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A review by andrueb
Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates
4.0
I had been meaning to read a Joyce Carol Oates novel for years and recently found this in a free book box. I enjoyed the book more than I didn't. Oates has this highly narrative stream of consciousness approach to prose and character studies that's an effortless read for me. Her attention to every granular detail of personality. There were a couple of sections that crossed over into the cartoonishly macabre (some of the Trick stuff), but for the most part the action was as psychologically horrifying as I'm sure Oates intended. She really knows how to suck the air out of a room, leaving the reader feeling acute tension and confusion. So if that's your thing...
I loved the Pedersen family. I could have read 500 pages of just that. Dr. Pedersen was so vivid, so distinct among all the characters I've ever read, so troubling. It's impossible to distinguish the boundaries between his intelligence, ambition, and cruelty. It would be easy for the reader to conclude "Oh, he's evil. That's it.", but I think Oates wants us to observe the nuances of a much more complex character, who hijacks and absorbs people and buildings and an entire city, really. In any case, the personality destruction he wreaks upon his wife and children (intentionally? accidentally?) in his constant demand for perfection is horrifying and lifelike. Hilda's chapter is devastating.
I enjoyed Grandpa Shirer and most other aspects of the first book. The third book I could have done without. It's anemic compared to the first two and seems tacked on for some sort of last minute thematic completion that doesn't seem justified by what came before. I wish Jesse himself was more dynamic. I get that he's traumatized and withdrawn, but with so many colorful and interesting things happening all around him, he feels more like a passenger than a protagonist and I got bored whenever questions of his desires and personal fulfillment were on the table.
Still, I liked it, and because the internet tells me that there are several dozen more well-regarded JCO books than this one, I'm looking forward to something even better.
I loved the Pedersen family. I could have read 500 pages of just that. Dr. Pedersen was so vivid, so distinct among all the characters I've ever read, so troubling. It's impossible to distinguish the boundaries between his intelligence, ambition, and cruelty. It would be easy for the reader to conclude "Oh, he's evil. That's it.", but I think Oates wants us to observe the nuances of a much more complex character, who hijacks and absorbs people and buildings and an entire city, really. In any case, the personality destruction he wreaks upon his wife and children (intentionally? accidentally?) in his constant demand for perfection is horrifying and lifelike. Hilda's chapter is devastating.
I enjoyed Grandpa Shirer and most other aspects of the first book. The third book I could have done without. It's anemic compared to the first two and seems tacked on for some sort of last minute thematic completion that doesn't seem justified by what came before. I wish Jesse himself was more dynamic. I get that he's traumatized and withdrawn, but with so many colorful and interesting things happening all around him, he feels more like a passenger than a protagonist and I got bored whenever questions of his desires and personal fulfillment were on the table.
Still, I liked it, and because the internet tells me that there are several dozen more well-regarded JCO books than this one, I'm looking forward to something even better.