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Sourland: Haunting Short Stories by Joyce Carol Oates – Dark Tales of the Hunted and Hunter
“Oates is a fearless writer.” — Los Angeles Times
“Oates is a master of the dark tale—stories of the hunted and the hunter, of violence, trauma, and deep psychic wounds.” — Booklist (starred review)
Sourland is a gripping, haunting, and intensely moving collection of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates, one of America’s preeminent authors. Unforgettable tales that re-imagine the meaning of loss—often through violent means—Sourland is yet another extraordinary read from the literary icon who has previously brought us The Gravedigger’s Daughter, Blonde, We Were the Mulvaneys, and numerous other classic works of contemporary fiction.
“Oates is a master of the dark tale—stories of the hunted and the hunter, of violence, trauma, and deep psychic wounds.” — Booklist (starred review)
Sourland is a gripping, haunting, and intensely moving collection of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates, one of America’s preeminent authors. Unforgettable tales that re-imagine the meaning of loss—often through violent means—Sourland is yet another extraordinary read from the literary icon who has previously brought us The Gravedigger’s Daughter, Blonde, We Were the Mulvaneys, and numerous other classic works of contemporary fiction.
384 pages, Paperback
First published September 14, 2010
79 people are currently reading
1315 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
857 books9,675 followersJoyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews
April 1, 2011
Joyce Carol Oates, where have you been all my life? For years I looked down the long, long rows of her books lining library shelves, but never read something of hers until now. Maybe I found her prolificacy and apparent versatility intimidating. I am glad I waited until my thirties, and I am now looking forward to that seemingly endless row in the "O" section.
About Sourland.
This woman USES words. They fight against her. They bite, they scratch, they maul her and still, against their will, she forces them into submission and they do her bidding. There are battles being fought beneath the surface of these stories, and the spit and sweat and scars show through.
These stories are dark and visceral. The past is immediate, and the present not always within grasp. There are glimpses of humor. Characters you don't want to like, but somehow do. And always, always the exploration of loss. Physical, emotional, sometimes the loss of possibility, something you almost had, but not quite.
I want to read more of Oates, but I think I'll have to wait for a while. She's too strong - these stories are too strong. I'll let this collection stay with me for awhile before I dive in to the next. Call it an Oates hangover. The good kind.
About Sourland.
This woman USES words. They fight against her. They bite, they scratch, they maul her and still, against their will, she forces them into submission and they do her bidding. There are battles being fought beneath the surface of these stories, and the spit and sweat and scars show through.
These stories are dark and visceral. The past is immediate, and the present not always within grasp. There are glimpses of humor. Characters you don't want to like, but somehow do. And always, always the exploration of loss. Physical, emotional, sometimes the loss of possibility, something you almost had, but not quite.
I want to read more of Oates, but I think I'll have to wait for a while. She's too strong - these stories are too strong. I'll let this collection stay with me for awhile before I dive in to the next. Call it an Oates hangover. The good kind.
February 10, 2011
I REALLY like Joyce Carol Oates. I mean, REALLY. She's probably my favorite contemporary American fiction writer. I haven't delved too much into her novels, but I've read just about every short story collection she's published. She's amazing.
That said, I could not finish this book. The stories have Oates' typical stamp: They shine a light in the hearts of darkness that exist in all of us. And by "light," I don't mean a warm, redemptive, healing light; I mean a harsh light of exposure that lays on the table the ugly aspects of human nature that are found, to some degree, in you or me or people we know. It's Oates' "familiarity" with the ugliness that makes me squirm, how she reveals the secret inner lives of ordinary folks in ways readers can relate to (though many won't be so brave as to admit to that). It's her characterizations, the way she exposes the fearful, unpleasant, sometimes violent things people think but rarely say. She's good. She's creepy.
Anyway, many of the stories in "Sourland" revolve around the theme of women whose husbands have recently died. Maybe it's the point I'm at in my life, about to celebrate my first wedding anniversary next week, but I couldn't handle this book right now. I read several of the stories and then returned the book to the library. I will surely check it out again and finish it one day...just not today.
That said, I could not finish this book. The stories have Oates' typical stamp: They shine a light in the hearts of darkness that exist in all of us. And by "light," I don't mean a warm, redemptive, healing light; I mean a harsh light of exposure that lays on the table the ugly aspects of human nature that are found, to some degree, in you or me or people we know. It's Oates' "familiarity" with the ugliness that makes me squirm, how she reveals the secret inner lives of ordinary folks in ways readers can relate to (though many won't be so brave as to admit to that). It's her characterizations, the way she exposes the fearful, unpleasant, sometimes violent things people think but rarely say. She's good. She's creepy.
