Monday, May 6, 2013

Zombies (using an ice pick)

I just finished Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates. From the first to the last page this is horror. Q_ P_ and all of his appointments with Mr. T_, Dr. E_, and Dr. B_. H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E stuff. The serial killer hides in plain sight. And everyone fawning over him and all his unrealized P-O-T-E-N-T-I-A-L. Cause you can't be NICE ENOUGH or ACCOMMODATING ENOUGH to someone who wants to make ZOMBIES (using an ice pick). Cause probably, you know, there was some trauma in his past. That's NOT CLEAR. But if everyone's NICE ENOUGH to him and TREATS HIM WITH ENOUGH RESPECT, you know, he won't kill anyone else.
Right? Maybe? Hope so.

This book unearths all those THEORIES, like it gets a trowel out and drags it through the dirt leaving gouges…and you're kind of like, yeah, aren't we the STUPID ONES?

Joyce Carol Oates is an incisive psychological writer. Again. And again. And again. She brings something fearless to the pages and even when it's such C-H-I-L-L-I-N-G HORROR that you ask yourself: Why am I reading this? you have to acknowledge she's one PHINE WRITER.