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luciafulci's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I read Joyce Carol Oates once before, in college. That makes a lot of sense because this seems like the type of book you would be forced to read in school. It's very stuffy, Very White. The big deal thing that happens is rough, but rougher shit happens regularly. The idea that this thing that happened is so rough that it tore the entire family, and everyone in it, apart is depressing and overly dramatic.
I also skimmed a lot of this bc it was like JCO was trying to write a set amount of words and just started doing word vomit description.
I also skimmed a lot of this bc it was like JCO was trying to write a set amount of words and just started doing word vomit description.
omgitsmandy's review against another edition
5.0
I think that this book was fantastic. It was a beautiful tragic and well told story. Maybe it was so wonderful because it was just exactly what I needed right now. Sometimes you find a book, and you can't explain why, but it just fits your life in that exact moment. This was a wonderful read, and I would highly recommend it to most people.
liberty_bojangles's review against another edition
4.0
The Mulvaneys are a happy family with two loving parents, four children, and lots of animals on a big farm. But a single tragic event happens to the only daughter, fracturing their seemingly perfect existence. The story explores the slow dissolution of these six human beings and how each family member copes with the aftermath in their own way. As Oates knows so well, she explores the complexities of human relationships and the lasting impact of trauma. A thorough description of these intricate and very different lives, so close to reality and to what can happen in anyone’s life. Frightening.
https://redheadwithabrain.ch/index.php/2024/04/22/we-were-the-mulvaneys-joyce-carol-oates-1996/
https://redheadwithabrain.ch/index.php/2024/04/22/we-were-the-mulvaneys-joyce-carol-oates-1996/
ladyofthegreatlakes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Terribly depressing with a weird, sexualizing under-current.
vegantrav's review against another edition
3.0
3.5. stars
This novel is an extended character study of five of the six members of the Mulvaney family: a mother, a father, and four children. The sixth family member, the youngest son, Judd, is the novel's narrator, and while he plays a role in the story, his role is relatively minor compared to that of his parents, his sister, and his two brothers, and so we don't get to know Judd, who focuses only very little upon himself, as well as we do his siblings and his parents.
The rape of Marianne, the daughter and sister in the family, when she is sixteen is the pivot point around which this story rotates. As one might expect, nothing is ever the same for Marianne after she has been raped, and her rape has deep, far-reaching consequences for her entire family and the home in which she grew up.
We Were the Mulvaneys paints the lives of the Mulvaneys in brilliant, realistic colors. But it is a very slow story, and it is slow precisely because there is not a crisis that has to be resolved: the novel is simply the story of the lives of these family members and how they were all affected by Marianne's rape. Many readers may feel bogged down in the middle to late sections of the novel and may find it drags on for too long, but few will fail to appreciate Joyce Carol Oates's genius in constructing a thoughtful, intricate mythos of an entire family.
This novel is an extended character study of five of the six members of the Mulvaney family: a mother, a father, and four children. The sixth family member, the youngest son, Judd, is the novel's narrator, and while he plays a role in the story, his role is relatively minor compared to that of his parents, his sister, and his two brothers, and so we don't get to know Judd, who focuses only very little upon himself, as well as we do his siblings and his parents.
The rape of Marianne, the daughter and sister in the family, when she is sixteen is the pivot point around which this story rotates. As one might expect, nothing is ever the same for Marianne after she has been raped, and her rape has deep, far-reaching consequences for her entire family and the home in which she grew up.
We Were the Mulvaneys paints the lives of the Mulvaneys in brilliant, realistic colors. But it is a very slow story, and it is slow precisely because there is not a crisis that has to be resolved: the novel is simply the story of the lives of these family members and how they were all affected by Marianne's rape. Many readers may feel bogged down in the middle to late sections of the novel and may find it drags on for too long, but few will fail to appreciate Joyce Carol Oates's genius in constructing a thoughtful, intricate mythos of an entire family.
karinwestbrook's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
suesem's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
michelehoward's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting family dynamics and a story how 1 traumatic event can change a families destiny.
freehandclara's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Above all, this book is the tragedy of a family, a case study of evil, hurt, and abuse in America that is set in a rural background of the mid 70s. Would recommend strongly to nearly anybody. Really great read.
kingabee's review against another edition
5.0
One thing for sure – Oates can write. Her Twitter antics might convince you she is not a serious writer, but she is.
