I just started reading Joyce Carol Oates' newest novel, The Accursed, and I have to say that I was blown away by her writing style. She definitely writes like someone who knows what they are doing, and she effortlessly makes you believe you are reading something that was written 100 years ago. The Accursed is a historical novel that tells a story of possession, power and loss in twentieth century Princeton. At the turn of the century, Princeton, New Jersey was a quiet place to raise a family. But, something dark is approaching the town. Vampires and ghosts haunt the dreams of its citizens, and a curse begins to affect the well-to-do families of Princeton; their daughters begin to disappear. Oates' newest work combines historical detail with elements of the supernatural. As we are pulled in to the story we get to meet all sorts of people: Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson (before he became president), Upton Sinclair, and Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain.
Joyce Carol Oates has written over 50 books and is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. Oates was also the recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the Chicago Tribune Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for three of her works: Black Water, What I Lived For, and Blonde.
Interested in trying some of her work? Check out one these titles:
We Were the Mulvaneys is a tragic tale. Oates tells the story of the fall of the House of Mulvaney. Judd, the youngest, retells the the events in which their world was pulled apart. At the center of the family's problems lies one event: the rape of Judd's sister. As a result, Judd, his father, and a brother commit criminal acts, and the family loses their home. Joyce Carol Oates has the ability to describe the psychological aspects of violence while at the same time show the reader how far down people can fall and still rise back up again.
Blonde sets out the tell the story of Marilyn Monroe. Oates looks at Marilyn's life from her pre-Marilyn years through to her career in Hollywood. As she tells the story, Oates brings to life some of America's greatest stars such as Arthur Miller, Joe DiMaggio, and Marlon Brando.
In The Falls, Joyce Carol Oates introduces us to Ariah, the Widow Bride of the Falls. On the first day of her honeymoon, her new husband, Erskine, throws himself into Niagra Falls. Along comes Dirk Burnaby, a local lawyer, who falls in love with Ariah and marries her a month later. Sixteen years later, we meet her children who do not know of her past as the Widow Bride. As the children discover their history, they each find direction in their own lives.
Sourland: Stories is a collection of sixteen short stories that explore the power of violence, loss, and grief on the human psyche.
Dear Husband: Stories is another collection of short stories in which Oates examines what seems to be normal family relationships until, looking deeper, the cracks appear.
Little Bird of Heaven: When Zoe Kruller is found murdered, the police target two primary suspects: her estranged husband (Delray Kruller) and her longtime lover (Eddy Diehl). In turn, the Krullers' son and Eddy's daughter become obsessed with one anther, each believing that the other's father is guilty of the murder until they meet again as adults.
The Gravedigger's Daughter: In 1936, the Schwarts are desperate to escape Nazi Germany and settle in New York. Once there, the father, a former high school teacher, is demeaned by the only job he can get: gravedigger and cemetery caretaker. After a tragedy strikes, the gravedigger's daughter, Rebecca begins her own pilgrimage into America, a journey that leads to self-invention and an American triumph.
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