--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Michael Robison
<miker_zspider@...> 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.
>
I could have told you so... hell, perhaps I did tell you
so.
Best,
MrT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 23 Jan 2007 EST