Just finished this short novel by Joyce Oates. It was
recommended a long time ago on the list and I've had it for
several years. If memory serves me correct, it was
recommended by Jim Blue. Does anybody hear from Jim? I always
liked his posts.
Man Crazy is a white trash novel about a low-rent woman
addicted to a violent and deadly Vietnam veteran, and how she
passes this addiction onto her daughter with less than
desirable results. The mood is deep melancholy, similar to
Didion's Play It As It Lays or Woolrich's I Married a Dead
Man. The story is told by daughter Ingrid, and the world she
describes seems muddled and lacking in detail unless she's
talking about clothing. If this was purposeful, it was less
than successful. I eventually got tired of her obsessive and
continuous description of her scratching at herself. The
ending was hopeful. And more than a little bit doubtful.
Also, a novel that was as strongly negative about women as
this was about men would be condemned as misogynistic.
miker
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