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by Joyce Carol Oates
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by Joyce Carol Oates
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by Joyce Carol Oates
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by Joyce Carol Oates
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by Joyce Carol Oates
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
When a reclusive, 38-year-old writer hires a near-illiterate young woman as an assistant at his suburban home in Carmel Heights, near Rochester, N.Y., he's unaware that a vehement anti-Semitism seethes beneath her tattoo-branded exterior. Renowned for The Shadows-his great early success, a novel based on his grandparents' experiences in Germany during the Holocaust-Joshua Seigl confuses his friends and sparks the anger of his hypomanic sister, Jet, when despite their objections he refuses to fire the young woman. A full portrait of the amiable, disillusioned Seigl emerges as he translates Virgil's The Aeneid, makes excuses for his failing health (he has recently been diagnosed with a debilitating nerve disease) and interacts erratically with his concerned friend, Sondra. Meanwhile, the mentally hollowed-out Tattooed Girl comes to seem a more realistic victim of persecution than any character in Seigl's historical fiction. Her soft, fleshy skin is defaced with ugly tattoos burned beneath her eye and on the backs of her hands by a mysterious group of abusive males. With scarcely a shred of self-esteem, she mumbles "Alma" to those who ask her name, "as if she had no surname. Or her surname wasn't important, as Alma herself wasn't important." She continually tries to impress her abusive, Jew-hating boyfriend, Dmitri, with little treasures stolen from her employer. Yet as she learns more about Seigl and his heritage, she can no longer ignore the dignity and respect with which he treats her. With her usual cadenced grace, Oates (We Were the Mulvaneys; Blonde; etc.) tells a mesmerizing, disturbing tale-though the little that is revealed of the Tattooed Girl's past may leave fans wanting more. Like the readers of Seigl's The Shadows, those who look for more meaning beneath the surface will be "forced to imagine what the writer doesn't reveal."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
The wildly prolific Oates takes readers on another long, strange trip to the dark side in typically riveting fashion. Celebrated intellectual Joshua Seigl has been diagnosed with a debilitating nerve disorder at the age of 39. Having virtually fled from normal life into the orderly world of books, he is now faced with hiring an assistant to help him put his papers in order and negotiate stairs and doctors' appointments. He rejects, out of hand, any number of bright, fawning graduate students, settling instead on Alma, a virtually homeless street person. Seriously disturbed by her abusive upbringing, Alma has led a rebellious life of aimless promiscuity and drug taking and was victimized in high school by her so-called friends, who crudely tattooed her face and hands with ink. In some strange form of symbiosis, she proves herself to be an invaluable assistant. In one of the book's stunning ironies, Joshua, who wrote an acclaimed novel while still in his twenties, based largely on distorting the nature of his grandparents' experiences during the Holocaust, is ignorant of the fact that Alma is a virulent anti-Semite. His persistent kindness wins her over, but his naivete eventually costs Alma her life. Oates, who here creates the atmosphere of a fever dream, gives full rein to her fascination with the perverse side of human nature, and her readers will be mesmerized. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
When a reclusive, 38-year-old writer hires a near-illiterate young woman as an assistant at his suburban home in Carmel Heights, near Rochester, N.Y., he's unaware that a vehement anti-Semitism seethes beneath her tattoo-branded exterior. Renowned for The Shadows-his great early success, a novel based on his grandparents' experiences in Germany during the Holocaust-Joshua Seigl confuses his friends and sparks the anger of his hypomanic sister, Jet, when despite their objections he refuses to fire the young woman. A full portrait of the amiable, disillusioned Seigl emerges as he translates Virgil's The Aeneid, makes excuses for his failing health (he has recently been diagnosed with a debilitating nerve disease) and interacts erratically with his concerned friend, Sondra. Meanwhile, the mentally hollowed-out Tattooed Girl comes to seem a more realistic victim of persecution than any character in Seigl's historical fiction. Her soft, fleshy skin is