Stack of Spines

We Were the Mulvaneys was my first introduction to Joyce Carol Oates and I was (and remain) unimpressed.  I was lost almost from the first page, and with some highlights in the middle, finished only because I was stubborn and wanted to see if the ending was worth it.

I feel like I have to explain a bit of the plot to delve into my feelings for this one.  The beginning of the book started with The Mulvaneys living their painfully normal life in their small town on their modest farm.  Mulvaney was a proper noun.  And then something happens to their only daughter, which causes the family to fall apart.

Based on my previous impression of the book, the handsome Mulvaneys didn’t come across so well.  The multitude of stories were disjointed and not linked together well.  While I can’t stand authors that tell me a story rather than show me a story, Joyce Carol Oates took showing to a whole new level.  I was lost in a sea of stories of 6 different family members with no clear theme.  To be sure, some I liked, which I why I finished the book, but others were just thrown together.  This is the first Oprah’s Book Club selection (January 2001) that I haven’t devoured eagerly.

The story was told from the point of view of the youngest son, who played a marginal role in the family’s dynamics.  Perhaps it was intentional, but I was left feeling cut off from the true reasoning behind the other’s actions because Judd didn’t know himself.  The logic of their actions just wasn’t there and I was left feeling unsympathetic towards the no longer a proper noun Mulvaneys.