Oates, Joyce Carol "Cardiff by the Sea"

Oates, Joyce Carol "Cardiff by the Sea" - 2020

A while ago, one of my blogger friends (Lisa from Captivated Reader) had started a buddy read (Daddy Love by Joyce Carol Oates). I was late to the party but still managed to join in the conversation. We enjoyed that so much that we decided to start a new one by the same author, one of our favourites (I read 18 of her so far, with this one 19, see here).

Since Lisa had this one on her TBR pile, it was an easy decision and we both embarked on this journey.

Like most of JCO's books, this is a dark and sad one but highly recommendable.

Before I start with my own review, I want to alert you to Lisa's post. I don't want to repeat everything she wrote, so if you want the full view, have a look on her page.

Unlike most of her other books, this is not one novel but four short stories and I will describe them one by one:

1. Cardiff, by the Sea

Lisa said this was a splendid piece of writing and I totally agree with her. I absolutely loved the first story. JCO makes everythings so suspenseful and you really get under the skin of the protagonists.

Clare is an adopted child who finds out things about her past that leaves her totally totally shocked and confused. I would have been so mad if things like that had been withheld from me.

I think it is good that the author didn't give an explanation about the characters and let us build up our own meaning.  

As to the characters. OMG, there were two aunts whom I could have slapped them. Actually, if I had been Clare, I would have turned back, if not right away on the first day, then definitely when I found out more.

I'm not very keen on ambiguous or open endings. Or maybe I do, as I love JCO so much. I would have liked a more clear ending. Any talks between Clare and her adoptive parents? How much did they know? 

I do believe the Gerard was the killer and would have liked that explained at the end but … it's JCO.

I do agree with a character's explanation about God, though. No, I can't believe he is loving. And even though it says so in the bible (which I have read lots of times), it also shows a lot of instances where they just declare the opposite. Still, I do believe we should be good to each other and try to make this life a little easier for our human beings. Religion makes that sometimes impossible by declaring we will get our reward in heaven.

An individual like Clare does not have much hope of escaping the family's dark gravity. The best thing she can do is leave and start her old life again. Another question that was asked "… why did a loving God allow such horrors to happen to innocent people in this house?" Not just in that house. I ask myself that all the time. Wars are fought, children and innocent people are killed and a lot of them in God's name‽ That can't be right.

I think JCO shares these thoughts.

2. Miao Dao

Another totally interesting story. Mia is eleven years old and her parents are divorced. Lisa describes this best, so I quote her: "It’s an unsettling look at how young girls are forced to navigate terrifying environments far too early."

We loved the wordplay on Meow and Mia. 

I also found a YouTube interview with JCO but haven't had the time to listen to it, yet.

I googled and found that Miao Dao is  a traditional two-handed Chinese saber.

This one ended more like I expected it. I didn't trust the baddie from the beginning, certain remarks told me exactly what was going to happen. 

I mean, I didn't think he would get killed.

But, as always, a very exciting to read.

I have learned that the story is one of seven in the Dark Corners collection of which I hadn't heard before. I found a list:

1. Hannah-Beast (2018) Stephen Graham Jones

2. The Sleep Tight Motel (2018) Lisa Unger

3. There's a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed (2018) Edgar Cantero

4. Miao Dao (2018) Joyce Carol Oates

5. The Tangled Woods (2018) Emily Raboteau

6. The Remedy (2018) Adam Hasler

7. Oak Avenue (2018) Brandi Reeds

However, when googling for the German titles for my German friends, I found that only Miao Dao is by JCO. I added the other authors later.

3. Phantomwise: 1972

But still, we are stuck with the body we are given. We can only do so much in order to improve it. At least we can try and control it ourselves.

I am not a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland, neither the animated film nor the book. Therefore, I did not know about the word phantom-wise. But it is very apt.

