not unlike the Senator - just on a different scale.
Rating: 
Summary: A True Look at Politicians
Review: People say this novel is about Ted and Mary Jo which is correct to a degree. However, it is also about the extraordinary efforts elected representitives will go to save their own hides when things go badly for them both privately and publicly. We saw that in 1969 and are seeing that now in regard to Iraq. Joyce Carol Oates is not only a great writer but also a woman who has enormous prescience and perception of the troubled world we live in.
Rating:
Summary: The American Girl's Life Flashes Before our Eyes
Review: She was an American girl. This is how Joyce Carol Oates characterizes Kelly Kelleher. Kelly is the supposed embodiement of a "normal" American girl. She is concerned with her appearance, rebels against yet loves her parents,has unfulfilling affairs, and the highest of ideals. Drawn rather obviously form an true story, this work of fiction digs deeper than a news story or a non-fiction novel. The story of Kelly is a short and sad one. She seems to have led a pretty average life, not to say that she isn't supposed to be a special person. In a short period of time the reader comes to know her on an intimate level. We learn her political views, her sexual history, even about the disease she was born with. These details are Oates's most careful dramatic and plot choices as far expressing the themes. Oates seeks to explore the character of Kelly, and to an extent, that of The Senator, who drives Kelly in to the water. Oates prooves what we already know- the people in the news or public eye are more than the flat characters flitting across the screen. Kelly Kelleher was a real person. The Senator was and is, a real person. While at times I think Oates unintentionally made Kelly in to a bit of a stereotype, this was effective as far as this story went because it was important that Kelly be something the reader could easily recognize. This narrative opens the past and present of a woman who has no future. The book is a literal representation of Kelly's life flashing before her eyes. It displays her terror at being left behind in the flooded car, along with what led her to that moment. This is the most effective plot tool used by Oates. By letting us in to the past and present of Kelly's life, while the actual time span of the novel is actually only a short time, the effect of experiencing Kelly's whole life is captured perfectly. The character of The Senator was perhaps a bit more difficult to write because the person he is based on is still alive and for the most part,went unpunished for what became of the young lady who was driven in to the water on a night of drinking. I think Oates managed to paint him as realistically and sympathetically as possible considering what she is telling us he did. Oates uses unmistakably powerful language to draw the reader in to the whirlwind ride that ends as we know it will. As always her plot, her characters, her language make a story come to life.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast-paced!!
Review: The book, Black Water, authored by Joyce Carol Oates, is fiction that closely resembles a real incident that involved the powerful, political Kennedy family. This story is about a young lady named Kelly, who found herself smittem with a popular senator. The two find themselves in a life threatening predicament, in which only one escapes, and one is left in the black water awaiting rescue. I feel that this book captures the true essence of what goes through the mind of someone that is drowning, as the character has flashbacks of her life, and thinks of what the future would hold if she survives. I found the book hard to follow for the first few chapters, and after re-reading it I decided that it was a fast-paced book that seemed unfinished and left the reader wondering what happened to the senator and any legal ramifications he may have encountered. The style in which this book is written is like none I have read before and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in trying something different.
Rating:
Summary: "black water - a fantastic fiction"
Review: The Senator. The girl. The Fourth of July party on the island. The ride through the night. The accident. The death by water.
But as a reader, you are never left to wonder about Joyce Carol Oates shocking story, her words are full of outrage and shock and the novel itself is presented in part from the narrative voice of a young girl who made a fateful decision, for all the wrong reasons, on a pretty Summer day after a party where a story on the quality of a surreal nightmare begins.
Finally she dies in the car that the Senator drove and during her death the reader enters her past and present, her romantic and idealistic dreams of a brave future and her whole life.
Rating:
Summary: Black Water- fascinating till the last page
Review: When I read the first pages of the book I thougth that there
cannot be a book more boring. But I read on and some chapters
later I was totally absorbed by this exellently written novel.
Although the plot of the book can be compressed onto one or two
pages there are is so much information about politics and life. Oates manages it very well to let the reader participate in the
story and after the first chapters you can't stop reading
anymore. I would recommend this book to everyone who wants to
read a thrilling new novel with a story of outstanding tragic.
| 
