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A review by honnari_hannya
Cardiff, by the Sea: Four Novellas of Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates
4.0
TW: Murder, suicide, assault, abuse, rape, sexual assault, pedophilia, animal death, child death, drug abuse, mentions of abortions, miscarriage, etc.
Working my way through Joyce Carol Oates' body of work has been a delight. These four "novellas of suspense" were captivating, all of them unsettling in their own particular ways. I find it quite hard to recommend things for fans of Daphne du Maurier, but I think those that enjoy her works might want to give Oates a try as well; there is something about the way Oates builds atmosphere that seems indebted du Maurier, though there is definitely a little more grit.
Cardiff, by the Sea is the first and titular novella in this collection. This is the story of a young woman who was adopted by an older couple when she was around three years old. Almost three decades later, she inherits some property from a recently deceased paternal grandmother, as well as the dark history of what truly happened in her past. It was fairly obvious, in my opinion, what happened to her and her family but I don't necessarily think that is the point of this story. The suspense lies more in the weight of expectations—whether or not they will be fulfilled, and in what way, waiting for an inevitable disaster that you're sure is about to happen. Enjoyed the way JCO explored psychological trauma here too, through various characters and their reactions to the same incident over the course of their lives.
I really loved Miao Dao. This one teetered more in the speculative/not-speculative realm that I know some people hate, but I think those kind of suspense narratives (when done well) have such a edge to them. I love themes of the monstrous feminine, of young women turning their rage to deadly results, and the morally complicated violence of that kind of righteous anger. I also liked in this particular story the way body horror and transformation and puberty and claustrophobia and perception were linked, though that is not necessarily a novel way of looking at things, especially when we are talking about the monstrous feminine.
Phantomwise:1972 was probably the one I enjoyed least at first, because it is another story about a woman being taken advantage of by men. But I do enjoy that JCO writes about women who are complicated victims, and who struggle against the power dynamics that they find themselves in. They don't necessarily want to escape; some even want to turn back to the way things were, to revert back to the before stage, pre-pubescent, pre-transformation, pre-pregnant, etc. The ambiguity of the ending was done really well here, in the very typical JCO style that I like, and I know which one I definitely preferred.
The last story, Surviving Child is the one that definitely made me think of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier the most. The borrowed elements are fairly obvious: young woman plucked from obscurity after the wife of her older now-husband dies under suspicious circumstances, and she is swept up into their life of glamour and luxury into a mysterious house that is haunted by the dead wife's memory. This has the added element of a step child being involved just for extra creepiness as well.
Working my way through Joyce Carol Oates' body of work has been a delight. These four "novellas of suspense" were captivating, all of them unsettling in their own particular ways. I find it quite hard to recommend things for fans of Daphne du Maurier, but I think those that enjoy her works might want to give Oates a try as well; there is something about the way Oates builds atmosphere that seems indebted du Maurier, though there is definitely a little more grit.
Cardiff, by the Sea is the first and titular novella in this collection. This is the story of a young woman who was adopted by an older couple when she was around three years old. Almost three decades later, she inherits some property from a recently deceased paternal grandmother, as well as the dark history of what truly happened in her past. It was fairly obvious, in my opinion, what happened to her and her family but I don't necessarily think that is the point of this story. The suspense lies more in the weight of expectations—whether or not they will be fulfilled, and in what way, waiting for an inevitable disaster that you're sure is about to happen. Enjoyed the way JCO explored psychological trauma here too, through various characters and their reactions to the same incident over the course of their lives.
I really loved Miao Dao. This one teetered more in the speculative/not-speculative realm that I know some people hate, but I think those kind of suspense narratives (when done well) have such a edge to them. I love themes of the monstrous feminine, of young women turning their rage to deadly results, and the morally complicated violence of that kind of righteous anger. I also liked in this particular story the way body horror and transformation and puberty and claustrophobia and perception were linked, though that is not necessarily a novel way of looking at things, especially when we are talking about the monstrous feminine.
Phantomwise:1972 was probably the one I enjoyed least at first, because it is another story about a woman being taken advantage of by men. But I do enjoy that JCO writes about women who are complicated victims, and who struggle against the power dynamics that they find themselves in. They don't necessarily want to escape; some even want to turn back to the way things were, to revert back to the before stage, pre-pubescent, pre-transformation, pre-pregnant, etc. The ambiguity of the ending was done really well here, in the very typical JCO style that I like, and I know which one I definitely preferred.
The last story, Surviving Child is the one that definitely made me think of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier the most. The borrowed elements are fairly obvious: young woman plucked from obscurity after the wife of her older now-husband dies under suspicious circumstances, and she is swept up into their life of glamour and luxury into a mysterious house that is haunted by the dead wife's memory. This has the added element of a step child being involved just for extra creepiness as well.