Rating: 
Summary: Excellent As Always!
Review: A simply wonderful, engaging book! MIDDLE AGE is a departure form Oates's style of depicting the paranoid, haunted minds of her characters. In the novel, she develops her characters very well, and the mysterious, engaging figure of Adam Berendt looming over the page is an ingenious literary device to frame the story. If you haven't read any of her works before, read this one! Then, read THEM and UNHOLY LOVES. Also, AMERICAN APPETITES is good. Let's hope that Joyce Carol Oates keeps writing such great novels; she is truly, in John Updike's words, a "woman of letters."
Rating:
Summary: Gifted writer!
Review: Adam Barendt is a man much admired by his male friends and loved by his female friends. He is intimately involved in their lives, yet refuses to let them become involved in his. He is a man of mystery and as such is the center of much speculation by those who know him. When his life ends tragically in an accident, his friends are saddened and horrified. What they don't realize is that his death will be a catalyst to their own rebirth and rediscovery of themselves. As they probe into Adam's past and attempt to discover who he really was, they find out things about themselves that they never knew. Joyce Carol Oates has offered this interesting premise to the reader and has couched it in sensitive prose which probes the depths of her characters. She has taken a group of wealthy people, by nature unsympathetic to readers because of their self-centered, materialistic and empty lives, and turned them into happy and fulfilled individuals who discover new truths about themselves as a result of their friend's death. This is a wonderful book!
Rating: 
Summary: Adam Berendt Who are You?
Review: Almost immediately, at the very beginning of Joyce Carol Oates, "Middle Age, A Romance," you come upon her dedication which reads: "To my Princeton friends, who are nowhere in these pages." Oates is, of course a professor of Humanities at Princeton University.More importantly, this dedication serves as Oates notice to her readers that the characters in "Middle Age" are a breed, a type, of a world... apart from herself and her friends. She is setting up a barrier between herself and her characters. As a general rule, in most cases this would not be a good sign for the reading to come. But because Oates has proven to be masterfull at best and interesting at least we take the dedication with a grain of salt and read on. "Middle Age" is Oates ode to middle age among a tightly-knit group of mostly wealthy residents of Salthill-on-Hudson in upstate New York. The catalyst for the various stories is one Adam Berendt whose death prompts a flood of tears and concern among the women and men of Salthill that propells the novel through it's various chapters. Add to this the fact that Berendt appears to be without family, has always been mysterious about his background and the source of his income, that the men seem as attracted to him as do the women and that he has not had sex with any of his many admirers, and you have the beginnings of a fascinating novel. Oates, though seemingly detached from her flood of characters is nonetheless very sympathetic towards them and as a result we are also. The style of "Middle Age" is a departure for Oates: very much unlike the furtive, paranoid, sexually explicit "Man Crazy" or the technicolor, movie-like "We Were the Mulvaneys." In "Middle Age" Oates is removed yet ultimately attracted to her characters: longing for their lifestyle yet damning of their foibles. It is ultimately not a great novel in the sense that "Mulvaneys," "Because it is Bitter and Because it is my Heart" or "What I Lived for" are for example. But a good Joyce Carol Oates novel is worlds above most author's best and because of this a must read for anyone serious about contemporary fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Adam Berendt Who are You?
Review: Almost immediately, at the very beginning of Joyce Carol Oates, "Middle Age, A Romance," you come upon her dedication which reads: "To my Princeton friends, who are nowhere in these pages." Oates is, of course a professor of Humanities at Princeton University.More importantly, this dedication serves as Oates notice to her readers that the characters in "Middle Age" are a breed, a type, of a world... apart from herself and her friends. She is setting up a barrier between herself and her characters. As a general rule, in most cases this would not be a good sign for the reading to come. But because Oates has proven to be masterfull at best and interesting at least we take the dedication with a grain of salt and read on. "Middle Age" is Oates ode to middle age among a tightly-knit group of mostly wealthy residents of Salthill-on-Hudson in upstate New York. The catalyst for the various stories is one Adam Berendt whose death prompts a flood of tears and concern among the women and men of Salthill that propells the novel through it's various chapters. Add to this the fact that Berendt appears to be without family, has always been mysterious about his background and the source of his income, that the men seem as attracted to him as do the women and that he has not had sex with any of his many admirers, and you have the beginnings of a fascinating novel. Oates, though seemingly detached from her flood of characters is nonetheless very sympathetic towards them and as a result we are also. The style of "Middle Age" is a departure for Oates: very much unlike the furtive, paranoid, sexually explicit "Man Crazy" or the technicolor, movie-like "We Were the Mulvaneys." In "Middle Age" Oates is removed yet ultimately attracted to her characters: longing for their lifestyle yet damning of their foibles. It is ultimately not a great novel in the sense that "Mulvaneys," "Because it is Bitter and Because it is my Heart" or "What I Lived for" are for example. But a good Joyce Carol Oates novel is worlds above most author's best and because of this a must read for anyone serious about contemporary fiction.
