Synopses & Reviews
In 1936 the Schwarts, an immigrant family desperate to escape Nazi Germany, settle in a small town in upstate New York, where the father, a former high school teacher, is demeaned by the only job he can get: gravedigger and cemetery caretaker. After local prejudice and the family's own emotional frailty result in unspeakable tragedy, the gravedigger's daughter, Rebecca, begins her astonishing pilgrimage into America, an odyssey of erotic risk and imaginative daring, ingenious self-invention, and, in the end, a bittersweet but very "American" triumph. "You are born here, they will not hurt you" so the gravedigger has predicted for his daughter, which will turn out to be true.
In The Gravedigger's Daughter, Oates has created a masterpiece of domestic yet mythic realism, at once emotionally engaging and intellectually provocative: an intimately observed testimony to the resilience of the individual to set beside such predecessors as The Falls, Blonde, and We Were the Mulvaneys.
Review
"Some have called this book an urban myth. I see it as a highly personal epic tale, sprawling yet intimate....This may well be Oates' masterpiece. It's obviously a book very close to her heart." Oregonian
Review
"[A]n amalgam of tedious rehashing and compelling drama....A truly representative sampling of this unpredictable author's grind-it-out strengths and mind-boggling weaknesses." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A] novel whose sometimes-intense subject matter...might appear grueling for some, but proves immensely rewarding for the willing....The Gravedigger's Daughter isn't arduous at all. In fact, while it sounds strange to say about a novel so preoccupied with death, it's invigorating." Charlotte Observer
Review
"The prose gallops along on a loose rein perhaps too loose. At 582 pages, the narrative can be slack and repetitive, but Oates confidently delivers another very American saga of lurid misfortune. (Grade: B+)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"Though clearly meant to have an epic sweep, The Gravedigger's Daughter feels like a four-hour film that should have been cut by 90 minutes....The most compelling aspect of this story is the manner in which the gravedigger's daughter creates a new persona." New York Times
Review
"Oates is supremely atmospheric, erotic, and suspenseful in this virtuoso novel of identity, power, and moral reckoning." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Joyce Carol Oates' writing...is spellbinding and raw. She is a mesmerizing storyteller." Denver Post
Review
"[U]nquestionably one of Oates' finest novels, rendered in taut, vivid language, with an emotional power....She honors her own complex heritage, and that of all Americans, in her extraordinary fiction." Chicago Tribune
Review
"This book is easy to admire, and difficult to love." Seattle Times
Synopsis
In 1936 the Schwarts, an immigrant family desperate to escape Nazi Germany, settle in a small town in upstate New York, where the father, a former high school teacher, is demeaned by the only job he can get: gravedigger and cemetery caretaker. After local prejudice and the family's own emotional frailty result in unspeakable tragedy, the gravedigger's daughter, Rebecca, begins her astonishing pilgrimage into America, an odyssey of erotic risk and imaginative daring, ingenious self-invention, and, in the end, a bittersweet--but very "American"--triumph. "You are born here, they will not hurt you"--so the gravedigger has predicted for his daughter, which will turn out to be true.
In The Gravedigger's Daughter, Oates has created a masterpiece of domestic yet mythic realism, at once emotionally engaging and intellectually provocative: an intimately observed testimony to the resilience of the individual to set beside such predecessors as The Falls, Blonde, and We Were the Mulvaneys.
Synopsis
From one of the greatest literary forces of our time, an intensely realized and masterful epic of a young woman's struggle for identity and survival in post-World War II America.
About the Author
Joyce Carol Oates is the author of the forthcoming The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense. She is a recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is also the recipient of the 2005 Prix Femina for The Falls. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and she has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.