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A review by alissynia
A Fair Maiden: A dark novel of suspense by Joyce Carol Oates
4.0
A bleak and dark story about the growing relationship between a young woman and an older man.
Sixteen year old girl Katya with all of her vulnerability and bravado is cleverly explored. This is a story that draws you into a deeply claustrophobic and increasingly disturbed world. It's a thoughtful examination of how a young woman on the cusp of adulthood is manipulated by the adults in her life. She wants to please and wants to hope that adults aren't all irredeemably selfish and self serving. Mr Kidder is one of those most quietly unpleasant of characters. A successful man, a pillar of the community. Innocuous on the surface but from the trail of breadcrumbs the author leaves having had a lifetime obsession with adolescent girls.
I'd have liked a different ending but it wouldn't necessarily have been a better ending.
This was my first Joyce Carol Oates novel and I will certainly be seeking out more of her work
Sixteen year old girl Katya with all of her vulnerability and bravado is cleverly explored. This is a story that draws you into a deeply claustrophobic and increasingly disturbed world. It's a thoughtful examination of how a young woman on the cusp of adulthood is manipulated by the adults in her life. She wants to please and wants to hope that adults aren't all irredeemably selfish and self serving. Mr Kidder is one of those most quietly unpleasant of characters. A successful man, a pillar of the community. Innocuous on the surface but from the trail of breadcrumbs the author leaves having had a lifetime obsession with adolescent girls.
I'd have liked a different ending but it wouldn't necessarily have been a better ending.
This was my first Joyce Carol Oates novel and I will certainly be seeking out more of her work