Compare prices for we were the mulvaneys
 |
Fourth Estate We Were the Mulvaneys
Joyce Carol Oates' <I>We Were the Mulvaneys</I> is the story of a happy family. After decades of marriage, Mum and Dad are still in love--and the proud parents of a brood of youngsters, which includes a star athlete, a class valedictorian and a popular cheerleader. Home is an idyllic place called High Point Farm, and the bonds of attachment within this all-American clan do seem deep and unconditional: <blockquote>Mom paused again, drawing in her breath sharply, her eyes suffused with a special lustre, gazing upon her family one by one, with what crazy unbounded love she gazed upon us, and at such a moment my heart would contract as if this woman who was my mother had slipped her fingers inside my rib cage to contain it, as you might hold a wild, thrashing bird to comfort it.</blockquote> But as we all know, Eden can't last forever. And in the hands of Joyce Carol Oates, who's chronicled just about every variety of familial dysfunction, you know the fall from grace is going to be memorable. By the time all is said and done, a rape occurs, a daughter is exiled, much alcohol is consumed and the farm is lost. Even to recount these events in retrospect is a trial for the Mulvaney offspring, one of whom declares: When I say this is a hard reckoning I mean it's been like squeezing thick drops of blood from my veins. <p> In the hands of a lesser writer, this could be the stuff of a bad made-for-tv film but this is Oates' 26th novel, and by now she knows her material and her craft to perfection. <I>We Were the Mulvaneys</I> is populated with such richly observed and complex characters that you can't help but care about them, even as you wait for disaster to strike them down. --<I>Anita Urquhart, Amazon.com</I>
 |
|
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Shipping: refer to store website
|
|
£6.39
at Amazon.co.uk
|
 |
Barnes & Noble Books-Imports We Were the Mulvaneys (Barnes & Noble Reader's Companion)
Joyce Carol Oates' <I>We Were the Mulvaneys</I> is the story of a happy family. After decades of marriage, Mum and Dad are still in love--and the proud parents of a brood of youngsters, which includes a star athlete, a class valedictorian and a popular cheerleader. Home is an idyllic place called High Point Farm, and the bonds of attachment within this all-American clan do seem deep and unconditional: <blockquote>Mom paused again, drawing in her breath sharply, her eyes suffused with a special lustre, gazing upon her family one by one, with what crazy unbounded love she gazed upon us, and at such a moment my heart would contract as if this woman who was my mother had slipped her fingers inside my rib cage to contain it, as you might hold a wild, thrashing bird to comfort it.</blockquote> But as we all know, Eden can't last forever. And in the hands of Joyce Carol Oates, who's chronicled just about every variety of familial dysfunction, you know the fall from grace is going to be memorable. By the time all is said and done, a rape occurs, a daughter is exiled, much alcohol is consumed and the farm is lost. Even to recount these events in retrospect is a trial for the Mulvaney offspring, one of whom declares: When I say this is a hard reckoning I mean it's been like squeezing thick drops of blood from my veins. <p> In the hands of a lesser writer, this could be the stuff of a bad made-for-tv film but this is Oates' 26th novel, and by now she knows her material and her craft to perfection. <I>We Were the Mulvaneys</I> is populated with such richly observed and complex characters that you can't help but care about them, even as you wait for disaster to strike them down. --<I>Anita Urquhart, Amazon.com</I>
|
|
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Shipping: refer to store website
|
|
£2.60
at Amazon.co.uk
|
|
|
|
|
|
