The Gravedigger's Daughter - Joyce Carol Oates (2007)
Well a couple of weeks ago I read The Widows Story, the authors memoir about the sudden loss of her husband and how she then became transformed into a widow. It mentioned this book, and I thought I would be brave and search it out, as it was a story based on one of her grandmothers lives.
So bravery was what I needed to start this monster of a book, as my recent encounters with large books (500 pages +) haven't been too promising. So in this book, we follow the story of Rebecca Swartz, who in the first third is growing up grim, with a depressing home environment, with violent brothers and a disturbed set of immigrant parents. who have escaped from early Nazi Germany. In her teenage years, she finds herself alone, and Rebecca then finds herself with a boyfriend who then becomes obsessive and violent in the second third of the book, and she looks for ways to escape with their young son. The final part of the book is then her new life, and the time she spends making a new future.
In all I found it 400 pages of grim and adepressing life, with the final fifty pages actually being the best part of the book. For me, if it had been half the size and therefore twice as good, but what do I know? 2.5/5
1 comment:
as my reading mojo have been away (on holiday or in hospital i'm not sure) for nearly a year now i have to say that contemplating reading a brick novel isn't on my top-list. if i didn't knew the author well and loved her/him. as that is not the case with ms oates (i'm not sure i've read any of her books... i think i have a couple of them in my bookshelves, still unread...) this is not something i'd read even if you would have loved the book:)
however, the book cover is gorgeous!
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