State of Grace [Paperback]

Joy Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 1990

Nominated for the National Book Award in 1974, this haunting, profoundly disquieting novel manages to be at once sparse and lush, to combine Biblical simplicity with Gothic intensity and strangeness. It is the story of Kate, despised by her mother, bound to her father by ties stronger and darker than blood. It is the story of her attempted escapes−in detached sexual encounters, at a Southern college populated by spoiled and perverse beauties, and in a doomed marriage to a man who cannot understand what she is running from. Witty, erotic, searing acute, STATE OF GRACE bears the inimitable stamp of one of our fines and most provocative writers.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (February 19, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679726195
• ISBN-13: 978-0679726197
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,046,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lost Classic, February 15, 2007

By 

James J. Arnett "Minor Frustration" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: State of Grace (Paperback)

This novel is truly a find. I echo the below review: how can such an unassuming piece of genius sit and languish on the shelf for so many years without ever garnering the readership it deserves? Suffice to say, State of Grace is like no other novel I've ever read, and I'm a PhD student in literature. It is lyrical and baffling, insightful and obscure. Perhaps the best corollary I can think of is Marilynne Robinson-- if Robinson surrendered herself to her ecstatic, mystic impulses. The story of a precious young woman and her will-less surge through the world is something to curl up with and devour. Treat yourself. Read it.

22 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE MILLION STARS, March 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: State of Grace (Paperback)

I picked up this book quite by accident, having been recommended to another Williams, or, perhaps, another Joy. Frustrated, I glanced at the first page, and, finding it not repellent, read a bit more. The next thing I knew, I was immersed in something extraordinary and rare. It's amazing--and depressing--that a book like this can exist, no longer heralded, buried on a shelf in a bookstore where a handful of people might discover it by accident. About the book there is little to say that can adequately describe what it's like, except that it's like plunging into the soul of a very particular young woman.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ironic name for the author.., September 19, 2011

By 

Cicada Nymph - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: State of Grace (Paperback)

I'm not into happily ever after stories but this has to be the most depressing book I have ever read. Nothing good or redeeming happens in it. People and animals are abused and die throughout it and there is not even an ounce of hope in the entire thing. The ending of the book made me sick. I think I dislike this book more than anything I have ever read.