Rating:
Summary: My first Oates read
Review: An avid reader I have glanced at Joyce Carol Oates books in the past and something about the writing style has turned me away...The write up on Middle Age got my attention and though I started it hesitantly once it's 500+ grabbed me (which only took a chapter or two) I didn't want it to end. Each character was so deftly created and had some trait that set them completely apart from all the others - the woman with all the dogs which ended up being a bit of a disaster at the end...the relationships depicted between the children and their parents...All the characters went through major life quests and changes in this story which gives such a hopeful note to the human condition...and what about the mystery which still surrounded Adam at the end. One question I was left with at the end of the novel concerned Adam's sexuality - all the women were entranced/in love with him yet it seemed that he did not have a sexual relationship with any of them - was he gay? Because of my enjoyment of this novel I am jumping on the bandwagon and have We Were the Mulvaneys waiting in my pile to read.
Rating:
Summary: One of her best books in years.
Review: An excellent book although written in the overly-familiar style of many of her other books. The difference this time is her wit. Her sarcastic descriptions of the obnoxious rich people in the book are hysterical. She is descriptive, critical and condemning all in the same sentence.I don't understand why writers inflict us with so many novels about the "problems" of rich people. Rich people are not all that interesting. But, in this case, Oates brings us an edge to the characters not often found in the "I'm rich but I'm miserable" genre of fiction. Many familiar themes appear from her huge body of work. She has a style that is unshakable and unchangable. She repeats herself and it's either good reading or terrible reading (e.g. We Were The Mulvaneys). In this case it's great reading.
Rating: 
Summary: My First, and Perhaps Last Taste of Joyce Carol Oates
Review: Anyone out there a fan of Joyce Carol Oates? Never having read anything by her, I was given Middle Age, A Romance by a friend. I tried to read the book because I enjoy trying out authors I haven't read before. Made it through part of the first chapter, then jumped to the ending pages, and finally somewhat skimmed the pages in between. My reading time is precious and the characters in this story did nothing to engage me in wanting to spend the time to meet them or know more of their lives. This was soap opera at its best (or worst, depending upon your opinion of soap opera). On top of that, I found the book overly wordy. Not wanting to follow that path, I'll stop here in my review!
Rating: 
Summary: Mysterious Love
Review: As always, Joyce Carol Oates delivers a poingant, if somewhat overlong, look at human nature and desires. This book opens with the death of Adam, a man who seems to be loved by all, especially by the women of the small town of Salthill. His death touches many lives and brings upon many changes in this little town. One couple seperates, because Adam's death brings upon fears of growing old in a Salthill man and forces him to have an affair with a young woman. Another woman, who was desperately in love with Adam, moves away for a year to pratice her art and cope with Adam's death. A lonely divorcee who yearns to see her son one last time searches for romance, and for herself, through Adam's death. And a woman goes on a one year trip, leaving her husband and family behind, in order to try and discover who Adam - a man of many secrets - really was. The stories are not about Adam and yet, Adam is the focal point of the novel. This strange mix of mystery, romance and mid-age anxieties is often interesting, but also often unnerving. The book is very long (470 pages) and Oates often takes too much time to get to the point she wants to make. Still, as always, Oates delivers great, three-dimentional characters who's fears, yearnings and pains seem very real on the page. You come to care for these characters because they act like real human beings, let it be through their bad decisions or mean-spirited action. No one in this book is perfect. But I cannot help but think that this book would have been much stronger and more powerful had it been a little trimmer. And the sugar-coated ending left somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth. This is not great Oates. But The Middle Age: A Romance is still a somewhat entertaining read nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: Kudos For Joyce Carol Oates One More Time
Review: Could you want it any better than this? Certainly not. After reading Middle Age, I intend to delve into more of Ms. Oates' other work.