Anyway, many of the stories in "Sourland" revolve around the theme of women whose husbands have recently died. Maybe it's the point I'm at in my life, about to celebrate my first wedding anniversary next week, but I couldn't handle this book right now. I read several of the stories and then returned the book to the library. I will surely check it out again and finish it one day...just not today.
June 10, 2011
Written after the death of her husband of 46 years, Joyce Carol Oates' A Widow's Story: A Memoir (2011) and Sourland: Stories (2010) cover similar ground. A thesis could be written, and considering Oates' prominence in American letters may well be, about how she uses the two different forms — short stories and memoir — to synthesize experiences, observations, emotions and images and transform them into literature.
In A Widow's Story, the reader enters Oates' grieving — a harrowing, exhausting experience. When the reader puts the book aside — frequently — to take a break, to breathe it emphasizes the widow's plight — she has no ability to pause, no method of escape. Oates examines her personal grief intensely, but also comes to sees her state — one shared with other widows — as a kind of disease that must be lived through. Oates, who began writing her story as A Widow's Handbook, concludes that there is no profundity, no wisdom to be gained in grief, "...or, if there is...it's a wisdom one might do without." Instead, her advice boils down to a sentence, "...on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive."
Sourland: Stories contain many of the same ideas and images as Oates' memoir — hospitals as memory pools, the vulnerability of the surviving spouse, oppressive suicidal thoughts, her survivor's guilt, the overwhelming death-duties, a posthumous life, her fear of learning something unexpected about her intimate companion after his death, and her sense of having a personal apocalypse.
Widows are the protagonists of "Pumpkin-Head," "Probate" and "Sourland." Children whose fathers are dying in hospital suffer abuses in "The Beating" and "The Barter." Children with broken, distant parents are cast adrift in "Bonobo Momma" and "Lost Daddy."
The protagonists are wounded, passive but highly observant protected women or children who share what Oates' calls the grieving person's inability to focus on, "the life of the more-than-personal, the greater-than-personal." This makes them vulnerable, easy victims. Instead of the nebulous grief and foggy fear of A Widow's Story, the stories offer tangible villains — spiders, snakes, and callous parents — and visible losses — amputations and deformities.
The stories also bring experimentation and playfulness of language into the experiences. Sentences weave "a nightmare of mangled and thwarted movement." They are fragmented and filled with charged verbs or halted passive voice. In "The Story of the Stabbing," words convey the jerking movements of traffic. In "Donor Organ," a suicidal, obsession with death comes in a rush of thought without a single period (it conveys the sense of the survivor left behind — an ending without an ending). In "Amputee," the word 'and' is always '&' in Jane Erdley's girlish abbreviated voice.
This playfulness and creativity breathes life and relief into the menaced experiences rendered in the cloistered, fearful perspective of Sourland: Stories' protagonists.
"If I have lost the meaning of my life, and the love of my life, I might still find small treasured things amid the spilled and pilfered trash," Oates writes in A Widow's Story.
In her stories, words become such redeeming treasure.
I had the opportunity to see Oates at Seattle Arts and Lectures at Benaroya Hall answering questions about A Widow's Story. While I appreciated seeing the famed writer, it felt tragic. Oates has adapted a survival strategy of separating her writer persona, JCO, from her self. However, it was hard not to see cruelty in isolating a person on stage for an academic discussion of grieving her husband's death.
Death and grief should be aired as part of our shared experience, but I wished this event had focused on Sourland: Stories instead.
Often people turn to non-fiction to challenge themselves and to learn. We read non-fiction with an intent to pull knowledge from a source, but fiction — stories — well provoke thought and contemplation within ourselves. Stories may be the best way to explore some topics, particularly those that offer no definite, forthright conclusion. Frequently, in the human experience, there is no one conclusion to arrive at, nor can there be one singular guru or guide — knowledge comes via journey and discovery and stories provide ways to enter into experience from a variety of perspectives with compassion and empathy.
A Widow's Story quotes:
"Harrowing to think that our identities — the selves people believe they recognize in us: our "personalities" — are a matter of oxygen, water and food and sleep — deprived of just one of these our physical beings begin to alter almost immediately — soon, to others we are no longer "ourselves" — and yet, who else are we?"
