Reviews

A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates

bluecloudredsky's review against another edition

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2.0

fruktansvärd bok! den gjorde bra i att beskriva hur samhällets maktpositioner såg ut. jag gillar att den inte låtsades som att katya och gubben (som jag redan glömt namnet på) är jämlikar utan ofta påminde om maktförhållandet mellan dom, men slutet var helt värdelöst.

caseey's review against another edition

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3.0

This was one of those books that I found to be well-written enough to capture my interest and keep me reading, yet so bleak that it tampered with my overall enjoyment of it. I enjoyed the narrative and the ideas it raised, and I also thought Katya's sense of confusion between feeling repulsed yet enticed by Marcus Kidder was well portrayed. It was very unsettling and disturbing though, to the point where I was asking myself why I was even reading it.

meghan_is_reading's review against another edition

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Gah! I've never read a JCO before, found her name on a list of weird female writers, couldn't tell from the summaries what would best fit the genre. *shivers* Don't know that I would call it Weird, although it was. Definitely draws you in and creeps you out and draws you deeper. Gets Katya so spot on.

oldmusty772's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

ornella89's review against another edition

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3.0

Mi aspettavo molto ma ovviamente sono rimasta delusa, non tanto dalla scrittura ma dalla storia.
La prosa e il linguaggio mi sono piaciuti, così come la caratterizzazione della protagonista, ma la trama in generale mi ha annoiata, sa di già letto. L'autrice crea l'aspettativa che qualcosa accadrà ma di fatto lo sviluppo della storia è banale e neanche il sapore volutamente vagamente fiabesco aiuta a risollevarne le sorti, per quanto mi riguarda.
Neanche il finale mi ha fatto impazzire, mi è sembrato frettoloso. Probabilmente in futuro leggerò altro di JCO perché come dicevo la scrittura mi è piaciuta ma studierò attentamente le trame e le recensioni dei lettori.

katie_konneker's review against another edition

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1.0

Frustrating and unpleasant. I hated pretty much everyone, and I couldn’t understand Katya’s motivations at all. Despite being only 100 some pages, this was a total slog to get through. So far the worst thing from JCO I’ve read.

r_cote's review against another edition

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Didn’t finish this one…not yet. Might come back to it at a later date but, right now this didn’t really grab me.

jaren's review against another edition

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3.0

Whenever I read JCO I always emerge feeling one of two things. I'm either like: EW IT'S SO GROSS AND WEIRD I LOVE IT. Or I'm like: I have no adjectives or feelings other than the need to shower.
This book falls into the second category.

idontkaren's review against another edition

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1.0

Definitely the dumbest book I've read in awhile.

jbells7's review

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3.0

3.5/5