Review: Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang

My poor abandoned blog- it was a rather busy end of quarter. It's over now and I'm back. So, back to the reviewing.


This novel is a fictionalized account of an all-female gang that forms in a working class community in upstate New York. The gang, Foxfire, is founded by a group of girls who've all suffered alienation and lack of parental attention. The girls share a sense of being alienated and restricted from any sort of real social benefits or meaningful relationships because of their age, gender, economic status, and family situation. The gang is formed, and begins, by using public humiliation and minor violence to bring justice to local men who have abused the privileges of their gender. Quickly, though, their activities escalate, and it becomes clear that the gang is on a path to self-destruction. This book was a bit hard to get into at first because its written in the tone and style of one of the gang's members, but the writing becomes engrossing. Oates truly takes on the tone and spirit of a teenage girl gang. While this is part of what makes the book hard to get into, it ultimately makes for an engrossing story. It is striking just how anti-male Foxfire's violence is, and the book seems to suggest that this is one of the myriad of social responses to a world in which girls are expendable objects, sexualized, and undervalued. Indeed, Oates invites the reader to consider the gang and it's activities as part of a continuum of responses that individuals in a depressed, sexist, and emotionally alienated society might produce. The book is as much a critique of the word that made Foxfire possible as it is a narration of the gang's activities. While Oates does not excuse the violence she clearly assigns broader culpability to the world in which these girls live.

Joyce Carol Oates, Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (Plume, 1994) ISBN: 0452272319

RIP III Complete, with Review: The Female of the Species

This collection of short stories examines the capacity of women to do evil. Bringing us into the depths of horror, Oates's protagonists range in age, interest, and situation. We meet a six-year-old girl, a young nurse, a middle-aged fashionista, and an elderly woman dying in a nursing home, among others. What unites all of these women across their stories are the desperate personal circumstances in which they find themselves, and the realization that the only path out is a dark and disturbing one. As with much of Oates's work, this collection addresses the exploitation and marginalization of women in American society, yet it does so through horror and suspense. This is a deliciously suspenseful collection, excellent reading for a spooky October night.

And with this, I am finished with my RIP III challenge. It's been a great challenge- many thanks to Carl for hosting.

Joyce Carol Oates, The Female of the Species: Tales of Mystery and Suspense (Harvest, 2007) ISBN: 0156030276

Review: Wild Nights!

I am a big fan of Joyce Carol Oates. I encountered her through reading contemporary fiction. First, I picked up her bestseller, We Were the Mulvaneys. I followed with Middle Age: A Romance. As I've explored her canon I've been amazed at how diverse and productive she is. Oates has published so much, in so many genres; it's truly impressive. When I saw this book on the new releases shelf in the library I had to check it out. From here I'm sure I'll be looking more closely at Oates's horror books; The Female of the Species currently resides in my TBR pile. And here's my review of Wild Nights!

This short story collection examines the last days and nights of five prolific American writers, from Poe to Hemingway. Together these five tales describe five eminent writers on the brink of despair and madness that culminates in their deaths. The stories vary in the extent to which they depart from realistic portraits of these authors' deaths. While Oates's treatment of Hemingway's death could conceivably be a factual rendering, those of Poe and Dickinson are far more fanciful, and depart from the historical record. Together, these stories create a riveting and unusual collection. Because the reader knows from the outset that each of these tales ends in death, the narratives flow with significant dramatic tension. From the beginning of each story the reader gets a sense of how each author will meet his or her end. As they move toward this preordained conclusion tension builds for the reader, as he or she discovers just how his or her assumptions will play out. Oates does an excellent job of adopting the voice and persona of each of the writers in question. Each story has its own flavor and style. Hemingway's story reads with the stark prose one might expect from the man, and Poe's narrative reads like a nineteenth-century Gothic tale. Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, one that showcases Oates's remarkable versatility, and reaffirms her place as a master of psychological suspense.

Joyce Carol Oates, Wild Nights!: Stories about the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway (Ecco, 2008) ISBN: 0061434795