My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike by Joyce Carol Oates Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike
Book Review: An optician's delight
Summary: 3 Stars
JCO is a gifted writer and her telling of this familiar story is well done. But the editor who thought it was a great idea to add miniature footnotes in italic must have an optician in the family. Not only were the footnotes jarring as they tore you from the story, but they were hard to read for those of us in our doting years. It's a good read but not worth the struggle to physically read it and stay in task.Book Review: Brilliant beyond words
Summary: 5 Stars
First, how anyone with any sense of what great literature is could question the brilliance of Oates' writing is beyond me. That said I will not write a lengthy opinion because you either get her or you don't. Personally I consider her to be the greatest living American author and Skyler Rampike's tale only reconfirms this belief. In her latest outing Oates literally climbs into the skin of a 19 year old boy and weaves a story that at once makes you laugh, cry, moan with anguish and squirm with discomfort. I could not put this book down, pages seemed to burn in my fingers, and when it ended I thought.....thank God, but no, wait I want to know more about Skyler Rampike, I want more of Joyce Carol Oates.Book Review: Dark and biting humor; Oates at her brilliant best.
Summary: 5 Stars
While any new work from JCO is inevitably a literary treat, this is one of her best of late, even outshining such marvels as THE FALLS and the truly virtuoso WILD NIGHTS! Seldom has there been such a twistedly hyper-real protagonist as Skyler Rampike. The other characters are equally drawn large and unflinchingly simon-pure in all their archness and jejunity. Oates' milieu of skating rinks, ice princess pageants, Jersey burbs social-climbing, and outre hi-jinks never ceases to compel and amuse, even as it disgusts. The novel is long, well over 500 pages, and apparently that is a major stumbling block for some readers. But every JCO-penned word is a treasure and her books are treasure chests for the literately-inclined. Her attention to detail is positively Proustian; indeed recent JCO works have definitely reminded this writer of Proustian mastery more than once. Just amazing literature and great storytelling as well.Book Review: Jacket artwork coincidence?
Summary: 4 Stars
Although drawn to the book because of the author, I was also drawn to the jacket artwork. It seemed to be evocative of the 1920s. When I looked at the inside jacket, I was surprised to see the artwork was done by the actor Martin Mull. More suprising was that the artwork was from the collection of the actress Marg Helgenberger who portrayed Patsy Ramsey in the CBS movie about the JonBenet Case, "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town." Coincidence?Book Review: Meandering Tale Leading Nowhere
Summary: 2 Stars
I found the writing sloppy and the narrative style inept. In addition, JCO's unfamiliarity with parenting makes the story ring false. The family dynamics, which could have led to a fascinating story, are glossed over leaving nothing but a mean-spirited attempt to ridicule a family beset by tragedy. Although I've long been a fan of Ms. Oates, I was very disappointed by this book.