"Utterly naive, futile, uninformed — to think that our species is exceptional."
"When you sign on to be a wife, you are signing on to being a widow one day, possibly. When you sign on to be a writer you are signing on to any and all responses to your work."
"For the woman is likely to outlive the man — and to be the chronicler of his life/death. The woman is the elegist. The woman is the repository of memory."
Sourland: Stories quotes
"Is there a soul is a question I ask myself when I am alone, I am afraid of my thoughts when I am alone." — "Bounty Hunter"
"The life we live in our bodies, it's so strange isn't it? You don't ever think how you got in. But you come to think obsessively how you'll be getting out." — "The Barter"
"She felt a stab of love for him—a stab of terror—for in love there is terror, at such times." — "Sourland"
"How do such things happen you ask & the answer is Quickly!" — "Amputee"
Of note, Oates' references to science and science fiction:
Ray Bradbury's "There will Come Soft Rains"
H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine," the first of his Seven Scientific Romances
Asimov's Chronology of the World
Librarian Jane Erdley, the protagonist in the "The Amputee," meets her lover when he asks about James Tiptree
In A Widow's Story, the reader enters Oates' grieving — a harrowing, exhausting experience. When the reader puts the book aside — frequently — to take a break, to breathe it emphasizes the widow's plight — she has no ability to pause, no method of escape. Oates examines her personal grief intensely, but also comes to sees her state — one shared with other widows — as a kind of disease that must be lived through. Oates, who began writing her story as A Widow's Handbook, concludes that there is no profundity, no wisdom to be gained in grief, "...or, if there is...it's a wisdom one might do without." Instead, her advice boils down to a sentence, "...on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive."
Sourland: Stories contain many of the same ideas and images as Oates' memoir — hospitals as memory pools, the vulnerability of the surviving spouse, oppressive suicidal thoughts, her survivor's guilt, the overwhelming death-duties, a posthumous life, her fear of learning something unexpected about her intimate companion after his death, and her sense of having a personal apocalypse.
Widows are the protagonists of "Pumpkin-Head," "Probate" and "Sourland." Children whose fathers are dying in hospital suffer abuses in "The Beating" and "The Barter." Children with broken, distant parents are cast adrift in "Bonobo Momma" and "Lost Daddy."
The protagonists are wounded, passive but highly observant protected women or children who share what Oates' calls the grieving person's inability to focus on, "the life of the more-than-personal, the greater-than-personal." This makes them vulnerable, easy victims. Instead of the nebulous grief and foggy fear of A Widow's Story, the stories offer tangible villains — spiders, snakes, and callous parents — and visible losses — amputations and deformities.
The stories also bring experimentation and playfulness of language into the experiences. Sentences weave "a nightmare of mangled and thwarted movement." They are fragmented and filled with charged verbs or halted passive voice. In "The Story of the Stabbing," words convey the jerking movements of traffic. In "Donor Organ," a suicidal, obsession with death comes in a rush of thought without a single period (it conveys the sense of the survivor left behind — an ending without an ending). In "Amputee," the word 'and' is always '&' in Jane Erdley's girlish abbreviated voice.
This playfulness and creativity breathes life and relief into the menaced experiences rendered in the cloistered, fearful perspective of Sourland: Stories' protagonists.
"If I have lost the meaning of my life, and the love of my life, I might still find small treasured things amid the spilled and pilfered trash," Oates writes in A Widow's Story.
In her stories, words become such redeeming treasure.
I had the opportunity to see Oates at Seattle Arts and Lectures at Benaroya Hall answering questions about A Widow's Story. While I appreciated seeing the famed writer, it felt tragic. Oates has adapted a survival strategy of separating her writer persona, JCO, from her self. However, it was hard not to see cruelty in isolating a person on stage for an academic discussion of grieving her husband's death.
Death and grief should be aired as part of our shared experience, but I wished this event had focused on Sourland: Stories instead.
Often people turn to non-fiction to challenge themselves and to learn. We read non-fiction with an intent to pull knowledge from a source, but fiction — stories — well provoke thought and contemplation within ourselves. Stories may be the best way to explore some topics, particularly those that offer no definite, forthright conclusion. Frequently, in the human experience, there is no one conclusion to arrive at, nor can there be one singular guru or guide — knowledge comes via journey and discovery and stories provide ways to enter into experience from a variety of perspectives with compassion and empathy.
