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A review by jdscott50
Zero Sum: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates
challenging
dark
slow-paced
3.0
Joyce Carol Oates has been a literary force since the 1960s. Most recently, her book Blonde was the basis of the Oscar-nominated film. Her characters are out for revenge in the short story collection Zero Sum. There are two prominent expressions for the endeavor that revenge is a dish best-served cold, and when one sets out a path for revenge, one should dig two graves. In Zero Sum, we see both examples.
In the titular story, a young student attempts to one-up her professor by picking on his daughter with unexpected results. In Mr. Stickum, a group of high school girls seeks revenge on abusers, but things go further than they expected. Stories about writers with suicide ideation sound inspired by David Foster Wallace and other stories. No one getting ahead or falling behind the struggle is real.
These stories were a little uneven. Assembled on a theme with different results, it felt incoherent as a collection. Mr. Sticjum was my favorite, but most of them were not memorable.
In the titular story, a young student attempts to one-up her professor by picking on his daughter with unexpected results. In Mr. Stickum, a group of high school girls seeks revenge on abusers, but things go further than they expected. Stories about writers with suicide ideation sound inspired by David Foster Wallace and other stories. No one getting ahead or falling behind the struggle is real.
These stories were a little uneven. Assembled on a theme with different results, it felt incoherent as a collection. Mr. Sticjum was my favorite, but most of them were not memorable.