A review by karnaconverse
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

5.0

At 450 pages, I wasn’t sure I’d make it through Joyce Carol Oates’s 1996 novel, We Were the Mulvaneys, but I found I couldn’t put it down. The Mulvaneys are the typical 1970s small-town American family—close-knit, hard-working, respected in the community—but their lives are turned upside down and inside out when something “unspeakable” happens to the 16-year-old daughter. Oates masterfully weaves together six individual stories and seventeen years of pain and suffering endured by the parents, the daughter, and the three sons that culminates with a family reunion that’s filled with healing and hope.

I grew up and currently live in small-town America; Oates is spot-on with her descriptions, the reactions of her characters, and the impact “this type of event” can have on a family and a community.