A Widow's Story quotes:
"Harrowing to think that our identities — the selves people believe they recognize in us: our "personalities" — are a matter of oxygen, water and food and sleep — deprived of just one of these our physical beings begin to alter almost immediately — soon, to others we are no longer "ourselves" — and yet, who else are we?"
"Utterly naive, futile, uninformed — to think that our species is exceptional."
"When you sign on to be a wife, you are signing on to being a widow one day, possibly. When you sign on to be a writer you are signing on to any and all responses to your work."
"For the woman is likely to outlive the man — and to be the chronicler of his life/death. The woman is the elegist. The woman is the repository of memory."
Sourland: Stories quotes
"Is there a soul is a question I ask myself when I am alone, I am afraid of my thoughts when I am alone." — "Bounty Hunter"
"The life we live in our bodies, it's so strange isn't it? You don't ever think how you got in. But you come to think obsessively how you'll be getting out." — "The Barter"
"She felt a stab of love for him—a stab of terror—for in love there is terror, at such times." — "Sourland"
"How do such things happen you ask & the answer is Quickly!" — "Amputee"
Of note, Oates' references to science and science fiction:
Ray Bradbury's "There will Come Soft Rains"
H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine," the first of his Seven Scientific Romances
Asimov's Chronology of the World
Librarian Jane Erdley, the protagonist in the "The Amputee," meets her lover when he asks about James Tiptree
February 21, 2025
This is an audible book of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates. JC Oates is one of my favorite authors for a very long time and her short stories are among her best books I think.
The stories in this book are mostly focused on one individual person and they are mostly not The normal people you would expect to find living next-door to you. JCO deals with unique people.
You might not like all of the stories in this book, but you will probably like some of them. That’s the great thing about short stories. If you don’t like one, there’s another one coming up right behind It!
The stories in this book are mostly focused on one individual person and they are mostly not The normal people you would expect to find living next-door to you. JCO deals with unique people.
You might not like all of the stories in this book, but you will probably like some of them. That’s the great thing about short stories. If you don’t like one, there’s another one coming up right behind It!
July 27, 2016
I have always enjoyed the short fiction of Oates - stories that have this dread and lurking unease behind them. Some more overt in their horror than others; you can't really predict how the story will turn. If I can venture with this collection, more so than in other collections, the pronounced theme is the sudden turn of the tale - the turn of the screw if you will. In each story, just about, it reads and moves in one direction and suddenly veers off and becomes something else altogether. In some cases the story's change doesn't really work - feeling like a stream of conscious and Oates deciding that the direction was not working out and just switches and in some of these cases the abrupt ending jars and is unsatisfying. Yet she writes so fluidly and assured that one can forgive that this set of stories may not be her best- but still better than most other writers.
March 4, 2014
I'm going to do this story-wise.
1. Pumpkin-Head: Woah. SO disturbing. It begins so ordinarily, and then WHAM.
2. The Story of the Stabbing: Same incident, multiple versions. I've heard that before.
3. The Babysitter: Creepy.
4. Bonobo Momma: Whatever.
5. Bitch: Pointless.
6. Amputee: Really good until the end. What happened there?!
7. The Beating: Disturbing again. So she chose not to tell anyone because she was so relieved to see her father alive.
8. Bounty Hunter: I don't know what happened.
9. The Barter: Hm. Not bad.
1. Pumpkin-Head: Woah. SO disturbing. It begins so ordinarily, and then WHAM.
2. The Story of the Stabbing: Same incident, multiple versions. I've heard that before.
3. The Babysitter: Creepy.
4. Bonobo Momma: Whatever.
5. Bitch: Pointless.
6. Amputee: Really good until the end. What happened there?!
7. The Beating: Disturbing again. So she chose not to tell anyone because she was so relieved to see her father alive.
8. Bounty Hunter: I don't know what happened.
9. The Barter: Hm. Not bad.
November 12, 2010
Not one of her better recent efforts. I understand that the majority of her protagonists are widows and that this may (or may not) somewhat have sprung from the death of her longtime husband. I enjoyed Dear Husband more than this collection, but I still love Joyce Carol Oates. I'm looking forward to her memoir, soon to be published.
