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nocturnal's review against another edition
dark
tense
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
2.0
minniepauline's review against another edition
2.0
I love Joyce Carol Oates's work, generally, but I just couldn't connect with this novel. I never figured out why I should care about Mudwoman. (Mudgirl, yes, but Mudwoman...not so much.) And by her last trial I was just exasperated. Why? Why did she need to go through that, too?
But this is the woman who wrote The Gravedigger's Daughter, among many other wonderful, scary, difficult, layered novels. So I'm just going to put this one away.
But this is the woman who wrote The Gravedigger's Daughter, among many other wonderful, scary, difficult, layered novels. So I'm just going to put this one away.
readingtrying82's review against another edition
4.0
I tend to prefer Joyce when she mixes her genius for voice and psychological insight with multiple voices and a more objective story like in Gravedigger's Daughter, We were the Mulvaneys, and Little Bird of Heaven.
This is not one of those novels. The novel begins as a realistic psychological novel and then explodes into the realm of gothic and Freudian horror [a combination of the tell-tale heart and American psycho]. The shift is a bit jarring, but once I reframed my approach to the novel it was satisfyingly ghastly.
MR is an outwardly successful academic. She holds strong political views, and inconclusive philosophical viewpoints. All of this bellies a profound lack of a centered self. Her private life is a mess and almost nonexistent. In a way it’s a simple story of what Freud called the return of the repressed. Here it is transmogrified into the revenge of the repressed.
She was thrown way to die as a child by her mother, she is found by a river covered in mud. Her subsequent life is a kind of gutted American dream: small town girl from horrible beginnings makes good with the help of caring adopted parents. But from the start her development isn’t one toward a more inclusive self, but of leaving more and more aspects of life or self/other experiences behind. She “leaves” her adopted parents and good influences as well as the horrific aspects.
This movement is a growing discarding of a lot of life: the body with its desires and motives, the self with its interests and will, other people as equally existent, her sense of the past to belong to, and a sense of the public world outside herself. She is more and more uprooted in body, in mind, in relationships, and in society. That’s what the first 2/3 of the book sets up.
The last third deals with how MR tries to negotiate these upheavals, trying to make sense and trying simply to survive. And as in much of JCO, there is a desire and faith in the possibility of deepening through trauma, surviving through it, forging a self by it[not opposed to it], but it is a perilous and uncertain way in which many more drown then learn to float let alone swim.
Since this novel becomes less realistic and more psychological horror, the last part of the book is as much about the upheavals themselves as MR. I found this a bit unsatisfying and thus the 4 stars instead of 5. It didn’t fulfill the promise of the first half of the novel, but it was still very good.
This is not one of those novels. The novel begins as a realistic psychological novel and then explodes into the realm of gothic and Freudian horror [a combination of the tell-tale heart and American psycho]. The shift is a bit jarring, but once I reframed my approach to the novel it was satisfyingly ghastly.
MR is an outwardly successful academic. She holds strong political views, and inconclusive philosophical viewpoints. All of this bellies a profound lack of a centered self. Her private life is a mess and almost nonexistent. In a way it’s a simple story of what Freud called the return of the repressed. Here it is transmogrified into the revenge of the repressed.
She was thrown way to die as a child by her mother, she is found by a river covered in mud. Her subsequent life is a kind of gutted American dream: small town girl from horrible beginnings makes good with the help of caring adopted parents. But from the start her development isn’t one toward a more inclusive self, but of leaving more and more aspects of life or self/other experiences behind. She “leaves” her adopted parents and good influences as well as the horrific aspects.
This movement is a growing discarding of a lot of life: the body with its desires and motives, the self with its interests and will, other people as equally existent, her sense of the past to belong to, and a sense of the public world outside herself. She is more and more uprooted in body, in mind, in relationships, and in society. That’s what the first 2/3 of the book sets up.
The last third deals with how MR tries to negotiate these upheavals, trying to make sense and trying simply to survive. And as in much of JCO, there is a desire and faith in the possibility of deepening through trauma, surviving through it, forging a self by it[not opposed to it], but it is a perilous and uncertain way in which many more drown then learn to float let alone swim.
