Customer Reviews

The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Oates' stories don't include a single ghost or supernatural event. Instead these 10 macabre tales focus on the happenstance of evil colliding with ordinary life. Many of the stories carry a sense of inevitability.

The opening story homes in on the bullying personality of a beefy runner who likes to startle the weaker runners in his path. You know how it's going to end and can only watch, with a certain uncomfortable satisfaction.

Some, like "Valentine" - a monologue from a spurned man to his lover - have a Poe-like feel, lucid but unhinged. From the first word the outcome is certain, but the reader is riveted all the same.

Others imagine the psychological effects of a very specific event - the change in a long-awaited child after a near-death accident; or the strange, halting absorption of understanding that Daddy is a serial killer.

These are stories to be read singly, not in a gulp. They are visceral, gruesome and unsparing of the darker aspects of human nature; also beautifully crafted and compelling.

It's often said that no American writer has ever had a greater capacity to re-invent herself than Joyce Carol Oates. The trouble is, not every new literary incarnation of this great writer is an improvement on the old. When she released what might be regarded as her first true collection of macabre stories with 1994's Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque, it was a bold move for this woman whose primary reputation rested on the strength of her non-genre writings, and most received that book with generous praise. The trouble is, little did we know then that she would return to mine this vein again and again, and with each visitation find less there.

The Museum Of Doctor Moses serves to gives us some very disturbing short stories. As a whole it contains one passably good story, the title one, an Oatesean tale that is both believable and shocking enough to merit some praise, and its presents some lesser pieces that I've already halfway put out of my mind. The remainder of the collection falls somewhere beneath the quality of the story of the disturbed and disturbing Doctor Moses, and at times well below it.

"Hi! Howya Doin!" was as direct as A+B=C, and could easily have been constructed by a gifted seventh-grader.

"Suicide Watch" had a "lifted from the headlines" feel to it, as did much of Oates' far superior 1991 collection Heat, and while not a terrible story, was decidedly unworthy of the talents Oates has long proven she owns.

"Stripping" the worst story in this anthology was frankly a waste of paper, ink, and time on both the reader and writer's behalf.

The revenge-themed "Valentine, July Heat Wave" was the story that more than any others in Doctor Moses has the tone of classic Joyce Carol Oates, but even it was not particularly memorable.

Which leaves a half-dozen other stories I'll decline to comment on here. None of what remained to be read was all that bad or all that good, either, but all in all were disappointments.

Perhaps I expect too much from Joyce Carol Oates. She has spent half a century crafting an impressive body of literature sure to be read and studied for many generations. At her time of life she has certainly earned the luxury of writing what she wishes. I only wish that she would "reincarnate" into a form that would lead on to something more worthwhile than most of what she's published thus far in this decade, the tens.

Read at your own discretion but don't be surprised if you come away a little disappointed.

"The Museum Of Dr. Moses" is perhaps one of Joyce's greatest efforts in the milieu of the macabre. Unlike many of her previous books and stories on the theme, this book actually discusses situations that are much more day to day occurring and much easier to empathize with than are some of her most gruesome stories of the past.

In many ways, this technique brings the world of the macabre in coincidence with the world of daily life. In her story "Hi! Howya Doin!" she describes a jogger who in his physically fit and nonchalant manner becomes an irritant to others. It is easy to imagine this irritation, and how some others might react to it. In fact, it is interesting for the reader to imagine, that even the somewhat unexpected and macabre end is something they can actually empathize doing.

Other stories are even more detailed and more graphic in illustrating the macabre. Yet each of them are tied enough to regular daily life, that it can be imagined by the reader. It can even be imagined that the reader could be in that position. For example, in her story, "Valentine, July Heat Wave" the story involves a couple that have recently separated and a final meeting prior to the inevitable divorce. Yet this meeting is not like any other in the past.

Once again, Joyce's style of portrayal is such that the reader can imagine being in such a similar situation, without that much of a stretch. Only an assumption that their spouse is a little crazed. That in fact probably covers about 96% of marriages in America. Using this new style, Joyce allows the reader to come close to the macabre experience through her articulation.

The book is recommended for all readers interested in tales of the grotesque and macabre. It is also highly recommended for JCO readers in general as it is a new stylistic metamorphosis on the theme for the author.

I bought this specifically to read "Suicide Watch," but found myself hooked into many of the other pieces. Oates' stories were truly haunting and each one leaves a reader completely unsettled. This is a great collection; and, although, I'm hardly impartial, I found "Suicide Watch" to be one of the most interesting short works of recent American fiction.

Joyce Carol Oates has floored me with the best that short fiction could offer. With collections like The Female of the Species and Transgressions, she has written stories that disturb you in more ways than one. Her stuff is literary, with a touch of suspense and terror for good measure. The Museum of Dr. Moses, while not her best effort, continues to bring in amazing efforts.

"Hi! How Ya Doing?" is about a friendly jogger whose casual inquiry drives a woman over the edge. Children are driven away from their normal lives after a family tragedy turns to a media scandal in "Bad Habits." Obsessive love is depicted beautifully, if disturbingly in "Valentine, July Heat Wave." Suspense and mystery are the main theme in "The Museum of Dr. Moses."

Those are my favorite stories in this collection. The others -- "Suicide Watch," "Stripping," "Feral," "The Hunter," "The Twins," etc. -- are good, but not as engaging as other Oates efforts I have read. You cannot go wrong with this author. Not if you're in the bargain for a high quality read. I cannot recommend her enough.

I suppose some literary geniuses out there think it beneath an author of JCO's caliber to stoop to writing horror (which is what this anthology is-- ignore the "mystery and suspense" tag), a waste of her talents they call it. Well, I'd like to balance out their criticism by lavishing this book with praise! I speak for all my fellow horror loving slobs when I say that this book delivers the chills!

The second story, "Suicide Watch" was jaw-droppingly disturbing as the reader is left to reach his own conclusion about what happened to the main character's grandson. A fantastic read!

Another story that was so good it made me wanna cry was "Feral" in which a yuppie couple's boy drowns, is revived but something is different about him after the near-death incident. Another truly chilling read.

"Valentine, Heat Wave," "Bad Habits," and "The Museum of Dr. Moses" were all tales that floored me as well. Really, there was only one I didn't dig ("Stripping"), other than that one stinker, the rest is gold.

Joyce Carol Oates is widely recognized as one of the best writers of the last half century, but among horror fans, she is seldom mentioned, which puzzles me as so much of her work is amazingly gruesome and scary.

Highly reccomended!

While agreeing with fans of Joyce Carol Oates that her prose and general writing style are second to none, this collection of macabre stories failed to please. Perhaps the stories are just TOO unpleasant and, although I'm as sure as can be that I'll be condemned as precious and unworthy to understand such a brilliant writer, I still choose to risk running the gauntlet of her followers to state that these stories both depressed and sickened me. My reading time is too precious to waste any of it on feeling depressed and demoralized, even by such a fine writer as Joyce Carol Oates.

I found the stories dull and ponderous. They seemed to be going nowhere and that's exactly where they left me when I finished laboring through them.