by Joyce Carol Oates
Quickie Recap: 15 years after the mysterious death of her even more mysterious roommate, Genna embarks on this "text with no title" as an exploration of the racism, both real and imagined, on their college campus in the 1970s.
Quickie Review: I have to hand it to Oates, she doesn't shy away from tough topics. When she begins to touch on the theme of personal attacks vs. racial attacks, she hits on something meaningful. I wished the book would pause and take a more in-depth look. Genna is a rare protagonist; she seems painfully honest in her quest for the truth. But ultimately as the story confuses race and politics, a haze takes over and the story-telling loses its focus and ends, in my opinion, unsatisfyingly.
Quickie Recommendation: Interesting, but not quite recommendable. Yes, I just made that word up. Shut it.
2 comments:
I read everything JCO writes because she's so brave and she also writes an interesting book, but I usually find some caveat: too messy, too cluttered, too complicated and also find them not recommendable---actually irrecommendable
I think you've just made my day. :)
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