State of Grace
by Joy Williams
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Description
Nominated for the National Book Award in 1974, this haunting, profoundly disquieting novel manages to be at once sparse and lush, to combine Biblical simplicity with Gothic intensity and strangeness. It is the story of Kate, despised by her mother, bound to her father by ties stronger and darker than blood. It is the story of her attempted escapesâ^'in detached sexual encounters, at a Southern college populated by spoiled and perverse beauties, and in a doomed marriage to a man who cannot show more understand what she is running from. Witty, erotic, searing acute, State of Grace bears the inimitable stamp of one of our fines and most provocative writers. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I took my time with this one. The prose is rich. I had to immerse myself in Williams' sentences and allow the narrative to emerge on its own. It does, by the way. This is definitely a novel I want to reread. A first pass doesn't do it justice. I love it when prose demands rigor and pays off with poignant themes, poetic insight, and more than a little transformation for both the characters and the reader.
I took my time with this one. The prose is rich. I had to immerse myself in Williams' sentences and allow the narrative to emerge on its own. It does, by the way. This is definitely a novel I want to reread. A first pass doesn't do it justice. I love it when prose demands rigor and pays off with poignant themes, poetic insight, and more than a little transformation for both the characters and the reader.
i got lost and couldn't find my way back. even at the end. the book is "style over substance", for sure. but, goddamn, what style!
Das Erstlingswerk von Joy Williams wurde erst 50 Jahre nach seinem Erscheinen ins Deutsche übersetzt. Nun wird der Roman hochgelobt, auch ich bekam ihn auf Anraten meiner Kollegin geliehen. Leider tat ich mich äußerst schwer damit. Das Buch ist verstörend und verwirrend, die Erzählweise assoziativ und sprunghaft. Kate lebt bei ihrem Vater, einem strengen Prediger, Mutter und Schwester sind beide tot. Dass die beiden ein zu enges Verhältnis haben, ist überdeutlich, Missbrauch deutet sich massiv an. Dann geht Kate ihrer eigenen Wege, studiert, wird schwanger, lebt mit ihrem Mann Grady in einem Wohnwagen, ein Unfall geschieht.
Ich konnte mit dem Buch total wenig anfangen, konnte den Stil schwer einordnen, mochte Kate nicht. Das tut show more mir sehr leid, denn meine Kollegin hat mir das Buch geliehen, weil sie es (wie viele) als Meisterwerk empfindet. show less
Ich konnte mit dem Buch total wenig anfangen, konnte den Stil schwer einordnen, mochte Kate nicht. Das tut show more mir sehr leid, denn meine Kollegin hat mir das Buch geliehen, weil sie es (wie viele) als Meisterwerk empfindet. show less
Mar 31, 2024German
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National Book Award Finalists - Fiction
377 works; 12 members
Author Information
68+ Works 3,222 Members
Joy Williams is the author of four novels-the most recent, The Quick and the Dead, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2001-and two earlier collections of stories, as well as Ill Nature, a book of essays that was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. Among her many honors are the Rea Award for the short story show more and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Key West, Florida, and Tucson, Arizona show less
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Awards
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- Members
- 196
- Popularity
- 166,741
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.81)
- Languages
- English, German, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 2
