The Falls: A Novel [Paperback]

Joyce Carol Oates (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 2008

It is 1950 and, after a disastrous honeymoon night, Ariah Erskine's young husband throws himself into the roaring waters of Niagara Falls. Ariah, "the Widow Bride of the Falls," begins a relentless seven-day vigil in the mist, waiting for his body to be found. At her side is confirmed bachelor and pillar of the community Dirk Burnaby, who is unexpectedly drawn to this plain, strange woman. What follows is a passionate love affair, marriage, and family—a seemingly perfect existence. But the tragedy by which they were thrown together begins to shadow them, damaging their idyll with distrust, greed, and even murder.

Set against the mythic-historic backdrop of Niagara Falls in the mid-twentieth century, this haunting exploration of the American family in crisis is a stunning achievement from "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Oates is not only on her authentically rendered home ground in this sprawling novel set in the city of Niagara Falls during the 1950s, she is also writing at the top of her form. Her febrile prose is especially appropriate to a story as turbulent as the tumultuous waters that have claimed many lives over the years. Widowed on her wedding night when her new husband, a young minister and latent homosexual, throws himself into the falls, Ariah Littrell, the plain, awkward daughter of a minister, henceforth considers herself damned. Her bleak future becomes miraculously bright when Dirk Burnaby, a handsome, wealthy bon vivant with an altruistic heart, falls in love with the media-dubbed Widow-Bride. Their rapturous happiness is shadowed only by Ariah's illogical conviction over the years that Dirk will leave her and their three children someday. Her unreasonable fear becomes self-fulfilling when her increasingly unstable behavior, combined with Dirk's obsessed but chaste involvement with Nina Olshaker, a young mother who enlists his help in alerting the city fathers to the pestilential conditions in the area later to be known as Love Canal, opens a chasm in their marriage. His gentle heart inspired by a need for justice, Dirk takes on the powerful, corrupt politicians, his former peers and pals, in a disastrous lawsuit that ruins him socially and financially and results in his death. Oates adroitly addresses the material of this "first" class action lawsuit and makes the story fresh and immediate. "In the end, all drama is about family," a character muses, and while the narrative occasionally lapses into melodrama in elucidating this theme, Oates spins a haunting story in which nature and humans are equally rapacious and self-destructive.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Bookmarks Magazine

The Falls reads like a 19th-century epic, with echoes of the gothic. Some critics saw this approach as melodramatic; others called it sublime. Both celebrated and criticized for her prolific output (she has more than 50 books to her name), Oates is well known for probing the psychological depths of her characters, as she did in We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde. This novel is no exception. Despite general praise (after all, most of Oates’s works are small masterpieces), the consensus is it’s not her most powerful novel. While the plot may grip some readers, the book will likely appeal to those who enjoy depth of character development, interesting (if, at times, overdone) prose, and a brave, brave ending.

In our Book by Book Profile of Joyce Carol Oates in our May/June 2003 issue, Jessica Teisch wrote: “Where to Start: A daunting task, as Oates has been prolific across numerous genres and media. Oates is a master of the short story, and Where are You Going, Where Have You Been? is a collection of some of her best work. For classic Oates, turn to Them. For Oates with a dash of hope, try We Were the Mulvaneys.”

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Ecco (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061565342
• ISBN-13: 978-0061565342
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #797,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joyce Carol Oates is the author of more than 70 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry volumes, plays, essays, and criticism, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde. Among her many honors are the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and the National Book Award. Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars hard to characterize, March 15, 2005

By 

EriKa "E" (Iceland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Falls: A Novel (Hardcover)

If I have learned anything in my recent and voracious reading of Joyce Carol Oates's exhaustive library of works, it is not only that she is a prolific writer but one of elegant prose and expertly woven stories. She manages gripping detail, driving the reader on to find out what's next, even when there is nothing really happening. The spellbinding nature of The Falls (Niagara Falls itself) is clearly illustrated, but what of the supposedly spellbinding nature of the main character of this novel, Ariah? I was not able to see what Dirk, the wealthy playboy who falls in love with and marries Ariah after she is widowed, sees in her. Maybe that is part of the overarching mystery. The story has a strange beginning-staged, unhappy marriage ended on the wedding night by suicide, which extends into an unconventional and fortuitous marriage for the so-called Widow Bride, Ariah. Despite the complexity and unstable nature of Ariah's character (and her belief that Dirk would somehow leave her sooner or later) I also don't see the logical progression of other aspects of her character... how did she change to become the woman she became? Was it wealth? Was it the attentions of Dirk, whom so many others had failed to capture? In any case, the grace and elegance of the story almost makes you forget that there is very little happening for long stretches of this book.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Niagara Flow, November 7, 2004

By 

Janis Rothermel (Longport, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Falls: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is one of my top books this year. I loved the story(ies), the characters and the setting. Ms. Oates characters are beautifully defined with enough room to form one's own mind with persoanl fill in here and there. I could see these characters. I often felt like I was in the room with them (behind a curtain, of course). It is a terrific saga with hidden innuendos and opinions that the reader learns about in its appropriate time. I learned a lot about the Niagara Falls area. Having been a visitor there once, it expanded my own idea of the place-its history, socio-economics, its evolution from an old, grand tourist destination to a modern one and the environs. I learned about struggle. I was reminded that often where we sometimes believe someone's heart is, is not really where it is at all. I was reminded that one's life can change in a flash, not only one's circumstances, but one's entire belief system. And again, how quickly it will or can change again. And through it all am reminded how humans cope, and how differently they cope. The struggles, the triumphs, the pain, the joy were all here. I liked every one of these characters. I felt like I knew each one, and in fact wanted to know each one. Ms.Oates led the pace of the story well. Her ending was appropriate and left room for more. I highly recommend this book, and am delighted that Ms. Oates is a premiere American writer who I know I can look forward to reading more of her works in the years ahead. Thank you, Ms. Oates for a great book, well written and so well crafted.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat disappointing, September 16, 2005

By 

Tracy L. (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Falls: A Novel (Hardcover)

I enjoyed about 80% of this book and feel it is only worthy of a three star review. I found the story interesting, compelling and plausible, up until Royall meets the "Woman in Black" in the cemetery. I felt the author made fools out of her readers with this scene. It's as if she could not find a way to reconnect Dirk and what happened to him to his family, and chose to come up with what I believe is a completely unrealistic way (in what was otherwise a very realistic story) in which to do it. As I was reading this portion of the book, my only response to it was "WHAT?!?" Or, maybe she decided she had to throw some sex back into the book since there hadn't been any in a while. I'm not sure, but it completely soured me on the rest of the book.

I felt the book's ending a bit unsatisfactory - far to many questions left unanswered. This was my second book by this author and might just be my last.