Scan barcode
pbraue13's review
4.0
I liked this biography as the author gave the facts rather than his own opinions so the reader could make their own conclusions about the book's subject. This subject happened to be Joyce Carol Oates who, despite this book teaching me a lot more about her, is still a very mysterious closed off person. Not so much that she is a private person, but her work is the "life blood" to her and, as this book proved, her obsession so in a way most of her is put on the printed page. In fact, she described it as "vampirous" in some ways. Through these glimpses at her obsession, as the biography goes basically from book to book, was a fun way to see how some of my favorites and latest reads were created and received, but also to get a glimpse at the possible inner workings of one of America's most prolific writers. It is through this look at her life up until the time of this books publication (1998, which is a bit of an issue with this book) that we learn she has a bit of an eating disorder and possibly is on the spectrum in some respects. It's also interesting how she seems unable to deal with the more morbid aspects of life (I.e. death, violence, etc.) when her books are populated and renown for their dark and unpleasant subject matter.
I am also a wee bit concerned about the origins of her book "them" as she claims that the letters she received from a former student (featured in the novel) were the inspiration for the plot of the book itself and she uses those letters verbatim in the center of the novel. Yet, this biography talks about Oates' (now dead) husband receiving work from a former student, who was a young black woman, talking about her being raped and the aftermath on her life. So I wonder, was the protagonist changed and/or "whitened" to suit Oates' narrative? Were the letters she used completely fabricated? Is this just a mistake on Greg Johnson's part? I'm not sure.
Again, I will say, despite this book being filled with interesting information and tidbits I never would have known I am still left wanting as I wish the book could have gone further in terms of its subject and her life. We learn of her siblings, including her younger sister Lynn who is autistic, but then they just vanish halfway through the book and I wanted to learn more about them. I wished they'd had an ending epilogue of sorts saying where they were at that point and time (1998) and Joyce's relationship with them. Joyce herself seems to be an open contradiction in and of herself. For quite some time she never read newspapers and at other times she found her ideas for novels in the newspaper. She would be outgoing and then shy, high energy then depressed. One thing that has been a constant in her writing career is her significant output of words. At one point she wrote a finished product start to finish with minimal revisions. At another point she laboriously revised and reworked as the major aspect of the completion of the novel. She once withdrew one novel at the publisher to replace it with another. She even modified one novel after it has already been published. So to say she is complex is a bit of an understatement. I am astonished that this book was able to capture all this, but not able to really press into her further. It also does not help that this book ends unceremoniously before major parts of her life in "recent years" such as the death of her husband and parents and the publication of such famous works like "Blonde" and "My Life as a Rat". But otherwise, interesting and unbiased, two words which are rare in terms of biographies of public figures.
I am also a wee bit concerned about the origins of her book "them" as she claims that the letters she received from a former student (featured in the novel) were the inspiration for the plot of the book itself and she uses those letters verbatim in the center of the novel. Yet, this biography talks about Oates' (now dead) husband receiving work from a former student, who was a young black woman, talking about her being raped and the aftermath on her life. So I wonder, was the protagonist changed and/or "whitened" to suit Oates' narrative? Were the letters she used completely fabricated? Is this just a mistake on Greg Johnson's part? I'm not sure.
Again, I will say, despite this book being filled with interesting information and tidbits I never would have known I am still left wanting as I wish the book could have gone further in terms of its subject and her life. We learn of her siblings, including her younger sister Lynn who is autistic, but then they just vanish halfway through the book and I wanted to learn more about them. I wished they'd had an ending epilogue of sorts saying where they were at that point and time (1998) and Joyce's relationship with them. Joyce herself seems to be an open contradiction in and of herself. For quite some time she never read newspapers and at other times she found her ideas for novels in the newspaper. She would be outgoing and then shy, high energy then depressed. One thing that has been a constant in her writing career is her significant output of words. At one point she wrote a finished product start to finish with minimal revisions. At another point she laboriously revised and reworked as the major aspect of the completion of the novel. She once withdrew one novel at the publisher to replace it with another. She even modified one novel after it has already been published. So to say she is complex is a bit of an understatement. I am astonished that this book was able to capture all this, but not able to really press into her further. It also does not help that this book ends unceremoniously before major parts of her life in "recent years" such as the death of her husband and parents and the publication of such famous works like "Blonde" and "My Life as a Rat". But otherwise, interesting and unbiased, two words which are rare in terms of biographies of public figures.
More...