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A review by findyourgoldenhour
A Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates
4.0
Whoa. This is one hell of a read. I was going to give it 5 stars, but this book was long and could've used some serious editing. The last quarter of the book started to feel like a different novel entirely. But it's a fast read despite its size; I couldn't put it down, and the very last paragraph felt like a long-awaited reckoning.
This book covers so many themes: there's the obvious "pro-choice vs. pro-life" that any reader can get from the book jacket, but it's so much more than that. It's about religious zealotry and poverty and education. It's about idealism and taking personal risks in the interest of the greater good; the two main characters believe so strongly in what the are doing, they put their ideals over the well-being of their families. The book lets the reader see how the choices of the fathers play out in their daughters' lives. It's about family dynamics and what makes a "good mother". I empathized with almost all of the characters, even the ones that I didn't agree with politically. This book will stay with me for a long time.
This book covers so many themes: there's the obvious "pro-choice vs. pro-life" that any reader can get from the book jacket, but it's so much more than that. It's about religious zealotry and poverty and education. It's about idealism and taking personal risks in the interest of the greater good; the two main characters believe so strongly in what the are doing, they put their ideals over the well-being of their families. The book lets the reader see how the choices of the fathers play out in their daughters' lives. It's about family dynamics and what makes a "good mother". I empathized with almost all of the characters, even the ones that I didn't agree with politically. This book will stay with me for a long time.