We Were The Mulvaneys is a juicy novel with quite a selection of antiheroes that creep up on you slowly, and you’re not sure when exactly you started hating them.
The Mulvaneys are the golden family which gets undone by their own misogyny, bigotry and weakness of character. The biggest asshat, of course, is the father, who believes that the offense done to his daughter was done to him really by proxy. It was an attack on him, something was taken away from him. The community whose respect he tried to earn so hard committed the ultimate act betrayal and disrespect. Like so many backwards fathers, he thinks his daughter’s virginity belongs to him. So any crime committed against her is actually committed against him and his property. The father’s unhealthy obsession with female virginity can be noticed very early on, when he is courting his future wife.
The novel is so psychologically intricate – Oates documents all the little things, the minute failures in communication that build up until everything reaches the point of no return. I particularly enjoyed the description of how the family communicates through their pets in a way of avoiding having difficult conversations. The daughter’s only act of rebellion noted was this one time when she broke from this established form of communication and snapped at her mother. It was such a small thing, but it left ripples. As a person with an easy access to her store of anger and rage, I found the mother’s and daughter’s inability to get angry perplexing and frustrating, but possibly, understandable in its context.
It was also interesting how the whole family, the parents especially, believed their own hype of being this picture perfect unit, the embodiment of the American dream, whereas to this reader they didn’t seem that special to begin with, therefore their downfall wasn’t as surprising as it was to them. When the reality started contradicting their own image they built in their heads, well, that’s too bad for reality. We never actually see the family through any outsider’s eyes, so we have no idea if their opinion of themselves is shared by their neighbours or if it’s just some group delusion.
The book is written from the POV of Judd, the youngest child of the Mulvaneys. This narrator occasionally becomes omniscient, he remembers things he wasn’t around for. This structure might sound messy, but was in fact very intricate, ellipting the main event, which nonetheless overshadows the whole story to the end.
We Were The Mulvaneys is a juicy novel with quite a selection of antiheroes that creep up on you slowly, and you’re not sure when exactly you started hating them.
The Mulvaneys are the golden family which gets undone by their own misogyny, bigotry and weakness of character. The biggest asshat, of course, is the father, who believes that the offense done to his daughter was done to him really by proxy. It was an attack on him, something was taken away from him. The community whose respect he tried to earn so hard committed the ultimate act betrayal and disrespect. Like so many backwards fathers, he thinks his daughter’s virginity belongs to him. So any crime committed against her is actually committed against him and his property. The father’s unhealthy obsession with female virginity can be noticed very early on, when he is courting his future wife.
The novel is so psychologically intricate – Oates documents all the little things, the minute failures in communication that build up until everything reaches the point of no return. I particularly enjoyed the description of how the family communicates through their pets in a way of avoiding having difficult conversations. The daughter’s only act of rebellion noted was this one time when she broke from this established form of communication and snapped at her mother. It was such a small thing, but it left ripples. As a person with an easy access to her store of anger and rage, I found the mother’s and daughter’s inability to get angry perplexing and frustrating, but possibly, understandable in its context.
It was also interesting how the whole family, the parents especially, believed their own hype of being this picture perfect unit, the embodiment of the American dream, whereas to this reader they didn’t seem that special to begin with, therefore their downfall wasn’t as surprising as it was to them. When the reality started contradicting their own image they built in their heads, well, that’s too bad for reality. We never actually see the family through any outsider’s eyes, so we have no idea if their opinion of themselves is shared by their neighbours or if it’s just some group delusion.
The book is written from the POV of Judd, the youngest child of the Mulvaneys. This narrator occasionally becomes omniscient, he remembers things he wasn’t around for. This structure might sound messy, but was in fact very intricate, ellipting the main event, which nonetheless overshadows the whole story to the end.