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A review by secre
A Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates
4.0
This is both beautifully written and a remarkably poignant novel. I wish from the bottom of my heart that I could crown this with the full five stars, but that is unfortunately impossible, if only because of the final quarter of the book or so. A Book of American Martyrs opens strongly, with the shotgun murder of a doctor and a volunteer at the abortion centre. From that moment on, you are propelled into the hearts and minds of those surrounding the event, the tragedy or the assassination depending on your viewpoint.
Joyce Carol Oates begins the book from the perspective of the murderer, Luther Dunphy as he walks up that fateful day and puts a shotgun bullet into the heads of the two men, killing them instantly. And from there it spirals into an exploration of the abortion debate, of justice and the death penalty, of religion and of family, grief and loss. I found it quite remarkable how well each of the different characters was displayed in all their faults and glories; it cannot have been easy writing from such opposing character viewpoints and yet managing not to fall into stereotypes or caricatures.
In fact, the entire thing is masterfully handled. Oates switches between characters, but each character narration is told by how they see themselves and indeed how others see them. Likewise, the writing style changes quite drastically at points, and whilst this could have become annoying it was instead so well done that I can only applaud Oates for creating a novel that is also a work of art and not screwing it up. Each character portrayal is put into context with background and understanding, and yet none of that feels superfluous or unnecessary, indeed some of these sections are what gives such a rich and varied feel to the novel as a whole.
And it isn't just the big issues that Oates does well, yet somehow without obviously sticking her oar in on either side. The characterisations and the family dynamics are wonderfully drawn out here, with two families losing the very centre of their household. One to tragedy (or assassination for being a baby killer...) the other to prison. The novel takes you through the heart of the drama with the court case and all the intricacies and delays, the various viewpoints and conflicts throughout, and then it drops you into the families. Two families, from two very different spectrum of society, trying to find their feet in this new and unfamiliar world... and let's face it, doing it bloody badly. Families split and fracture under the pressure, both dealing with very different and yet somehow similar issues.
The novel eventually zooms in and focusses on the two older daughters of both the families, chronicling them through adolescence and then adulthood. There are parts which are actively disturbing in the thorough insight they give into the darker aspects of society, sections made me draw breath in a gasp, some descriptions are both heart-breaking and undeniably powerful. At no point in this does Oates forget the family ties and relationship drama's that have been built up, instead she continues to build on them even as she allows the focus of the tale to become far more focussed.
So why only four stars? Because the last 150-200 odd pages were lacklustre in comparison to what had come before. You go from this really hard hitting and deftly drawn together narrative of many pieces and topical concerns to what is effectively two hundred pages of not a great deal at all. I enjoyed them, no doubt about that. They are well written, I can't deny that. But they are not of the same caliber as the majority of the novel. The focus is lost and instead it becomes a rather wishy-washy. The actual ending I did find both interesting and surprising, but that could have been done without pages upon pages of name dropping, cultural education and self-doubts.
Regardless, this is poignant, beautifully written and unbelievably powerful.
Joyce Carol Oates begins the book from the perspective of the murderer, Luther Dunphy as he walks up that fateful day and puts a shotgun bullet into the heads of the two men, killing them instantly. And from there it spirals into an exploration of the abortion debate, of justice and the death penalty, of religion and of family, grief and loss. I found it quite remarkable how well each of the different characters was displayed in all their faults and glories; it cannot have been easy writing from such opposing character viewpoints and yet managing not to fall into stereotypes or caricatures.
In fact, the entire thing is masterfully handled. Oates switches between characters, but each character narration is told by how they see themselves and indeed how others see them. Likewise, the writing style changes quite drastically at points, and whilst this could have become annoying it was instead so well done that I can only applaud Oates for creating a novel that is also a work of art and not screwing it up. Each character portrayal is put into context with background and understanding, and yet none of that feels superfluous or unnecessary, indeed some of these sections are what gives such a rich and varied feel to the novel as a whole.
And it isn't just the big issues that Oates does well, yet somehow without obviously sticking her oar in on either side. The characterisations and the family dynamics are wonderfully drawn out here, with two families losing the very centre of their household. One to tragedy (or assassination for being a baby killer...) the other to prison. The novel takes you through the heart of the drama with the court case and all the intricacies and delays, the various viewpoints and conflicts throughout, and then it drops you into the families. Two families, from two very different spectrum of society, trying to find their feet in this new and unfamiliar world... and let's face it, doing it bloody badly. Families split and fracture under the pressure, both dealing with very different and yet somehow similar issues.
The novel eventually zooms in and focusses on the two older daughters of both the families, chronicling them through adolescence and then adulthood. There are parts which are actively disturbing in the thorough insight they give into the darker aspects of society, sections made me draw breath in a gasp, some descriptions are both heart-breaking and undeniably powerful. At no point in this does Oates forget the family ties and relationship drama's that have been built up, instead she continues to build on them even as she allows the focus of the tale to become far more focussed.
So why only four stars? Because the last 150-200 odd pages were lacklustre in comparison to what had come before. You go from this really hard hitting and deftly drawn together narrative of many pieces and topical concerns to what is effectively two hundred pages of not a great deal at all. I enjoyed them, no doubt about that. They are well written, I can't deny that. But they are not of the same caliber as the majority of the novel. The focus is lost and instead it becomes a rather wishy-washy. The actual ending I did find both interesting and surprising, but that could have been done without pages upon pages of name dropping, cultural education and self-doubts.
Regardless, this is poignant, beautifully written and unbelievably powerful.