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Loading... Beastsby Joyce Carol Oates
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. While I found this book quite enjoyable and well-written during the short period while I was actually reading it, I was disturbed by how uncritically it embraces traditional literary tropes (the primitive evil of the 'savage' preying on the innocent). Despite the fact that it complicates these tropes in a number of ways - the lead character ends up in a lesbian relationship with a girl who self-identifies as Black, there is a woman who is involved with predation rather than merely a man - I ultimately found these complications unsatisfying and not complete.Ultimately, I wanted to ask Oates why she chose to display not just the predators' art but also the art of Canadian native peoples as idols to perversity and sadism. We never see any form of art - not poetry, not sculpture, not photography, nothing - as anything but a beguiling snare, a way for the predators to captivate young girls and do them harm. Then what does Oates think of her own work? Is she too creating false idols?Or is she merely not thinking through her imagery very well, trying to tell a story and telling a quite different one unintentionally? (  )flourishing | Mar 17, 2009 |   While I found this book quite enjoyable and well-written during the short period while I was actually reading it, I was disturbed by how uncritically it embraces traditional literary tropes (the primitive evil of the 'savage' preying on the innocent). Despite the fact that it complicates these tropes in a number of ways - the lead character ends up in a lesbian relationship with a girl who self-identifies as Black, there is a woman who is involved with predation rather than merely a man - I ultimately found these complications unsatisfying and not complete.Ultimately, I wanted to ask Oates why she chose to display not just the predators' art but also the art of Canadian native peoples as idols to perversity and sadism. We never see any form of art - not poetry, not sculpture, not photography, nothing - as anything but a beguiling snare, a way for the predators to captivate young girls and do them harm. Then what does Oates think of her own work? Is she too creating false idols?Or is she merely not thinking through her imagery very well, trying to tell a story and telling a quite different one unintentionally? ( )flourishing | Mar 17, 2009 | Deeply disturbingly Gothic in the portrayal of "innocent" college girls infatuated by their manipulative professor who seduces and uses them to the point of their self destruction. Set in the backdrop of a small New England college, the literal coldness of the winter frames the cruely of the professor and his wife as the young college girls happily feel honored to trek to the snow covered, pine tree laden house of bizzare beastly happenings. This is one of Oates darker books exploring the nature of self destruction. (  )Whisper1 | Sep 13, 2008 | 1  Short, nightmarish tale of a university professor and his wife who exert a strange - and dangerous - fascination for the girls he teaches. I think the ultimate message of the book is that we are all beasts - but some of us are more beastly than others. [July 2005] (  )scarletslippers | Jan 6, 2008 | 1 Dark, sensual, gothic, obsessive, rich, bestial, lyrical, addictive... Joyce Carol Oates amazes me with her vivid and compelling prose! Caution: This is not for everyone. Read at your own risk! (  )thioviolight | Dec 31, 2007 | 1 0.056 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0786711035, Paperback)Penzler Pick, January 2002: OK, OK. I know it looks like a conflict of interest, or favoritism, or nepotism, or some -ism or another that appears to be unethical. But it's not. Honestly.Since I've been creating "Penzler's Picks" for Amazon.com I've never reviewed any of the books I've published under my imprint at Carroll & Graf--until now. I've been tempted many times, for the obvious reason that, if I like a book enough to publish it, I'd like it well enough to recommend it. But I've resisted for the reason noted above. My affection for and admiration of Beasts, however, is so enormous that I just can't help myself. I've been an admirer of Joyce Carol Oates for longer than I care to admit. Indeed, I raved about Blonde in these pages long before it was nominated for a National Book Award (and should have won, in my opinion). Beasts is a little jewel of a book, only 138 pages. Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is a perfect gem, and so are Steinbeck's The Red Pony, and James Ellroy's Dick Contino's Blues, and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw; the short novel is capable of being one of an author's masterpieces. Short novels, or novellas, allow for the author to develop characters more fully than is possible in a short story, yet constrict them enough to maintain a single mood, or tone, throughout the entire book, which might easily become oppressive in a longer work. Set in an apparently idyllic New England college town, Beasts is the story of Gillian Brauer, a student who falls in love with her professor, his Bohemian lifestyle, and anti-establishment attitudes, and what happens when she falls under his spell. Knowing that other girls preceded her does not deter Gillian from becoming part of the household of Professor Harrow and his larger-than-life wife, Dorcas, the outrageous sculptress of shocking wooden totems. Drawn into their life, Gillian soon becomes a helpless pawn, a victim of her own passions and those of her mentors. Or does she? Sometimes even the most seemingly powerless prey can surprise a predator. Savor every word of this little masterpiece, as it is unlikely that you will read anything to equal it for a long, long time. --Otto Penzler (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:16 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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