I have a love/fear relationship with Joyce Carol Oates. I admire her work, her work ethic *(I especially like pp. 5 and 9 of that interview), her productivity. Her characters linger in my mind long after the book is back on the shelf. After I read Blonde, though, I began to fear Oates a little. Nothing serious, I promise, but the dexterity with which she writes, and her ability to bite her thumb at the conventional novel make me uncomfortable. I opened the cover of The Gravedigger’s Daughter with a touch of trepidation. Where would Oates take me this time? Did I really want to go there? I don’t trust Oates the way I do other authors like, say, Jane Austen, but I’m willing to try what she offers me.
In this, her latest novel, Oates takes the reader through the entire life of Rebecca Schwart, who later transforms herself into Hazel Jones. The first section of the novel is difficult. Rebecca, born in New York harbor on the boat in which her German-Jewish family has emigrated to the "Yoo-Ess," is raised haphazardly by an increasingly numb mother and bitter father. Tragedy strikes over and over, and when she becomes an orphan, Rebecca’s life really begins. After a marriage that leaves her both abused and lonely, Rebecca runs away with her piano prodigy son, becoming Hazel Jones. I don’t want to give away much more than that. Rebecca/Hazel’s understanding of herself as a performer is the highlight of the novel for me. While other characters are less rounded, Rebecca/Hazel is so real that I can almost hear her laugh and see her lipstick.
In parts, especially in the first section, the novel made for slow reading, but persistence with this one pays off. I had good reason to fear where Oates would bring me; it’s so rarely to someplace pretty. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t like sentimentality and am the first to mock it. The Gravedigger’s Daughter is so dark in places, though, that I feared for the characters. Having finished it, though, I can’t get Rebecca/Hazel out of my head.
An easy, pleasant read? Not at all. An interesting, compelling, disturbing read? You better believe it.
Let me know if you’ve read this one and what you think.
*Edited to fix interview link
I’ve never read any Joyce Carol Oates. What would be a good one to begin with? I’m really going to try to keep up with the reading this year.
I haven’t read this one yet, but I plan to read it soon. One of my favorite JCO books is We Were the Mulvaneys. I also liked The Falls. Both are very dark at times, but great books.
I’ll definitely read it someday…Joyce Carol Oates has long been one of my favorite authors.
I clicked on the link above to read about her work ethic, but it just brings me to an author’s page at the publisher. Where is the interview?
I have a New Yorker cartoon over my desk that shows a man in a chair, reading the newspaper, while a woman sits at a computer, and the man says, “Joyce Carol Oates seems to have no trouble coming out with book after book.”
I have enjoyed the GRAVEDIGGER’s DAUGHTER, in as far as one can call it ‘enjoy’ (especially the first part). It has such an OATES grip on the whole though, that it’s soothing too, as is MOTHER, MISSING.
My favorites by OATES nonetheless are THE FALLS and MIDDLE AGE.
Grtz – Nad