Since this novel becomes less realistic and more psychological horror, the last part of the book is as much about the upheavals themselves as MR. I found this a bit unsatisfying and thus the 4 stars instead of 5. It didn’t fulfill the promise of the first half of the novel, but it was still very good.
frahorus's review against another edition
3.0
Prima opera della Oates che leggo, un'autrice americana scoperta per caso in tv su Rai 5. In questo romanzo le tematiche che ricorrono, che si inseguono, sono: il passato, la memoria, la ricerca di sé, la violenza e l'incomunicabilità. Inizialmente mi sono smarrito fra le sue pagine, ero completamente frastornato, soprattutto dopo aver letto i primi capitoli, visto quello che accade alla povera piccola bambina abbandonata da sua madre. Onnipresente la morte, l'oppressione, il sentirsi rifiutati, il trovare un senso a una vita che era stata gettata via come un rifiuto. Il difficile rapporto di questa donna, ormai matura e rettrice di un importante università, che non riesce ad avere un rapporto stabile con gli uomini, che si chiude in se stessa, che prova ad avere compassione degli altri, ma che invece continua a ricevere violenze su violenze. Il suo passato triste e oscuro, pieno di dolore e di trauma, continua a bussare al cuore di M. R. fino ad arrivare ad un punto in cui sarà lei, in automatico, a ribellarsi (ma non posso dire cosa fa altrimenti spoilerizzo troppo). La capacità dell'autrice consiste nel riuscire a farti sentire, dentro la pelle, il dolore di questa povera donna, e tifi per lei affinché si possa riprendere, e perché possa finalmente rinascere e rispolverare il proprio passato per migliorare il suo presente.
Ci sentiamo incompleti come la Meredith, anzi, direi fatti in mille pezzi, incapaci di giudicarla, o comunque capaci di schierarci a suo favore. Ma l'importante è che la protagonista, dal passato che può portare ad un vortice di follia, riesca lentamente a risalire alla vita e riesce a ritrovare suo padre (e non solo), ormai vedovo, e così prova a riconciliarsi col suo tenebroso passato.
Quella che ci presenta, senza censure, la Oates, è una storia sulla nostra identità: La nostra verità più profonda sta nel nostro sé originario e la ri-creazione di noi stessi è solo un carapace? O l’autenticità sta in una nuova ed evoluta identità e la nostra storia passata è inutile come la vecchia pelle di un serpente?
La bellezza dello stile di questa autrice è che riesce a passare dal mito e dalla favola ad emozioni e brividi del noir macabro e dell’horror psicologico. È un romanzo fiume, lessicalmente ricco, sintatticamente complesso. Per il traduttore Costigliola, una delle maggiori difficoltà nel tradurla, «è la scansione della prosa che si allarga per cerchi concentrici. Bisogna fare molta attenzione a non perdere il filo».
Ci sentiamo incompleti come la Meredith, anzi, direi fatti in mille pezzi, incapaci di giudicarla, o comunque capaci di schierarci a suo favore. Ma l'importante è che la protagonista, dal passato che può portare ad un vortice di follia, riesca lentamente a risalire alla vita e riesce a ritrovare suo padre (e non solo), ormai vedovo, e così prova a riconciliarsi col suo tenebroso passato.
Quella che ci presenta, senza censure, la Oates, è una storia sulla nostra identità: La nostra verità più profonda sta nel nostro sé originario e la ri-creazione di noi stessi è solo un carapace? O l’autenticità sta in una nuova ed evoluta identità e la nostra storia passata è inutile come la vecchia pelle di un serpente?
La bellezza dello stile di questa autrice è che riesce a passare dal mito e dalla favola ad emozioni e brividi del noir macabro e dell’horror psicologico. È un romanzo fiume, lessicalmente ricco, sintatticamente complesso. Per il traduttore Costigliola, una delle maggiori difficoltà nel tradurla, «è la scansione della prosa che si allarga per cerchi concentrici. Bisogna fare molta attenzione a non perdere il filo».
