Book Review:
Dear Husband, (Harper Collins 2009) by Joyce Carol Oates.
How many books can this lady write? That's the criticism, that's the fault found with her. The answer is more difficult to find. Whatever it is, she's still putting out great stories, and Dear Husband proves once again that Oates is one of America's great masters of story telling.
Gothic in structure, mesmerizing in style. I limited myself to one story a day just so I'd have two weeks of something to look forward to each of those days. Michael Lindgren of The Washington Post sets aside "Landfill" as the best of the fourteen, and I suppose he is right. I'd have a much harder time picking one out. Oates imagines Americans better than just about any writer.
The short story is not dead in America, even if the readership has dwindled to a monkish few. If I were an executive at HBO, I'd be hiring some script writers to turn the contemporary American short story into a series of HBO films.
Dear Husband, (Harper Collins 2009) by Joyce Carol Oates.
How many books can this lady write? That's the criticism, that's the fault found with her. The answer is more difficult to find. Whatever it is, she's still putting out great stories, and Dear Husband proves once again that Oates is one of America's great masters of story telling.
Gothic in structure, mesmerizing in style. I limited myself to one story a day just so I'd have two weeks of something to look forward to each of those days. Michael Lindgren of The Washington Post sets aside "Landfill" as the best of the fourteen, and I suppose he is right. I'd have a much harder time picking one out. Oates imagines Americans better than just about any writer.
The short story is not dead in America, even if the readership has dwindled to a monkish few. If I were an executive at HBO, I'd be hiring some script writers to turn the contemporary American short story into a series of HBO films.
Labels: Book Review, Joyce Carol Oates
posted by Jim | 3:37 PM
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