February 14, 2012
A brutal read even by regular Oates standards. Each story was compelling and horrifying at the same time, many dealing with sudden widowhood. Several of these are going to haunt me for a while, mainly Lost Daddy, Sourland, Amputee and Honor Code. Oates never ceases to amaze me how she can so convincingly write from so many different perspectives.
October 16, 2013
Joyce Carol Oates is awesome.
This collection of "short stories" includes some things that I would probably not call stories, but character studies, vignettes or concept pieces. I love everything she has done and I love these, too. If you have not read Oates, I do not recommend this as a starting point. If you are a fan, this is highly recommended.
This collection of "short stories" includes some things that I would probably not call stories, but character studies, vignettes or concept pieces. I love everything she has done and I love these, too. If you have not read Oates, I do not recommend this as a starting point. If you are a fan, this is highly recommended.
October 8, 2013
It's JCO. Of course I'm rating it five stars!
September 1, 2019
Realistically speaking no one should go into a book titled Sourland expecting a happy read. And I didn’t. Plus I’ve read the author before and she tends to excel in the darker shadows of psychological fiction. And dark is fine, I suppose it’s the bleakness of it all that really gets to you after a while. I mean, these are seriously depressing stories of frequently terrible people doing frequently terrible things to each other, especially men, the men here are mostly vile, evil, rapists, abusers, fairy tale ogres come to real life. But then again I suppose that’s a reductive perspective, because there really is so much more to these stories. And Oates is an absolutely terrific writer, she has the gift of the first sentence, she knows how to start a story and draw the reader in immediately. But once you find yourself drawn in, it’s usually some sort of a slow unfolding slightly surreal nightmare. And she creates these out of perfectly banal everyday premises, like a kid going to the park with his dad or an old woman going to a probate court. The latter is actually an exceptionally unsettling story in an already severely disturbing collection. I appreciate this book for Oates’s writing skills, for its dark imaginings and so on, but didn’t really like it all that much. For all its great beginnings, the endings were sad and vague and not entirely satisfying somehow. I suppose on a purely visceral level it’s just too unpleasant of a read. And I know that sounds like I only like my books pleasant and light and that really isn’t the case. It’s more a matter of mood, probably. Or taste. And in this instance it was just much too sour. Exactly as advertised.
June 12, 2012
"Sourland" (Ecco: $25.99) is an apt title for the latest collection of short stories from Joyce Carol Oates, which includes tales of violence, murder, abuse, rape, beating, guilt, grief and a series of relationships -- some ordinary, others bizarre -- that invariably go sour. The loss of a spouse and the complicated ways in which guilt shapes the acts of the remaining spouse play an important role in these stories. These grieving women willingly step into the arms of monsters and misfits, instigating, provoking and often welcoming physical and sexual violence as an affirmation of their existence. They hurt, so they must exist, even if their husbands no longer do.
In "Pumpkin-Head," a woman named Hadley, whose husband died a few days before, invites an "eccentric young molecular biologist," practically a stranger, into her home, rendering herself vulnerable to the punishment inflicted upon her. Unwilling to "agitate her visitor," and not wanting him "to sense how frightened she was," before long, Hadley finds herself in the clutches of her frightening guest, who "kissed and bit at her lips like a suddenly ravenous rodent. ... 'You like this, Hed-ley! This, you want. For this you asked me." Perhaps she did.
In "Probate," her life cleaved in half and unrecognizable to herself, Adrienne is forced to pay a visit to Probate court. The thought occurs to her that "[t]he widow is one who comes swiftly to the knowledge Whatever harm comes to you, you deserve. For you are still alive." A shocking discovery in her husband's will, for the dead carry their own secrets, raises questions about the identity of her deceased husband -- was he the distinguished historian she believed him to be, or a dreadful pervert? -- unraveling Adrienne further and causing her to take such an irrational step, it begs the question: Has she gone mad?
The recounting of "The Story of the Stabbing," as it travels from mouth to mouth, evolves wonderfully and horrifically, acquiring a life of its own, until the reality of the incident is lost, even to Madeleine, the witness. The story becomes too terrifying to be told and retold in the presence of Madeleine's innocent young daughter, especially since it is missing an ending -- not unlike every one of Oates' stories. "Did the stabbed man die? Was the killer caught?" Such answers are left to the reader to deduce.
