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ilsussurrodelmondo's review against another edition
5.0
La Oates scrive un romanzo universale e senza tempo: lo sfondo storico é talmente tanto sfumato per il protagonista che lo diventa anche per il lettore. Eppure tutta la storia americana é racchiusa dentro di lui, in questa solitudine, nella ricerca di una perfezione spirituale e corporale, nel bisogno di un punto di riferimento introvabile. Un romanzo che scorre in modo incredibile, pieno di tematiche assimilabili a qualsiasi realtà, con un linguaggio semplice, coinciso, inquietante, a tratti sperimentale che ci regala una storia che é una gabbia: un'america senza risoluzione, una brutale condanna familiare senza fine e un paese delle meraviglie che é solo un'illusione.
kaseyd's review against another edition
3.0
I did not particularly enjoy this book. It was very well-written, as can only be expected by Joyce Carol Oates, but it was almost too difficult to read at points. There were times I put the book down in disgust and felt myself on the verge of tears--though sometimes this is the mark of an excellent writer, here it was just completely unnecessary.
I would NOT recommend this be read by anybody with any type of eating disorder or body issues. There are overly descriptive tellings of binge eating and weight that were altogether unhealthy for me to be reading, and there was a chilling, overly-detailed description of a gynecologist visit that made me sick to my stomach. I do not think that these scenes were necessary to the novel at all. There is nothing they conveyed that was not already understood or that couldn't have been just as easy to grasp through the use of less disturbing imagery.
This story felt like Oates was trying to put every small tragedy and disturbing scene possible into one book, just for the fun of it. It really did not feel like the novel had an overarching purpose, moral, anything.
I would NOT recommend this be read by anybody with any type of eating disorder or body issues. There are overly descriptive tellings of binge eating and weight that were altogether unhealthy for me to be reading, and there was a chilling, overly-detailed description of a gynecologist visit that made me sick to my stomach. I do not think that these scenes were necessary to the novel at all. There is nothing they conveyed that was not already understood or that couldn't have been just as easy to grasp through the use of less disturbing imagery.
This story felt like Oates was trying to put every small tragedy and disturbing scene possible into one book, just for the fun of it. It really did not feel like the novel had an overarching purpose, moral, anything.
mangofandango's review against another edition
4.0
"Wonderland" is a strange, intense experience. I can really only liken it to an extended, feverish stress dream, where everything is loaded and nothing is permanent, background shift and change, identity is complicated and kind of liquid, memory and reality are all a little bit questionable. It wasn't pleasant, really ever at all, and yet it was very compelling to me. I read through much of it in quick, exhausting gulps, because the constant underlying tension propelled me - and that is fascinating in way, because it isn't like a lot of really exciting things happen or that there is something to wait for in the story. There isn't. But the tension is very thick, the threat somehow always imminent even though the threat is nothing in particular. It's existential. The threat is something about the unraveling of personality, a personality woven out of trauma pretty much never dealt with at all, so that trauma felt to me like it was always there, laying in wait.
It should be noted that the second phase of the book is about a family with some pretty major abuse, disorder and identity Stuff, and part of their Stuff is food and weight...and the author either writes convincingly as someone who really really hates fat people or she just really really hates fat people. So that's something to be aware of.
Also: I thought the author's afterword cast The Point of the book in a way that didn't track for me. It's her book, so you know, I suppose she's right about what she wrote. But honestly, I didn't see Jesse the way she seems to be saying she saw him. And I kind of wonder what to make of that.
Honestly, I went into this not really wanting to read it. I can't say it was enjoyable, but it is something I will probably think about for a long time, and I appreciate that.
It should be noted that the second phase of the book is about a family with some pretty major abuse, disorder and identity Stuff, and part of their Stuff is food and weight...and the author either writes convincingly as someone who really really hates fat people or she just really really hates fat people. So that's something to be aware of.
Also: I thought the author's afterword cast The Point of the book in a way that didn't track for me. It's her book, so you know, I suppose she's right about what she wrote. But honestly, I didn't see Jesse the way she seems to be saying she saw him. And I kind of wonder what to make of that.
Honestly, I went into this not really wanting to read it. I can't say it was enjoyable, but it is something I will probably think about for a long time, and I appreciate that.
anothergain's review
3.0
Kathi loves Joyce Carol Oates and I'm glad to have finally read one she cited among her favorites. Sometimes disturbing, I felt kind of vindicated for the characters sufferings by the end of the book but his triumph seemed so unrelated to his trials I wasn't sure the feeling was really justified. Anyways I think about parts of it from time to time. The obstetrician parts, the damn, the obese girl with the number genius. It made a lasting impression.
hybridpubscout's review
4.0
This book is both visceral, and cerebral at the same time. Upon picking it up to begin before bed, I found myself through 45 pages of Jesse in his childhood home, feeling sick with premonition at the school assembly, and running from his psychotic gun-wielding father, before actually looking at the time. There were also several times where I put the book down, not because I was tired, but because the stories of his residency, or the graphic account of his wife's hysteria-ridden pregnancy test, made me sick to my stomach.
Even when I did put it down, though, I found myself thinking about the characters--the megalomaniacs, the psychopaths (I'm not even sure whether there was any heroic or likable character in it at all), and how much our generation is different in its ideas of self-determination than Jesse's, or even his children's.
It did disturb me a little to see that Oates considered Jesse's rescue of his daughter an act of demonic paternalism (although most of the book disturbed me anyway). I do see her point, also that maybe his motivations for rescuing Shelly were more self-centered than stemming from an actual love for his family. I think constantly, throughout the book, we see him attempting to love particular people--caustically self-talking his love for them--and he never is quite able to do it.
Whether there's any love that doesn't ultimately stem from anxious, selfish need. That's another good question.
Four stars doesn't necessarily mean I like it. I still think it's a very good book, though. I hope that makes sense.
Even when I did put it down, though, I found myself thinking about the characters--the megalomaniacs, the psychopaths (I'm not even sure whether there was any heroic or likable character in it at all), and how much our generation is different in its ideas of self-determination than Jesse's, or even his children's.
It did disturb me a little to see that Oates considered Jesse's rescue of his daughter an act of demonic paternalism (although most of the book disturbed me anyway). I do see her point, also that maybe his motivations for rescuing Shelly were more self-centered than stemming from an actual love for his family. I think constantly, throughout the book, we see him attempting to love particular people--caustically self-talking his love for them--and he never is quite able to do it.
Whether there's any love that doesn't ultimately stem from anxious, selfish need. That's another good question.
Four stars doesn't necessarily mean I like it. I still think it's a very good book, though. I hope that makes sense.
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