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notoriousagk's review against another edition
2.0
My second JCO, and once again I get the sense that I probably will like her work, but I just... didn't. Found the characters kind of flat and the storytelling unimpressive, although on a sentence by sentence basis the writing was quite good. Maybe the third time will be the charm.
kathleenitpdx's review against another edition
I got tired of the only thing happening was people agonizing over what they didn’t do. Move on folks!
catherine_louise's review against another edition
5.0
ugh! so good. so depressing. but necessarily so. so many insights into human nature- JCO knows her characters down to their bones and turns them inside out so you can see.
mjurasko's review against another edition
3.0
'Mulvaneys' was an epic story of loss, love, and the connections that bind families together, despite all odds. By the end of the novel, I felt like I was a Mulvaney myself - however, the dark and depressing second half of the book was incredibly difficult to finish.
karnaconverse's review against another edition
5.0
At 450 pages, I wasn’t sure I’d make it through Joyce Carol Oates’s 1996 novel, We Were the Mulvaneys, but I found I couldn’t put it down. The Mulvaneys are the typical 1970s small-town American family—close-knit, hard-working, respected in the community—but their lives are turned upside down and inside out when something “unspeakable” happens to the 16-year-old daughter. Oates masterfully weaves together six individual stories and seventeen years of pain and suffering endured by the parents, the daughter, and the three sons that culminates with a family reunion that’s filled with healing and hope.
I grew up and currently live in small-town America; Oates is spot-on with her descriptions, the reactions of her characters, and the impact “this type of event” can have on a family and a community.
karnaconverse's review against another edition
4.0
At 450 pages, I wasn’t sure I’d make it through Joyce Carol Oates’s 1996 novel, We Were the Mulvaneys, but I found I couldn’t put it down. The Mulvaneys are the typical 1970s small-town American family—close-knit, hard-working, respected in the community—but their lives are turned upside down and inside out when something “unspeakable” happens to the 16-year-old daughter. Oates masterfully weaves together six individual stories and seventeen years of pain and suffering endured by the parents, the daughter, and the three sons that culminates with a family reunion that’s filled with healing and hope. I grew up and currently live in small-town America; Oates is spot-on with her descriptions, the reactions of her characters, and the impact “this type of event” can have on a family and a community.
elaineruss's review against another edition
4.0
This was an excellent book although I did find it very unsettling and upsetting. Several times at the beginning, I actually had to put it down and step away for a while to let my mind settle.
It is beautifully written and the story is fantastically told and I believe the crumbling of the family unit is very realistic. What lets it down though is the length.
The book is a lot longer than it needs to be and it struggles to maintain the story and emotion effectively. After we finally learn of 'the event' the sense of foreboding (which is almost unbearable up to that point) leaves and while we're left with a fascinating insight into the downfall of a family it is stretched too thin.
I'll definitely read more by Joyce Carol Oates though I'm hoping they don't all unsettle me as much as this did!
It is beautifully written and the story is fantastically told and I believe the crumbling of the family unit is very realistic. What lets it down though is the length.
The book is a lot longer than it needs to be and it struggles to maintain the story and emotion effectively. After we finally learn of 'the event' the sense of foreboding (which is almost unbearable up to that point) leaves and while we're left with a fascinating insight into the downfall of a family it is stretched too thin.
I'll definitely read more by Joyce Carol Oates though I'm hoping they don't all unsettle me as much as this did!
alxx251's review against another edition
5.0
I Mulvaneys non sono una famiglia perfetta. Però sono indubbiamente invidiati: affiatati, vivono in una casa-fattoria piena di animali dai nomi più bizzarri, sono lavoratori e imprenditori, i figli eccellono negli sport (soprattutto Michael Jr., detto Mulo, di cui la scuola è ancora piena di poster), negli studi (Patrick viene premiato come miglior diplomato dell'istituto), sono gentili e puri (senza dubbio Marianne, eroina sociale e cheerleader della scuola). Sono bizzarri su alcuni aspetti, in particolare Corinne, la madre, con quella chioma sbarazzina che vende cianfrusaglie d'antiquariato, ma perfettamente integrati nella cittadina dello stato di New York dove abitano.
Con un racconto ricco di minuzie e di ricordi, entriamo nel mondo dei Mulvaneys, fatto di nomignoli, di rituali ma soprattutto di grande affetto. Un mondo che si crepa a causa di un evento, una tragedia che si consuma, "quella cosa" che i Mulvaneys non riescono ad elaborare, contribuendo a farne la causa di tutte le rotture.
