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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Embittered Gardens,
By
This review is from: Garden of Earthly Delights (Paperback)
This is Joyce Carol Oates second published novel. It is where she proved her ability to write a powerful epic as she would later do again in novels such as Bellefleur. It follows the life of Clara, a woman born to migrant workers in the midst of the Depression. She is born appropriately in the middle of a violent accident. Here we see the delicacy and terrifying indifference of human life swept up in a sea of natural transformation. Children, parents and friends die in this bleak Darwinian environment. It is part of the course and they must accept it as they move to the next field where labour is required. Clara grows into a defensive and powerful woman bent on carving a safe space for herself in this harsh world. She falls in love with a man named Lowry who is independent and intelligent. Through him Clara establishes a new life for herself. Only after the birth of their son, Swan (Steven), must she make the decision whether to join with a wealthy restricted life with a man named Revere or lead a life of tumultuous romance with Lowry. Through Swan, Clara attempts to realise all the desires for living which were denied to her in her restricted upbringing. However, Swan, intelligent and emotional, has desires of an entirely different sort. This is a compelling novel that knowledgably explores the multifarious stages of life: the tense exploration of childhood, the embittered compromises of adulthood and the difficult choices we must make to survive. It is a beautifully crafted work.
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of her best,
By
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This review is from: A Garden of Earthly Delights (20th Century Rediscoveries Series) (Paperback)
This book combines the best of all things Oatesian. If released as a new work today, it would blast through the awards committees faster than a Philip Roth masterpiece. This reworking of Oates's second novel seamlessly integrates the fire of her yuthful writing, full of her own personal experiences, with the seasoned mastery of her later writing style. This completely rewritten book is ultimately satisfying because there is nothing to overlook due to inexperienced enthusiasm (like many of her early works). If anyone is considering an Oates novel to explore her for the first time, to bring into a summer reading program for youth, or to round out a high school curriculum, this is your book. For anyone who already loves her unique style and phenomenal skill, going back to this early novel will satisfy your cravings like nothing else in the world. This is Oates at her best. Though her murder stories (Zombie and the Rosamond Smith serial killer series) and child abuse novels (First Love, Beasts, and You Must Remember This) provide more of her famous poignant horror, Garden of Earthly Delights carries the weight of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. You can't get better than this for mastery of the classic mid 20th century novel form.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great writing and great storytelling,
By
This review is from: A Garden of Earthly Delights (20th Century Rediscoveries Series) (Paperback)
Joyce Carol Oates revised and rewrote The Garden of Earthly Delights; this new version was just published in 2003 under the Modern Library 20th century rediscovered. (This was the author's second novel originally published in 1966.) The novel follows the life of Clara Walpole, born in a ditch to migrant workers during the Great Depression. She grows up moving from camp to camp, picking when children are allowed to pick, and going to school when required. There are four important men in her life, and no important women. There's her father. He loves Clara, but not her brothers, and not her mother. Her mother is worn out and dies leaving Clara to take care of her brothers. Her father brings Nancy into the household. He needs to have a woman. Clara learns about incest when her friend Rosalie's father is taken by the KKK. Terror reigns in the camp. The men think that they can do nothing, perhaps because they think it is a just punishment for getting his daughter pregnant, or perhaps because they fear the Klan. Shortly after that incident, Clara goes into town and meets Lowry, who takes her away with him. Joyce Carol Oates does the unexpected. She makes Lowry a decent sort of chap. Lowry sets Clara up in his home town. He gets her a job, and a place to stay. Lowry tells Clara that she needs to lie; she must tell everyone that she is sixteen years old. Otherwise, she will end up in an orphanage. Of course Clara is in love. Then there is Revere, both wealthy and married. And finally there is Clara's son, Swan. Interwoven with these men are four Claras. There is Clara the child, Clara the teenager, Clara the woman, and finally, Clara as worn out as her mother was when she died. I love reading Joyce Carol Oates. Although she is unique, sometimes she reminds me of Steinbeck, and sometime she reminds me of Stephen King. But, in The Garden of Earthly Delights, she reminds me of Barbara Kingsolver. If you enjoy great writing, and a terrific story, you will enjoy this book. I highly recommend The Garden of Earthly Delights.
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