I came across this book, almost by mistake, earlier this year when I was visiting a bookstore and after reading the blurb, I knew I had to have it!
This was my first experience with Joyce Carol Oates and I was expecting to be intimidated by her work, but in fact I am impressed and in awe of her writing style. It think it was after watching the episode of Younger, where Joyce Carol Oates is celebrated that I wanted to give her work a shot. I thought that this book was written years ago, when to my surprise it was only released last year.
At first, I found her writing style distracting and I felt as though the flow of my reading was being disturbed, but as I carried on reading I got used to her style and it eventually felt natural and acceptable.
Her style involves putting words that are meant to be a parenthesis in brackets instead of commas, as it is most commonly done today. But, I do feel by using the brackets it creates a more forced pause from the reader and a more conscious intake of the parenthesis she is emphasizing. A way to get you to think about what she has just said.
Beyond that, Joyce Carol Oates has a unique tone to her story and manages to give each character a different feel and personality. The story is a basic one, but one that holds so much guilt and fear that many women experience and suffer from today.
I found ‘Pursuit’ to be a rather haunting story, especially because of the violence women experience by men is outrageously on the increase and femicide is a frightening crisis of today.
If you are someone who would like to start or at least give reading a classic novel or author a try, Joyce Carol Oates is a pleasant introduction into that genre. Many classics can be overwhelming and daunting to tackle but she easily writes with a voice that is relatable to a younger and newer audience.
Blurb
Abby, a young and traumatised woman, marries a highly religious young man, Willem. They haven’t known each other very long, but after Abby is in a horrific accident, she eventually confides in Willem, her haunting and troubled past.
Abby was told both her parents had abandoned her as a child, but at separate times in her life. Abby, still a child, discovers that truth about her parents but never tells anyone. She believes she is to blame for their deaths and that she never deserves to be happy in life.
Abby, discovers the decomposing bodies of her parents in a filed behind her father’s abandoned farmhouse, and they are handcuffed together.
Was it a murder, a suicide?
No one knows the truth except the dead.
Cocolily_Reads 