Book Review: Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates
Jan. 5th, 2026 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: Beasts
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Published: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002 (2001)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 140
Total Page Count: 556,575
Text Number: 2088
Read Because: ??, borrowed from Open Library
Review: In the 1970s, at an all-girls college, a naïve 20-year-old falls in love with her professor, but, "if you love a married man you exist in a special, secret, undeclared relationship with his wife." Fascinating to read this soon after Jackson's Hangsaman; which could be how it ended up on my TBR, I can't remember. Regardless, much the same premise, very different treatment. Oates, unsurprisingly, forgoes the subtlety of subtext for the horror of text. And I don't mind; I've had poor success with Oates in the past, finding her tryhard, style over grace; but the writing here really worked for me, punchy declarations and an effective use of repetition. Layered levels of unreality, the experience of early adulthood and being in love, of open secrets, of being taking advantage of in increasingly overt ways, builds an effective atmosphere within this brief, surprisingly dense novella. It makes me want to give Oates another try.
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Published: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002 (2001)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 140
Total Page Count: 556,575
Text Number: 2088
Read Because: ??, borrowed from Open Library
Review: In the 1970s, at an all-girls college, a naïve 20-year-old falls in love with her professor, but, "if you love a married man you exist in a special, secret, undeclared relationship with his wife." Fascinating to read this soon after Jackson's Hangsaman; which could be how it ended up on my TBR, I can't remember. Regardless, much the same premise, very different treatment. Oates, unsurprisingly, forgoes the subtlety of subtext for the horror of text. And I don't mind; I've had poor success with Oates in the past, finding her tryhard, style over grace; but the writing here really worked for me, punchy declarations and an effective use of repetition. Layered levels of unreality, the experience of early adulthood and being in love, of open secrets, of being taking advantage of in increasingly overt ways, builds an effective atmosphere within this brief, surprisingly dense novella. It makes me want to give Oates another try.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-05 09:34 pm (UTC)Great line.