okenwillow's review against another edition
5.0
Ce que j’aime chez JCO, c’est qu’on est rarement déçu. Une nouvelle fois elle me bluffe avec son histoire de destin de bonne femme. Meredith Ruth Neukirchen a été trouvée dans les marais agonisante, abandonnée par sa mère folle à lier. Revenue de loin, elle ira également loin, puisqu’elle accèdera au poste de présidente d’une grande université, une première pour une femme. Oubliant sa vie de femme, et sa vie tout court, elle se dévoue tout entière à sa charge, elle doit à ses parents adoptifs quakers un certain humanisme et une grandeur d’âme irréprochable. Sa charge exige d’elle une retenue constante, un recul permanent face au contexte politique et social. Son dévouement absolu et ses convictions personnelles pèseront lourd sur ses épaules, de même que son statut de femme, par forcément accepté par le milieu universitaire dans lequel elle évolue, malgré les idées progressistes qui circulent. Trop de contradictions et de conflits intérieurs vont peu à peu plonger « M.R » dans le délire, jusqu’à confondre le réel et le fantasme. Surmenée physiquement, intellectuellement, et émotionnellement, il lui faudra atteindre ses limites et le burn-out avant d’affronter son passé, son enfance et les non-dits qui ont accompagné son adoption. Le passé de Mudwoman est lourd de questions sans réponses, de souvenirs flous mais intenses. La relation avec ses parents reste ambiguë, car bien qu’aimants et dévoués, le secret et le silence entretenus n’ont pas facilité les choses pour Mudgirl. Le même silence qu’elle doit respecter dans son milieu universitaire, pour ne surtout pas faire de vague, et conserver une neutralité de tous les instants. L’auteur nous donne également un aperçu peu reluisant du milieu universitaire, soi-disant progressiste et moderne, mais finalement très hypocrite.
Oates jongle avec le présent et le passé, le réel et le fantasmé. M.R. ne fait plus trop la différence, le lecteur non plus. Le dénouement, s’il est cohérent, n’en demeure pas moins abrupte, laissant le lecteur un peu perplexe, voire carrément sur sa faim. J’aime les fins ouvertes, mais à ce point-là, on frôle l’inachevé. Malgré ce tout petit bémol, Mudwoman reste du très grand Oates, un poil en-deçà cependant, de La fille du fossoyeur ou des Chutes.
Oates jongle avec le présent et le passé, le réel et le fantasmé. M.R. ne fait plus trop la différence, le lecteur non plus. Le dénouement, s’il est cohérent, n’en demeure pas moins abrupte, laissant le lecteur un peu perplexe, voire carrément sur sa faim. J’aime les fins ouvertes, mais à ce point-là, on frôle l’inachevé. Malgré ce tout petit bémol, Mudwoman reste du très grand Oates, un poil en-deçà cependant, de La fille du fossoyeur ou des Chutes.
llawlor's review against another edition
1.0
one of the most boring books I have ever read...the author had a very limited vocabulary.
ohnoflora's review against another edition
dnf at 19% (rounding up)
Written in 2015: I'm meeting the book group tomorrow to discuss this book but I have no motivation to finish it, so much so that I didn't take it into work with me to try and get some reading done on the bus in/out. 1) I have no patience for novels about troubled university professors 2) it is set in 2003 and is very Bush administration heavy, which I am finding tedious. Can we have a moratorium on War on Terror novels please?
Edited to add: ALSO a moratorium on 1) professional women with "secret lovers" 2) (usually male) university professors who sleep with their students 3) campus novels are garbage the end
Written in 2015: I'm meeting the book group tomorrow to discuss this book but I have no motivation to finish it, so much so that I didn't take it into work with me to try and get some reading done on the bus in/out. 1) I have no patience for novels about troubled university professors 2) it is set in 2003 and is very Bush administration heavy, which I am finding tedious. Can we have a moratorium on War on Terror novels please?
Edited to add: ALSO a moratorium on 1) professional women with "secret lovers" 2) (usually male) university professors who sleep with their students 3) campus novels are garbage the end
leonore_book's review against another edition
4.0
Very well written. A bit dark at times, but you keep asking yourself why? So you keep reading and try to understand M.R. and her parents. How did her life end up this way? It does strike a nerve with you and makes you question the lives and choices of these characters. I liked this and it's a bit creepy. I haven't read her other books, but I will now.