defaced with ugly tattoos burned beneath her eye and on the backs of her hands by a mysterious group of abusive males. With scarcely a shred of self-esteem, she mumbles "Alma" to those who ask her name, "as if she had no surname. Or her surname wasn't important, as Alma herself wasn't important." She continually tries to impress her abusive, Jew-hating boyfriend, Dmitri, with little treasures stolen from her employer. Yet as she learns more about Seigl and his heritage, she can no longer ignore the dignity and respect with which he treats her. With her usual cadenced grace, Oates (We Were the Mulvaneys; Blonde; etc.) tells a mesmerizing, disturbing tale-though the little that is revealed of the Tattooed Girl's past may leave fans wanting more. Like the readers of Seigl's The Shadows, those who look for more meaning beneath the surface will be "forced to imagine what the writer doesn't reveal."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
The wildly prolific Oates takes readers on another long, strange trip to the dark side in typically riveting fashion. Celebrated intellectual Joshua Seigl has been diagnosed with a debilitating nerve disorder at the age of 39. Having virtually fled from normal life into the orderly world of books, he is now faced with hiring an assistant to help him put his papers in order and negotiate stairs and doctors' appointments. He rejects, out of hand, any number of bright, fawning graduate students, settling instead on Alma, a virtually homeless street person. Seriously disturbed by her abusive upbringing, Alma has led a rebellious life of aimless promiscuity and drug taking and was victimized in high school by her so-called friends, who crudely tattooed her face and hands with ink. In some strange form of symbiosis, she proves herself to be an invaluable assistant. In one of the book's stunning ironies, Joshua, who wrote an acclaimed novel while still in his twenties, based largely on distorting the nature of his grandparents' experiences during the Holocaust, is ignorant of the fact that Alma is a virulent anti-Semite. His persistent kindness wins her over, but his naivete eventually costs Alma her life. Oates, who here creates the atmosphere of a fever dream, gives full rein to her fascination with the perverse side of human nature, and her readers will be mesmerized. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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First Sentence:
HE HAD KNOWN it must happen soon. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
nineteen stone steps, tattooed girl, nerve disease Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Alma Busch, Carmel Heights, Sondra Blumenthal, Dmitri Meatte, Karl Seigl, New York, Akron Valley, Book Seller, Miss Busch, Mount Carmel Cemetery, Madame Zee, Palm Beach, University of Rochester, Delray Busch, Lake Ontario, Jehane de Brigue, Jesus Christ, Mary Beth, Greaves Place, Jet Steadman-Seigl, The Food Shop, Tuscarora River, Union Street, Wind Ridge New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
HE HAD KNOWN it must happen soon. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
nineteen stone steps, tattooed girl, nerve disease Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Alma Busch, Carmel Heights, Sondra Blumenthal, Dmitri Meatte, Karl Seigl, New York, Akron Valley, Book Seller, Miss Busch, Mount Carmel Cemetery, Madame Zee, Palm Beach, University of Rochester, Delray Busch, Lake Ontario, Jehane de Brigue, Jesus Christ, Mary Beth, Greaves Place, Jet Steadman-Seigl, The Food Shop, Tuscarora River, Union Street, Wind Ridge New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 36
books:
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7
books
cite this book:
See all 7 books citing this book
- You Must Remember This by Joyce Carol Oates in Front Matter
- Middle Age: A Romance by Joyce Carol Oates in Back Matter
- Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang by Joyce Carol Oates in Front Matter
- Son of the Morning by Joyce Carol Oates in Front Matter
- A Garden of Earthly Delights (20th Century Rediscoveries) by Joyce Carol Oates in Front Matter
See all 36 books this book cites
- The Best American Magazine Writing 2003 (Best American Magazine Writing) by American Society Of Magazine Editors in Back Matter
- Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy by Al Sarrantonio on page 89
- The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art by Joyce Carol Oates in Back Matter
- Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy, Volume I by Al Sarrantonio on page 125
- Dangerous Women by Otto Penzler in Front Matter
See all 7 books citing this book
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