I know I mentioned pro-life. I used to be very active on Facebook but quite a few people deleted me when I congratulated the Americans to their new president (Barack Obama). Also some told me about the awful Democrats who killed babies (meaning abortion). I told her that I also don't like abortion but as long as we don't help women who get pregnant, there will be abortions, and illegal ones are very dangerous. And that rather than praying for the unborn babies they should pray for their mothers for whom it was the last resort, the only way out. And for those kids who get killed in the schools and on the streets through the gun laws. Educate kids better, give everyone access to healthcare, help single mothers that they don't end up in total poverty, those are the things that avoid abortions, making them illegal only makes it worse. The United States has 3 times as many abortions as Germany (and certainly also other countries). They also have one of the highest known rates of adolescent pregnancy and births in developed regions. Being pro-birth and not pro-life increases abortions. So, pray for the poor girls who are pushed into a situation where they see only one way out and for those who have their children and end up in poverty because of it. And also that those who make the laws will make it better for those girls who do get pregnant and can't help themselves. 

So, let's hope the situation will improve again. 

This novella was ver short but I was glad it wasn't longer. I don't think I could have held out much longer. I am not particularly squeamish but this story really took its toll on me. Poor Alyce. Poor girls.

I understood the ending better than Cardiff, for example. There was an end. Not a good one but an end. Nobody writes like JCO.

4. The Surviving Child

I can see why "The Surviving Child" is Lisa's least favourite. I wouldn't know in which order I'd place them because they were all just as fantastic as they were traumatic. My goodness, what do women have to go through?!

What I liked about the story: It developed slowly. First it's just a woman meeting a widower. Happens a lot and often this leads to a good relationship.

All the female protagonists go through a hard time here, a nightmare, whatever, caused by the men in their lives.

Would I have put up with any of them? Maybe not. But I am strong, I grew up with three younger brothers, I learned to defend myself pretty early.

I have thought about Sylvia Plath while reading the last novel, just because she was an author who was deeply troubled, like the first wife of the protagonist Alexander. I did understand, that Elizabeth, his second wife, wanted to read her predecessor's writings, I'm sure I would have wanted to in her case. I like that Alexander is described as an "Oatesian villain". I have never heard JCO's name used as an adjective but she totally deserves one. And yes, while Alexander doesn't physically abuse his family (all of them), he is one of the biggest bullies you can imagine. Poor Stefan, who grew up with him, has nothing to counter to that.

We often read about cruel stepmothers in fairy tales. That's because there were so many at the time. Many women died in childbirth and the men had to marry again in order to have someone to raise the children he already had. They would have new children whom they liked better. So, it was not unusual to have stepmothers that were not so nice. Elisabeth is a different kind, as I think/hope most stepmothers today are. 

I hope that Elisabeth finds a way to get out of Alexander's claws. And takes Stefan with her. At least the hope is there at the end.

When searching for some answers, Lisa found this question online:

Has Joyce Carol Oates ever written a truly happy, lighthearted scene?

I couldn't say but that is not the reason I read her. Nor it is her reason to write, I believe. She wants to emphasize the problems this world has, either by pointing out true or almost true stories or by making them up.

 Book Description:

"From one of the most important contemporary American writers, Cardiff, by the Sea is a bold, haunting collection of four previously unpublished novellas. In the titular novella, an academic in Pennsylvania discovers a terrifying trauma from her past after inheriting a house in Cardiff, Maine from someone she has never heard of. Mia, the protagonist of 'Miao Dao,' is a pubescent girl overcome with loneliness, who befriends a feral cat that becomes her protector from the increasingly aggressive males that surround her.

A brilliant but shy college sophomore realizes that she is pregnant in 'Phan-tomwise: 1972.' Distraught, she allows a distinguished visiting professor to take her under his wing, though it quickly becomes evident that he is interested in more than an academic mentorship. Lastly, 'The Surviving Child' is Stefan, who was spared when his mother, a famous poet, killed his sister and herself. Stefan's father remarries, but his young wife is haunted by dead poet's voice dancing in the wind, an inexplicably befouled well, and a compulsive draw to the same gar-age that took two lives.

In these psychologically daring, chillingly suspenseful pieces, Joyce Carol Oates writes about women facing threats past and present."

In October/November, we intend to read "The Accursed" (Goodreads). Let us know if you are interested in joining.