Synopses & Reviews
An Otto Penzler Book
The need for love—obsessive, self-destructive, unpredictable—takes us to forbidden places, as in the chilling world of Give Me Your Heart, a new collection of stories by the inimitable Joyce Carol Oates.
In the suspenseful “Strip Poker,” a reckless adolescent girl must find a way of turning the tables on a gathering of increasingly threatening young men—Can she “outplay” them? In the award-winning “Smother!” a young womans nightmare memory of childhood brings trouble on her professor-mother—Which of them will “win”? In “Split/Brain” a woman who has blundered into a lethal situation confronts the possibility of saving herself—Will she take it? In “The First Husband,” a jealous man discovers that his wife seems to have lied about her first marriage, and exacts a cruel revenge, years after the fact. In these and other powerful tales, children veer beyond their parents control, wives and husbands wake up to find that they hardly know each other, haunted pasts intrude upon uncertain futures, and those who bring us the most harm may be the nearest at hand.
In ten razor-sharp stories, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates shows that the most deadly mysteries often begin at home.
Review
PRAISE FOR
THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES "Suspense fiction is like a powerful drug: one page, one taste, can induce such a tingly, speedy feeling that it takes an almost superhuman effort not to finish everything off in just one sitting. At least, thats how it is with Joyce Carol Oatess new collection of mystery and suspense stories . . . You cant put this book down."
The New York Times Book Review "As ever, Oates shocks, delights and amuses because she's so good at what she does."
The Baltimore Sun
Synopsis
An Otto Penzler Book The need for love--obsessive, self-destructive, unpredictable--takes us to forbidden places, as in the chilling world of
Give Me Your Heart, a new collection of stories by the inimitable Joyce Carol Oates. In ten razor-sharp stories, children veer beyond their parents control, wives and husbands wake up to find that they hardly know each other, haunted pasts intrude upon uncertain futures, and those who bring us the most harm may be the nearest at hand.
Synopsis
The need for love--obsessive, self-destructive, unpredictable--takes us to forbidden places, as in the chilling world of Give Me Your Heart, a new collection of stories by the inimitable Joyce Carol Oates.
In the suspenseful "Strip Poker," a reckless adolescent girl must find a way of turning the tables on a gathering of increasingly threatening young men--Can she "outplay" them? In the award-winning "Smother " a young woman's nightmare memory of childhood brings trouble on her professor-mother--Which of them will "win"? In "Split/Brain" a woman who has blundered into a lethal situation confronts the possibility of saving herself--Will she take it? In "The First Husband," a jealous man discovers that his wife seems to have lied about her first marriage, and exacts a cruel revenge, years after the fact. In these and other powerful tales, children veer beyond their parents' control, wives and husbands wake up to find that they hardly know each other, haunted pasts intrude upon uncertain futures, and those who bring us the most harm may be the nearest at hand.
In ten razor-sharp stories, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates shows that the most deadly mysteries often begin at home.
Synopsis
A new collection of mesmerizing, macabre tales from "one of the most important living American writers" (Peter Straub, The New Statesman).
Synopsis
“Haunting . . . Written in the authors classic, clear style, these narratives enchant.”—
Boston GlobeThe need for love—obsessive, self-destructive, unpredictable—takes us to forbidden places, as in the chilling world of Give Me Your Heart, a new collection of stories by the inimitable Joyce Carol Oates. In ten razor-sharp stories, children veer beyond their parents control, wives and husbands wake up to find that they hardly know each other, haunted pasts intrude upon uncertain futures, and those who bring us the most harm may be the nearest at hand.
“Dread, in fiction, can be a magnificent thing . . . Oates isnt writing horror fiction, but she might as well be. Her stories pack the same kind of visceral wallop.”—Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
In "Hi! Howya Doin!" an intrusive jogger meets with an abrupt fate; in "The Man Who Fought Roland LaStarza" a young womans romantic view of her girlhood is devastated by her fathers confessions; and in "Valentine, July Heat Wave" a man prepares a gruesome surprise for the wife who has betrayed him. In the title story, a young woman tries to rescue her mother from the museum of Dr. Moseswith unexpected results. And the children of a notorious serial killer struggle to "decode" the patterns behind their fathers seemingly random acts in "Bad Habits."
In these and other suspenseful stories, Joyce Carol Oates explores with chilling accuracy the ways in which evil enters our lives. The Museum of Dr. Moses is another masterpiece from "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation).
Synopsis
A young wife is home alone when the phone rings in So Help Me God.” Is the strange voice flirting with her from the other end of the line her jealous husband laying a trap, or a stranger who knows entirely too much about her? In Madison at Guignol” an unhappy fashionista discovers a secret door inside her favorite clothing store and insists the staff let her enter. But even her fevered imagination cannot anticipate the horror they have been hiding from her. In these and other gripping and disturbing tales, women are confronted by the evil around them and surprised by the evil they find within themselves.
With wicked insight, Joyce Carol Oates demonstrates why the females of the speciesbe they six-year-old girls, seemingly devoted wives, or aging mothersare by nature more deadly than the males.
About the Author
JOYCE CAROL OATES is the recipient of the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and the winner of the National Book Award. Among her major works are We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde, and The Falls.
Table of Contents
Contents
Hi! Howya Doin! 1
Suicide Watch 7
The Man Who Fought Roland LaStarza 25
Valentine, July Heat Wave 85
Bad Habits 98
Feral 120
The Hunter 146
The Twins: A Mystery 165
Stripping 182The Museum of Dr. Moses 185