I've only read one book by JCO, With Shuddering Fall, and
that was enough for me.
I also read a short story that was pretty good but very
creepy, something about a girl in a trailer park.
Karin
At 05:57 PM 22/01/2007 -0800, Mike Robison wrote:
>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.
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