A review by dickh
The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates

2.0

I must admit that Joyce Carol Oates, Willa Cather, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Neil Gaiman, these are basically my favorite authors. However, this was just not Ms. Oates best work. I liked the Corn Maiden, but the ending did not seem to surprise although in total this story was quite good. The other stories basically did not haunt enough to warrant the title of nightmare. I could follow where the stories were going too easily, and that has not been characteristic of most of her prior work. Still, a semi-good collection of stories by Ms. Oates is better than 99% of the books in Barnes and Noble so it is always worth reading. My rating probably reflects my personal expectations more than reality.