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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
From the second I began this novel, I had to know how it would end. Oates navigates rhetoric that defines the protestant American experience for many men and women. Tackling subjects such as abortion, suicide, terrorism, the death penalty, white pride, rape, murder, and extremism, Oates has crafted a story that will make the reader question their own assumptions about Biblical principals in current American society. In this novel, the martyr is not Christ, but Dr. Voorhees, a man devoted to woman's choice but also his own self-aggrandizing work. Assassinated by the passionate Luther Dunphy, Voorhees and his legacy collapse in front of a small women's center in a rural Ohio town. What follows is a deep entanglement that examines the story from multiple perspectives. Readers will hear from the wives of both men, prison guards, judges, nurses who worked with Voorhees, and, most importantly, the daughters of murderer and murdered. Unquestionably, this novel is the archive that Naomi Voorhees sought to create after her father's death. The book's closing creates a seamless joining of both perspectives, showing that perhaps a sort of American dream is still possible - but that it is not purely agnostic or godly or Right to Life or Pro Choice - a mixture of all these things: all these people.
The premise of this book was fascinating, but the execution was lacking. It seemed like JCO took on too large of a story and got lost in the details.
3 1/2 - A Book of American Martyrs is one-half of a great novel.
Many, many, many times I've been wowed by the brilliance of Joyce Carol Oates. I've been bored by her brilliance somewhat less often, but enough not to be shocked that she can produce a technically stellar novel that somehow leaves you flat. Such was the case with American Martyrs. The story wends through the lives of two families sharing a single tragedy—the murder of a doctor who provides abortions by a radical christian. The act and its cascading impact on their families is a potent lens to view the sharp divides in our current social fabric; which Oates deftly does. But the inability to see the humanity in any of these distant, unlikable characters—which is surely by design—makes for an itchy and uncomfortable reading experience.
Another one that I've been reading for awhile (partially because it's quite a large book!). It was on the @nytimes list of books about abortion but what I really liked about this one was that it focused less on the doctor and the man who killed him (though we did hear about them) and more about what happened to both of their families after the doctor was killed. Don't worry I'm not spoiling anything here. The narrative follows the families a decade+ into the future and explored the various ways they break apart and come back together (or don't). It didn't immediately suck you in but it was very engrossing in a more methodical way.
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*Actual rating 4.5 stars*
I am quite enamored with this book. I believe I've found another favorite author. Oates has a wonderful ability to take a sensational tragedy and make the reader see it as more than that. She makes the reader see the humanity, the true reactions of real people. That's really what this book is about.
A book about an evangelical who shoots an abortion doctor sounds sensational. It sounds like a plot hand-picked to be sensational, to propel it to the top of the best-seller list. But it's truly not like that. This book is less about the moment when Luther Dunphy shoots Gus Voorhees and more about the days and weeks after, the moths and years that eat away at the Dunphy family and the Voorhees family as they each try to grasp what has changed for them in a single moment.
It's the longest adult book I've read yet (Order of the Phoenix still wins). And I truly loved every minute of it. It is pretentiously worded at times, but it is utterly gripping at most others. Oates writes the way a person thinks: imperfect sentence structure but true feeling running through the words. I also loved the changing viewpoints, especially Luther Dunphy's chapters. I would recommend this to anyone who thinks a thought-provoking page-turner doesn't exist.
I am quite enamored with this book. I believe I've found another favorite author. Oates has a wonderful ability to take a sensational tragedy and make the reader see it as more than that. She makes the reader see the humanity, the true reactions of real people. That's really what this book is about.
A book about an evangelical who shoots an abortion doctor sounds sensational. It sounds like a plot hand-picked to be sensational, to propel it to the top of the best-seller list. But it's truly not like that. This book is less about the moment when Luther Dunphy shoots Gus Voorhees and more about the days and weeks after, the moths and years that eat away at the Dunphy family and the Voorhees family as they each try to grasp what has changed for them in a single moment.
It's the longest adult book I've read yet (Order of the Phoenix still wins). And I truly loved every minute of it. It is pretentiously worded at times, but it is utterly gripping at most others. Oates writes the way a person thinks: imperfect sentence structure but true feeling running through the words. I also loved the changing viewpoints, especially Luther Dunphy's chapters. I would recommend this to anyone who thinks a thought-provoking page-turner doesn't exist.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book covers so many more themes than just the obvious pro-life vs. pro-choice abortion topic. There's politics, religion, poverty, parenting, education, neglect, abuse, and idealism. The topics are controversial and JCO doesn't shy away from it. It can be difficult to read, but is unique. The main characters are the two men, but it's really the families that are left to struggle in the aftermath. The two families are different in almost every way imaginable. Yet after the 1999 murder, they are forever tragically linked. I felt angered, uncomfortable, and sometimes repulsed. But there is also empathy. There is always so much more under the surface, beyond what is conspicuous. The book did take some weird turns for me and there were some questions left unanswered that I would have liked explored. For such a lengthy book, I found it to be a surprisingly quick read. Everyone is such a complete mess, yet in the end I was able to feel hope.
Joyce Carol Oates no decepciona, y entrega una historia que como siempre analiza la sociedad estadounidense de una manera cruda y descarnada, para lograr esto utiliza el aborto y la pena de muerte, pero esos dos temas solos son el pretexto para hablar de la hipocresía de la religión, el asesinato, la muerte, el liberalismo, la izquierda, el fanatismo y el dolor. El último capítulo se siente apresurado, pero en general es una hermosa y perturbadora novela, cómo nos tiene acostumbrados la autora.