We Were the Mulvaneys

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Summary: We Were The Mulvaneys
Review: What happened??? Did Ms. Oates quit writing this two-thirds of the way through and let someone else finish this book? Several of the characters were set on a major collision course and she just dropped the ball! That happily ever after ending was a major letdown. I thought Judd might commit a murder; perhaps Marianne wasn't raped after all; maybe she did instigate that sexual encounter; maybe it was with Michael Sr. since he wanted her banished; what mother banishes a daughter that's been raped?! Give me a break. This story could have been riviting until the last page, but I had to force myself to read the last third of the book. Dullsville!

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Summary: A "Perfect Family " Experiences Pain Through Frustration
Review: Joyce Carol Oates has motivated me to seek out more of her work through ". . . The Mulvaneys." She has somehow caused me to run the gamut of feelings from admiration to disgust to compassion for the entire Mulvaney family . I was in turn, intriqued, depressed and hopeful for these tragic individuals!

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Summary: Incredible writing, disturbing story
Review: Like most of Oates' work, her latest novel is not so much hard to understand as it is hard to read. Her writing is often powerfully beautiful, but the subjects she chooses to describe are painful. Roughly three hundred out of four hundred and fifty pages are devoted to the consequences of a rape that tears apart a perfect family. It is easy to criticize the characters for the way they deal with their daughter and sister's trauma; perhaps because their reactions are not constructive, it is also easy to get frustrated with the characters and even the novel itself. However, the novel ultimately redeems itself by proving that a loving family can indeed overcome just about anything. A good read with a meaningful moral, but it hits difficult spots along the way.

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Summary: Implausible and boring
Review: The downfall of the Mulvaneys, after Oates' careful, exacting, boring description of them up to this point, was implausible, unbelievable. The parents she had described would just simply not treat their children, especially Marianne, the way they end up treating them. Seemed very naive. Has Oates had children of her own? The way she writes of the parents turning away from their children one by one makes it seem that she knows little of this bond. I would not recommend this book to anyone, and will be choosier henceforth and not as willing to read an Oprah selection just because it is an Oprah selection.

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Summary: Very difficult to hold my interest
Review: I found it very difficult to read this book. Usually when reading a book, I can identify with, or LIKE, at least one character. In this book, there was no one! The parents were self-righteous and cold, the brothers were too involved and selfish to care about their sister, except for how the episode affected them, and I lost all respect for the sister, when she would not admit to what happened to her. I felt that she should have thought about any other women he might hurt in the future, and tried to protect them. Like everyone else in her family, she only thought about herself. I have really enjoyed each Oprah book I have read, but this one disturbed me. For the first time in my life, I quickly skimmed through the book after the first 100 pages, and I was able to pick up the storyline! I wish I would have bought another book.

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Summary: A Family's Fall From Grace
Review: I loved this book. Joyce Carol Oates writes like she is in the room with you telling a story. This once perfect, untouched family is slowley torn apart by a savage and unspeakable act agaist it's beloved daughter and sister. It happens so gradually that it seems a surprise to the family itself, when one day they realize that all that they were, they are no longer. Once so close and loving they find themselves strangers. Once so on top of the world and capable they find themselves destroyed, and all of it happens in such a beleivable way, it makes you wonder how immune anyone is, regardless of the appearance of indestructability.

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Summary: Good selection, but a little slow at times
Review: this is probably the saddest book I've ever read. After Marianne's date rape at the age of 16, the Mulvaney's life totally and completely unravels. I think their life must have been unstable from the beginning, personal scars hidden underneath the outward "happy-family" persona. This book chronicles their life from youngest son Judd's birth until middle-age..from how the father, Mike, became a raging alcoholic and separated himself from the family, the mother Corinne tried her hardest to keep everyone together but was falling apart herself, and how Marianne moved around the country to try and escape the memories that shattered her life. From a seedy college co-op in Pennsylvania to marrying a veterinarian, readers begin to crave a happy ending. This novel, breaking your heart and then healing it once again, chronicles the life and times of the Mulvaneys.

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Summary: Worst punctuation I've ever seen!
Review: I have never in my life read a published book with so much incorrect (or missing) punctuation! It drove me crazy, and I finally gave up and put the book down (on page 84).

If there was a reason for this poorly punctuated narration, I can't figure out what it is. The narrator is the son Judd, who is supposedly an adult when he is telling the story (and works in the newspaper business, no less!) and should know better. Besides, even when narrators of stories are completely illiterate, the book's *author* doesn't need to act like she is illiterate!!

An example: (p. 84) "So long as the chores got done there was no problem but when the work schedule failed in any particular, as Dad said there was hell to pay." (This is *exactly* how the "sentence" is punctuated in the book!)

The book is chock-full of so-called sentences that are equally poorly punctuated. And maybe I'm missing something, but I do not see the point of it!! I found it so disruptive to the flow of the narration that I finally gave up on the book.

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Summary: It took way too long to read this book
Review: Like the title says, it took me forever to read this book. The only time I picked it up was when I had nothing else better to do! This was an incredibly long book that failed to keep my interest. The author writes from the point of view of the youngest son, but fails to really capture anyone but himself and the sister. Hardly any detail was given to any of the other characters in the book. I was definetly disappointed with this being an "Oprah" book, as most of her selections I like.

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Summary: A Family Tragedy
Review: Ms. Oates sets up a perfect American family--a slightly ditzy but loving and beloved mother, successful, robust, salesman-type father, an athletic son, a brainy son, a popular cheerleader daughter, and Judd, the baby of the family, who acts as narrator. The Mulvaneys live an idyllic life at High Point Farm in upstate New York. They are filled with love for each other, and blessedly sure that life will be good forever. Alas, it is not to be. Marianne, the much loved daughter, is the victim of a date rape. The family soon feels the whispers and scorn of the town. At this point her father feels he cannot bear the ostracization by his former friends, and the shame he feels his daughter has brought upon the family. He banishes her, sending her to live with a relative. His wife makes the decision to sacrifice her daughter, believing she will save her husband by doing so. The fortunes of the family change dramatically. The father descends into bankruptcy and drink, and the family is shattered beyond repair.

I liked this book immensely, but the action of the mother in condoning the exile of her daughter in the belief that it would salvage her marriage really disturbed me. I had to stop reading for a while to calm down. Ms. Oates is a wonderful writer with a lot of insight into human emotions, but the dissolution of this ideal family is hard to accept. From the tenor of the reviews I have read on this site, people either loved or hated this book. All of Ms. Oates's irritating mannerisms are present. The exclamations!!! (The parentheses). "The quotation marks". The italics (can't do those here!). That aside, I did truly admire this book. My one objection would be that the ending was too pat. It felt as if it was wrapped up too neatly. But it is well worth your time.