This Particular Set of Russian Nesting Dolls

I finish reading The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates and stare at the ceiling, the back of my hand against my forehead. Try to think. It's not like The Falls, the book that I l loved, at all. And yet I don't hate it, and there is satisfaction in the ending along with that axe grinding. I mean there is JCO's fierce writing, but the first word that comes to mind is: sprawling. It's a sprawling novel, running hither and yon within the sharp confines of a small world that is Princeton.

The plot is like a Russian nesting doll. There is a plot within a plot within a plot within a plot and they all fit together very nicely. All the loose ends—well, by the time you reach The Covenant there are none. Not one. So the next word that comes to mind is: choreographed. It is so tight, and everyone fits so perfectly in their places—to their detriment. They feel so very passive.

Todd is the only one who seems to have a will. And it's all temper tantrums until he finds a secret passage and has to play that life-or-death game of draughts. And that, for me, was the best scene, because when Todd is sweating so that he can hardly see the game board, he at least feels real and alive. The others are like wisps or cut-out paper dolls or are just annoying in their unwillingness or inability to step out of line and assert themselves as characters who might topple the very carefully and ingeniously constructed plot.

Sigh.

Yes, The Accused is very much like a set of Russian nesting dolls, like this set in particular  ...

And, yes, I'll probably read another one of her damned books.

A Hysterical Paranormal

I am reading The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates. It's more historical fiction than vampire/paranormal. Qualification: I'm only halfway through the very long book, although I have to confess that at 48% I'm thinking Rosebud and when will Orson Welles show up; and at 49% I'm thinking, OMG, here comes Dr. Freud. It's kind of comprehensive like that.

Or if not Dr. Freud, then maybe Dr. Jung. And everyone in the vicinity of THE INSTITUTION of Princeton could just self-actualize before it's all said and done. But that's not Jung that's Maslow…see how confusing all these historical figures are, and, now, alongside fictional figures?

I mean…if Sherlock Holmes can show up with Woodrow Wilson Grover Cleveland Teddy Roosevelt and Upton Sinclar, why not the others? I know, I know, The Accursed is set well before Citizen Kane's TIME, 1905-1906 to be exact (and the book is very exact about that time frame) but … maybe there could have been a premonition…or a foretelling…or a vision…better yet…A NIGHTMARE. You know about the sleigh. Sled. Okay.

It's also hard not to think about Abraham Lincoln Vampire Killer, I mean Hunter, although I only saw the movie—didn't read the book...

So I picked up The Accursed in a Joyce Carol Oates frenzy. I'd just finished The Falls which, I have to tell you, I loved madly. It's exquisite, telling the story of Ariah (like pariah with the P left off—and you've got to wonder if that's a coincidence or the author being clever) anyway…where was I?

Oh, yes. The story of Ariah that is told in The Falls. I love it because it is a story, basically, about how life breaks you down, pulls you apart, puts you back together, and then sets you free. See, I wrote that JCO is mean to her characters (she is) (she is really mean to her characters in The Accursed. Am I supposed to like Annabel?) but at the end of The Falls there is Juliet and Bud and, well, they are grace.

Personified.

But so far, The Accursed, is kind of like a hysterical paranormal … you know … kind of like those Salem witch trials.

I'm so Taken by The Falls

I'm reading The Falls: A Novel (P.S.) by Joyce Carol Oates. Very Old Skool. I know I used to read Joyce Carol Oates, but I go back and look through her catalogue of 70 plus novels, short story collections, and plays, and only one title sticks out, You Must Remember This. But I've forgotten most—almost all?—of the story. But she's been writing up a storm since then with all sorts of intriguing new titles like: The Accursed, Daddy Love, Mudwoman, and Zombie.

I got The Falls for $2.99. One of those Pixel of Ink things that assures I'll never ever ever take another breath without something interesting to read on my Kindle.

I'm so taken by The Falls. As I said, very Old Skool, and gender is a prominent theme. Kind of like it's being hit with a sledgehammer. Oates isn't a friendly writer. Nor is she a romantic writer in that if she's ever had a pair of rose-colored glasses I'm sure that she's smashed them. Probably with that sledgehammer. And if anyone was ballsy enough to give her another pair, I wouldn't be surprised if she crushed them with her bare hands right in front of them. Probably said something like: Rose-tinted things are for the fearful and fools.

As a writer, she's not really kind or generous towards her characters. She's kind of mean, really. Most of them are neurotic, limited, shallow, obsessive…gender stereotypes lurk beneath every single one like stick figures or old-fashioned dressmakers mannequins without heads. And yet…gender issues are fascinating. The lens of sexual identity is infinite. I'm not sure anyone has done it more exhaustively than Oates. I'm definitely going to be picking up some of her newer works once I've finished The Falls.