#CJSReads REVIEW: DIS MEM BER by Joyce Carol Oates @groveatlantic @joycecaroloates
DIS MEM BER by Joyce Carol OatesGrove Atlantic / Mysterious Press
Releases 6/6/17
Who reads short stores?! If you dare read short stories, Joyce Carol Oates for short stories! While short stories can be difficult and typically you love them or hate them, you have to be impressed when someone puts together a compilation. See what Jessica, Samantha and I thought of Joyce's compilation.. all mystery, all suspense! Whaaaaaatttttt..........
Big thanks to Grove Atlantic for our advanced copies in return for our honest reviews.
Big thanks to Grove Atlantic for our advanced copies in return for our honest reviews.
Joyce Carol Oates is renowned for her rare ability to “illuminate the mind’s most disturbing corners” (Seattle Times). That genius is on full display in her new collection of seven feverishly unsettling works, Dis Mem Ber and Other Stories of Mystery and Suspense.
In the title story, a precocious eleven-year-old named Jill is in thrall to an older male relative, the mysterious, attractive black sheep of the family. Without telling her parents Jill climbs into his sky-blue Chevy to be driven to an uncertain, and unforgettable, fate. In “The Drowned Girl,” a university transfer student becomes increasingly obsessed with the drowning/murder of another female student, as her own sense of self begins to deteriorate. In “Great Blue Heron,” a recent widow grieves inside the confines of her lakefront home and fantasizes about transforming into that great flying predator—unerring and pitiless in the hunt. And in the final story, “Welcome to Friendly Skies,” a trusting group of bird-watchers is borne to a remote part of the globe, to a harrowing fate.
At the heart of this meticulously crafted, deeply disquieting collection are girls and women confronting the danger around them, and the danger hidden inside their turbulent selves.
In the title story, a precocious eleven-year-old named Jill is in thrall to an older male relative, the mysterious, attractive black sheep of the family. Without telling her parents Jill climbs into his sky-blue Chevy to be driven to an uncertain, and unforgettable, fate. In “The Drowned Girl,” a university transfer student becomes increasingly obsessed with the drowning/murder of another female student, as her own sense of self begins to deteriorate. In “Great Blue Heron,” a recent widow grieves inside the confines of her lakefront home and fantasizes about transforming into that great flying predator—unerring and pitiless in the hunt. And in the final story, “Welcome to Friendly Skies,” a trusting group of bird-watchers is borne to a remote part of the globe, to a harrowing fate.
At the heart of this meticulously crafted, deeply disquieting collection are girls and women confronting the danger around them, and the danger hidden inside their turbulent selves.
My Review:
There are 7 stories compiled into less than 250 pages. While some I just did NOT get, others hit the mark for me. My standouts in this collection would be Heartbreak, Great Blue Heron and Welcome to Friendly Skies! The last one being satirical and after SO MUCH traveling this past month it just made me nod my head like mmm hmmm ... yep, sounds about right.. yep, that too... oh Joyce, you know your travel don't you? ;)
On a nit picky level, I prefer to read stories with more dialogue and there's little in this collection. I also felt that some things seemed repetitive or a continuous theme throughout some of the stories (but maybe that was intentional?). Each story but the last seem to be geared towards females, reflective of the frail nature that can turn deadly in an instant, or a strange family dynamic. All fascinating for me... I just wish there had been a bit more variety and a bit more story - which is the issue I have with short stories most of the time, I'm left wanting. I'll definitely keep an eye out for Oates's other works as I do like where her mind tends to veer toward.
Big thanks to Mysterious Press and Grove Atlantic for this advanced copy in return for my honest review.
3 stars
Jessica's Thoughts:
This is a collection of dark, suspenseful, and unsettling stories, with the last one being more of a dark kind of satire story:
-DIS MEM BER
-The Crawl Space
-Heartbreak
-The Drowned Girl
-The Situations
-Great Blue Heron
-Welcome to Friendly Skies!
The underlying theme to all of these stories is about girls or women having to confront the danger that surrounds them, and then the danger that is hidden deep within themselves. I love her writing style - the only thing that threw me off right away in the first story was that there weren't any quotation marks used in conversations. That took a little bit to get used to.
I'd highly recommend this to anyone that wants some creepy psychological thrillers all in one book!
I give this a solid 4/5 stars! I'll definitely be looking for her other novels!
Sam's Thoughts:
I have been increasing the number of short story collections I have been reading lately. I love that they are flexible and I can read them along with anything else I have on my nightstand. I can read a story at a time for a little break and be back to business. However, Dis Mem Ber, a series of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates, did not provide the versatility I desired; I was unable to simply pick up this book and put it down again. Once I started, I was completely sucked into these dark and twisted narratives and had to greedily finish them all!!
Each story provided a look into completely different sets of characters and scenarios. Dis Mem Ber, the first story followed a girl who became attached to the family black sheep, The Crawl Space about a grieving widow, and The Drowned Girl about a woman who becomes obsessed with a homicide victim. Ominous and gritty, each story provided a snapshot that I desperately wanted more of!
I felt like these stories gave a Southern Gothic Fiction vibe (think Flannery O’Conner or Shirley Jackson), which I loved. I also loved that each of the stories was narrated by or featured a female protagonist.
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