Beasts (Paperback)

One of fiction's classic roles has been to strip away the veneer of civility and conventionality to reveal the untamed self that pulses at or just below the surface. Beasts takes apart the day-to-day reality of academic life to reveal the darkness lurking beneath Catamount College in a Bennington-like setting during the 1970s in the Berkshires of southwestern Massachusetts.

The narrator of the novella's story is Gillian Brauer. She is startled to see a 200 year old totem, "Maternal Figure," in the Louvre during a trip in February 2001. Her first thought is, "It wasn't burned after all." She goes on to think, "This is not a confession." Memories cloud in. "We are beasts, this is our consolation." "We are beasts, we feel no guilt."

With this powerful beginning, you immediately will want to know what this story is all about. Using flashbacks, you next retreat back to Heath Cottage, Gillian's small dorm, at Catamount College on the night of January 20, 1976. The dorm's fire alarm has been pulled. What's happening? This first flashback builds the mystery, and you will find yourself wanting to race to turn the pages to find out more about the mystery of what has happened at Catamount . . . and to Gillian.

Gillian is an impressionable junior with a taste for poetry . . . and a crush on her professor, Andre Harrow. The crush pulls her forward towards obsession, and she soon finds herself following Harrow's wife, Dorcas (no surname). In her poetry class, Gillian finds it difficult to reveal her deepest feelings and secrets. Harrow constantly encourages her to "Go deeper! . . . Go for the jugular." Each student is writing a journal to help with this process of self-revelation, and the material is read in class. There's a competition to expose the most, and the students find themselves riveted by the experience. Each seems to share Gillian's "love" for Harrow. Where will it all lead?

The story proceeds almost like a detective novel to explain the events that led up to Gillian's experiences in the book's first two scenes. Bit by bit, you will pick up hints, clues, and facts. Then, suddenly the whole mosaic comes together in an unforgettable picture that will haunt you.

The tension and the mystery in the book are nicely developed and balanced. You will enjoy the development of Gillian's character, because you will feel like she is part of you by the time the story ends. I was left thinking about how the experiences described in the book would have changed my life, had they occurred to me.

Shine the light of truth to push back the cover of darkness from falsity! Protect innocents!

This novella explores the deadly consequences of a train of thought taken too far, viciously seeking out the passionate ends of extended thoughts. Harrow and his wife take the liberal sexual attitude of DH Lawrence and act out the extreme barriers of it. Gillian enigmatically buries her responsibility in the events of her early life while simultaneously plotting the motives which form her guilt. Somehow she is left centrally pure, a passionate girl spoiled by ideas. Oates draws out the violent inner natures of her characters to show them in the light, exposing the consequences of their nature. This novella isn't subtle, Oates chooses instead to go for the extreme to show us our forgotten nightmares. It is a powerful and memorable read.

One of fiction's classic roles has been to strip away the veneer of civility and conventionality to reveal the untamed self that pulses at or just below the surface. Beasts takes apart the day-to-day reality of academic life to reveal the darkness lurking beneath Catamount College in a Bennington-like setting during the 1970s in the Berkshires of southwestern Massachusetts.

The narrator of the novella's story is Gillian Brauer. She is startled to see a 200 year old totem, "Maternal Figure," in the Louvre during a trip in February 2001. Her first thought is, "It wasn't burned after all." She goes on to think, "This is not a confession." Memories cloud in. "We are beasts, this is our consolation." "We are beasts, we feel no guilt."

With this powerful beginning, you immediately will want to know what this story is all about. Using flashbacks, you next retreat back to Heath Cottage, Gillian's small dorm, at Catamount College on the night of January 20, 1976. The dorm's fire alarm has been pulled. What's happening? This first flashback builds the mystery, and you will find yourself wanting to race to turn the pages to find out more about the mystery of what has happened at Catamount . . . and to Gillian.

Gillian is an impressionable junior with a taste for poetry . . . and a crush on her professor, Andre Harrow. The crush pulls her forward towards obsession, and she soon finds herself following Harrow's wife, Dorcas (no surname). In her poetry class, Gillian finds it difficult to reveal her deepest feelings and secrets. Harrow constantly encourages her to "Go deeper! . . . Go for the jugular." Each student is writing a journal to help with this process of self-revelation, and the material is read in class. There's a competition to expose the most, and the students find themselves riveted by the experience. Each seems to share Gillian's "love" for Harrow. Where will it all lead?

The story proceeds almost like a detective novel to explain the events that led up to Gillian's experiences in the book's first two scenes. Bit by bit, you will pick up hints, clues, and facts. Then, suddenly the whole mosaic comes together in an unforgettable picture that will haunt you.

The tension and the mystery in the book are nicely developed and balanced. You will enjoy the development of Gillian's character, because you will feel like she is part of you by the time the story ends. I was left thinking about how the experiences described in the book would have changed my life, had they occurred to me.

Shine the light of truth to push back the cover of darkness from falsity! Protect innocents!