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A review by vegantrav
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
3.0
3.5. stars
This novel is an extended character study of five of the six members of the Mulvaney family: a mother, a father, and four children. The sixth family member, the youngest son, Judd, is the novel's narrator, and while he plays a role in the story, his role is relatively minor compared to that of his parents, his sister, and his two brothers, and so we don't get to know Judd, who focuses only very little upon himself, as well as we do his siblings and his parents.
The rape of Marianne, the daughter and sister in the family, when she is sixteen is the pivot point around which this story rotates. As one might expect, nothing is ever the same for Marianne after she has been raped, and her rape has deep, far-reaching consequences for her entire family and the home in which she grew up.
We Were the Mulvaneys paints the lives of the Mulvaneys in brilliant, realistic colors. But it is a very slow story, and it is slow precisely because there is not a crisis that has to be resolved: the novel is simply the story of the lives of these family members and how they were all affected by Marianne's rape. Many readers may feel bogged down in the middle to late sections of the novel and may find it drags on for too long, but few will fail to appreciate Joyce Carol Oates's genius in constructing a thoughtful, intricate mythos of an entire family.
This novel is an extended character study of five of the six members of the Mulvaney family: a mother, a father, and four children. The sixth family member, the youngest son, Judd, is the novel's narrator, and while he plays a role in the story, his role is relatively minor compared to that of his parents, his sister, and his two brothers, and so we don't get to know Judd, who focuses only very little upon himself, as well as we do his siblings and his parents.
The rape of Marianne, the daughter and sister in the family, when she is sixteen is the pivot point around which this story rotates. As one might expect, nothing is ever the same for Marianne after she has been raped, and her rape has deep, far-reaching consequences for her entire family and the home in which she grew up.
We Were the Mulvaneys paints the lives of the Mulvaneys in brilliant, realistic colors. But it is a very slow story, and it is slow precisely because there is not a crisis that has to be resolved: the novel is simply the story of the lives of these family members and how they were all affected by Marianne's rape. Many readers may feel bogged down in the middle to late sections of the novel and may find it drags on for too long, but few will fail to appreciate Joyce Carol Oates's genius in constructing a thoughtful, intricate mythos of an entire family.