The scene is Grayling Island off the coast of Maine, where a young woman meets a Senator at a Fourth of July beach party. As the afternoon slips into evening, the two move unaware towards a shattering appointment with destiny - for it is not love but death that awaits the young woman Kelly.
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Review
"A powerfully imagined novel ... it continues to haunt us."
-- New York Times Book Review
"Intense ... signals another frontier opened with the sword of a master storyteller."
-- Chicago Tribune
"Its power of evocation is remarkable."
--The New Yorker --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
-- New York Times Book Review
"Intense ... signals another frontier opened with the sword of a master storyteller."
-- Chicago Tribune
"Its power of evocation is remarkable."
--The New Yorker --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
In addition to many prize-winning and bestselling novels, including We Were the Mulvaneys, Black Water, and Because It Is Bitter and Because It Is My Heart (available in Plume editions), Joyce Carol Oates is the author of a number of works of gothic fiction including Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque (Plume), a 1995 World Fantasy Award nominee; and Zombie (Plume), winner of the 1996 Bram Stoker Award for Best Horror Novel, awarded by the Horror Writers' Association. In 1994, Oates received the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award in Horror Fiction. She is the editor of American Gothic Tales and her latest novel is Broke Heart Blues (Dutton). She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It took me just under two hours to read Black Water; a quick read, I flew through it, mesmerised by Oates peculiar combination of lyricism and social satire. A story about dying, about living, about the death of life and living in death, Black Water takes a tragic true story and moulds it into a narrative conveying the futility of the American dream. It presents a world of Sweet Valley High all grown up and turned distinctly sour. Good looks and academic prowess mean nothing in the murky realms of patriarchy. Political idealism is useless when you are trapped five feet under water. Chivalry has gone quite literally out of the window.
Kelly Kelleher in her amatory adventure with an ageing Liberal Senator finds not love, but only the greatest truth; death. The narative is dreamy, fluid, scenes repeat, Kelly's childhood is juxtaposed with scenes from her time at college, scenes of her trapped, drowning in the car. Time past, present and future collide in this macabre journey. The reader floats with Kelly, hoping that she will be rescued. Futile hope; the story is a strong condemnation both of power and its abuse by men such as the senator (he uses Kelly's head as a lever with which to prise himself out of the car) and perhaps too of the anachronistic female belief in male honour and the belief in being rescued.
Kellys are everywhere; victims of a society obsessed with looks over substance, theirs is a constant effort at reinvention and conformation to the cultural ideal. Oates reaches out to these lost girls , extolling them to learn from this cautionary tale. To learn that they can rely on no one, that life can be a lethal game, and beneath the vestiges of power and desire there lies a treacherous and potentially murderous reality.
Oates exposes the corruptibility of power and the naivete of youth whilst all the time conducting a fascinating and poignant exploration into the process of death by drowning.
When you have savoured the book, think finally of this; Oates designed its length to reflect the time it would have taken the original Kelly to die in the submerged car. This shocking yet incredibly effective piece of authorial intervention leaves one simultaneously chilled by this literary encounter with death yet also buoyed by the lack of sentimentalism. Highly recommended.
Format:Paperback
The book is a powerful description of the accident that really happened. It accuratly shows the feelings of the strongminded young woman - losing hope at last - drowning in the car. The book will bring you down to the process of dying. Joyce Carol Oates combines death with other themes: Politics, power and love.
Don't read it before you go sleeping, otherwise you will get heavy nightmares.
Don't read it before you go sleeping, otherwise you will get heavy nightmares.
Format:Paperback
The book is a powerful description of the accident that really happened. It accuratly shows the feelings of the strongminded young woman - losing hope at last - drowning in the car. The book will bring you down to the process of dying. Joyce Carol Oates combines death with other themes: Politics, power and love.
Don't read it before you go sleeping, otherwise you will get heavy nightmares.
Don't read it before you go sleeping, otherwise you will get heavy nightmares.
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