Marianne rimane infatti vittima di uno stupro da parte di un compagno di scuola. Bloccata dai sensi di colpa e da un sempre crescente spirito cristiano, la ragazza si rifiuta di accusare l'aggressore, che rimane impunito. All'inizio la rabbia acceca i membri della famiglia, che cercano di frasi giustizia da soli, in particolar modo il padre, che dilapida una fortuna in avvocati senza nulla di fatto. Poi il dolore, non espresso, fa sì che il "fatto" debba essere allontanato e con esso colei che ne ricorda l'accaduto. Marianne viene quindi esiliata e la famiglia piano a piano si sgretola, allontanando ogni membro dall'altro.
Oates in questo romanzo ci racconta del mito del successo e del peso che questo porta nella società americana, il mito della famiglia perfetta che non ammette crepature, schiava di un'immagine di perfezione irraggiungibile.
Con un racconto ricco di minuzie e di ricordi, entriamo nel mondo dei Mulvaneys, fatto di nomignoli, di rituali ma soprattutto di grande affetto. Un mondo che si crepa a causa di un evento, una tragedia che si consuma, "quella cosa" che i Mulvaneys non riescono ad elaborare, contribuendo a farne la causa di tutte le rotture.
Marianne rimane infatti vittima di uno stupro da parte di un compagno di scuola. Bloccata dai sensi di colpa e da un sempre crescente spirito cristiano, la ragazza si rifiuta di accusare l'aggressore, che rimane impunito. All'inizio la rabbia acceca i membri della famiglia, che cercano di frasi giustizia da soli, in particolar modo il padre, che dilapida una fortuna in avvocati senza nulla di fatto. Poi il dolore, non espresso, fa sì che il "fatto" debba essere allontanato e con esso colei che ne ricorda l'accaduto. Marianne viene quindi esiliata e la famiglia piano a piano si sgretola, allontanando ogni membro dall'altro.
Oates in questo romanzo ci racconta del mito del successo e del peso che questo porta nella società americana, il mito della famiglia perfetta che non ammette crepature, schiava di un'immagine di perfezione irraggiungibile.
amandagstevens's review against another edition
Yes, I would normally give a book more time to hook me (I try to give 10% or 50 pages, depending on the length), but there's no reason to do so this time. I can't abide the profusion of italics and exclamation points and pointless run-on sentences. I can't abide the cutesy voice of Judd, the 30-year-old baby of the family, gushing descriptions of his family without giving me any clue as to his own personality (except that he's a gusher). And I can already tell Judd is going to mess with me, withhold things, bait me and then not tell me The Big Secret. For 450 pages? No. Can't do it.
Oh, and this:
Everything recorded here happened and it's my task to suggest how, and why; why what might seem to be implausible or inexplicable at a distance--a beloved child's banishment by a loving father, like something in a Grimm fairy tale--isn't implausible or inexplicable from within. I will include as many "facts" as I can assemble; and the rest is conjecture, imagined but not invented. Much is based upon memory and conversations with family members about things I had not experienced firsthand nor could possibly know except in the way of the heart.
So the author here is warning me that 1.) The story is implausible, but the narrator will try to make me believe I missed something if I conclude that the story is implausible; 2.) The narrator will be unreliable in other ways as well; 3.) The author fully intends to break point-of-view rules.
I'm okay with a well-done unreliable narrator, but one that's badly done (purely to manipulate the reader) is one of my literary pet peeves, so ... Overall, plenty of reasons for an enthusiastic pass on this one.
Oh, and this:
Everything recorded here happened and it's my task to suggest how, and why; why what might seem to be implausible or inexplicable at a distance--a beloved child's banishment by a loving father, like something in a Grimm fairy tale--isn't implausible or inexplicable from within. I will include as many "facts" as I can assemble; and the rest is conjecture, imagined but not invented. Much is based upon memory and conversations with family members about things I had not experienced firsthand nor could possibly know except in the way of the heart.
So the author here is warning me that 1.) The story is implausible, but the narrator will try to make me believe I missed something if I conclude that the story is implausible; 2.) The narrator will be unreliable in other ways as well; 3.) The author fully intends to break point-of-view rules.
I'm okay with a well-done unreliable narrator, but one that's badly done (purely to manipulate the reader) is one of my literary pet peeves, so ... Overall, plenty of reasons for an enthusiastic pass on this one.