We Were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

 

From the Back Cover:

A New York Times Notable Book and a former Oprah Book Club selection Moving away from the dark tone of her more recent masterpieces, Joyce Carol Oates turns the tale of a family struggling to cope with its fall from grace into a deeply moving and unforgettable account of the vigor of hope and the power of love to prevail over suffering. The Mulvaneys of High Point Farm in Mt. Ephraim, New York, are a large and fortunate clan, blessed with good looks, abundant charisma, and boundless promise. But over the twenty-five year span of this ambitious novel, the Mulvaneys will slide, almost imperceptibly at first, from the pinnacle of happiness, transformed by the vagaries of fate into a scattered collection of lost and lonely souls. It is the youngest son, Judd, now an adult, who attempts to piece together the fragments of the Mulvaneys' former glory, seeking to uncover and understand the secret violation that occasioned the family's tragic downfall. Each of the Mulvaneys endures some form of exile--physical or spiritual--but in the end they find a way to bridge the chasms that have opened up among them, reuniting in the spirit of love and healing. Profoundly cathartic, Oates' acclaimed novel unfolds as if, in the darkness of the human spirit, she has come upon a source of light at its core. Rarely has a writer made such a startling and inspiring statement about the value of hope and compassion.

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My Thoughts:

So, this was an Oprah's Book Club recommendation, and it was as lengthy and depressing as I expected it to be!So no disappointments there! Liked the way it was written though.

About the plot; I found it very disturbing. I mean, how can a mother banish own child from her house, over something she should not even have been blamed for! How? I know it must be very upsetting to have a child who has gone thorough trauma such as rape and assault, but that is all the more reason to support her, right?

Anyway, it just goes from bad to worse, the story, that is. By the end I was left angry and frustrated, considering all the waste..

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Memorable Lines:

In a family, what isn't spoken is what you listen for. But the noise of a family is to drown it out.

Strange: how when a light is extinguished, it's immediately as if it has never been. Darkness fills in again, complete.

In that way you recall, suddenly, sharply, in daylight, a trace of a dream of the previous night--but even as you recall it, it begins to fade.

Because nothing between human beings isn’t uncomplicated and there’s no way to speak of human beings without simplifying and misrepresenting them.