Middle Age is set in Salt-Hill-on-Hudson which is a small community outside Manhattan. Here, the middle age folk are young at heart and sexy, as well as very wealthy. Most of the couples are divorced or not living well with each other....but the are taking everything in stride, and just enjoying life as much as they possibly can, until the entire community is sent into total shock and despair. Salt-Hill-on-Hudson will never be the same again. Adam Brendt (a newcomer of sorts in the community) dies suddenly after rescuing a young girl from drowning.
The women of the community take this death very hard, as they were all attracted to Adam in different ways....while the men grieve too for they will miss their manly talks his ever-present advise....and of course a drink together in the pub. In fact the men of Salt-Hill-on-Hudson hold Adam in very high esteem even as his past remains a mystery to them all.
Joyce Carol Oates is so brilliant at throwing delighful characters together and I found myself having deep empathy for both the male and females sexes in this story. So true to life; you can feel your own heart breaking for these characters.
With this remarkable read you'll meet lots of people like you and me and some of our friends, and also their children. I give this book five stars as it is a page turner with great depth. But then again Ms.Oates never disappoints.....read it real soon. ...
Rating:
Summary: American Magic Realism?
Review: First of all, I have to say I live in a village called Irvington-on-Hudson. The Salthill-on-Hudson in which this book is set couldn't be too far away, could it? But it's very far away. After 20 years in Manhattan I moved here, assuming life would be somewhat like that in the suburbia of Cheever and Updike... and now Oates. Alas, after more than 12 years, I have not attended one drunken summer party by the pool during which husbands and wives drift off to a motel with their spouse's best friend. I haven't even heard about that happening. You might surmise, too, that I am what is unfortunately called middle-aged. And yet, no stab of recognition there, either. One wonderful thing about Joyce Carol Oates is how effortlessly she moves between the privileged intellectual life and the blue-collar life. Somewhat reminiscent of another book of hers, about a cookbook author in a similar town, whose husband shoves her through a plate-glass window, this tale is set in a too-privileged enclave of people who have the bucks but not the brains. They fit into the consumer demographic coveted by advertisers of luxury products; they have it all, and yet... nothing. How ruthlessly Oates skewers them, dunks them in oil and boils them alive. The mother who desperately yearns for (and stalks) her prep-school son, who rejects her. The husband who takes up with the exotic physical therapist, who turns out to be black, not East Indian, and a "call girl" of sorts. The spurned wife whose dogs later attack and kill him. The center of attention, Adam (the word means both earth and man in Hebrew) is the ugly/attractive/poor/rich/artist/investor mystery man whose death sets all off the action like a pinball machine. Every character is "in love" with him one way or another -- and they generally do stupid things because of it. Is all this supposed to be funny? No laughs here. And no actual shocks of recognition because, unlike so many characters in her other books, none of them is quite real. It's like Latin American magic realism in the New York suburbs. People say and do unbelievable things. These characters seem more channeled than written, channeled out of a deep subconscious pool of disdain. Yet Oates came up here last year and spoke "On Writing" at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, and dutifully took questions and sold and signed books. I asked her, "Can I take a class or seminar with you?" She said, "No. I only teach undergraduates at Princeton." Well, I'll just keep reading, then. Wherever all this is coming from, I'll drink it in. This is one of her fluffier books. And everything is wrapped up much too neatly at the end, with all the silly characters, except the man who is mauled by the dogs, finding true happiness and redemption. So unlike her. But one is never at a loss, because there's always another Joyce Carol Oates book, or short story collection, to read. And if these characters are too silly, well I can find a book about a girl from the wrong side of the tracks in a dreary upstate town, who goes to university, gets culture, escapes her past. Just like I did... and lives happily ever after teaching and writing in a place like Salthill-on-Hudson (not).
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