Sex is a violent and punishing affair in these stories, orgasm a certain death. In "Babysitter," a married mother meets with a man she'd rather not think of "as an individual with a name ... Only this once she would be unfaithful to her husband and children." Lovemaking and fighting become indistinguishable here, resulting in an unexpected confession of love to a stranger who acts like a murderer rather than a lover. "I am a woman who deserves harm," she thinks to herself, an explanation, perhaps, as to why she would allow such abuse.
In "Bonobo Momma," the relationship of a gorgeous mother and her sickly daughter, who will never measure up to her mother's expectations, is rendered brilliantly, as is the heartbreaking ending to a day the daughter had long anticipated.
In these stories, death does not herald the end of a dysfunctional relationship, but rather the birth of guilt, as in "Bitch," where a father happens to die on the day of his daughter's birthday: "As a girl she had loved her father but eventually she'd given up, as we do when our love is not returned"; still, she considers herself "a bitch to think such thoughts at such a time ... she deserved bad luck."
In "Amputee," a librarian, whose state attracts a married man, struggles to hold onto her power and independence by refusing to express her love for him, instigating a cycle of luring men only to reject them. She lost her legs; she will not lose her power.
The crowning jewel of these stories is the title story -- this, too, the tale of a widow, "the sole survivor of the wreckage at 299 Valley Drive," whose behavior proves even more peculiar, and inexplicable, than that of other women in these stories. The thought occurs to her that "[t]he husband might have advised her 'Be very careful Sophie. You will make mistakes in your posthumous life, I won't be there to correct.' " And mistakes she certainly commits. An especially foolish one catapults her into a nightmare from which it might be impossible to wake up. Three weeks after her husband's death, in answer to a cryptic invitation from a man she barely knew many years ago, she packs her bags and goes to him. Despite her understandable need to flee the house in which she once lived with her deceased husband -- "The surviving spouse inhabits a space not much larger than a grave" -- it's hard to imagine any woman in her right mind, even one as grief-stricken and desperate as Sophie, picking herself up and flying to Sourland, Minn., to spend time in the wilderness with a stranger. The monster she encounters and the strange events that ensue will cause Sophie to ask herself, "Why have I come here, am I mad!" This reader asked the same question, even if she couldn't help but turn one page after another to discover what happens next.
These stories are not for the weak of heart. None of Oates' stories are. Those who dare to navigate the treacherous paths of "Sourland" and the lives of its inhabitants will be rewarded by a skillfully rendered cast of outlandish characters, Oates' trademark fascination with the unexpected that propels the story ahead, and the alarming twists and turns of events that have a way of souring and bruising the most normal of relationships.
In "Pumpkin-Head," a woman named Hadley, whose husband died a few days before, invites an "eccentric young molecular biologist," practically a stranger, into her home, rendering herself vulnerable to the punishment inflicted upon her. Unwilling to "agitate her visitor," and not wanting him "to sense how frightened she was," before long, Hadley finds herself in the clutches of her frightening guest, who "kissed and bit at her lips like a suddenly ravenous rodent. ... 'You like this, Hed-ley! This, you want. For this you asked me." Perhaps she did.
In "Probate," her life cleaved in half and unrecognizable to herself, Adrienne is forced to pay a visit to Probate court. The thought occurs to her that "[t]he widow is one who comes swiftly to the knowledge Whatever harm comes to you, you deserve. For you are still alive." A shocking discovery in her husband's will, for the dead carry their own secrets, raises questions about the identity of her deceased husband -- was he the distinguished historian she believed him to be, or a dreadful pervert? -- unraveling Adrienne further and causing her to take such an irrational step, it begs the question: Has she gone mad?
The recounting of "The Story of the Stabbing," as it travels from mouth to mouth, evolves wonderfully and horrifically, acquiring a life of its own, until the reality of the incident is lost, even to Madeleine, the witness. The story becomes too terrifying to be told and retold in the presence of Madeleine's innocent young daughter, especially since it is missing an ending -- not unlike every one of Oates' stories. "Did the stabbed man die? Was the killer caught?" Such answers are left to the reader to deduce.
Sex is a violent and punishing affair in these stories, orgasm a certain death. In "Babysitter," a married mother meets with a man she'd rather not think of "as an individual with a name ... Only this once she would be unfaithful to her husband and children." Lovemaking and fighting become indistinguishable here, resulting in an unexpected confession of love to a stranger who acts like a murderer rather than a lover. "I am a woman who deserves harm," she thinks to herself, an explanation, perhaps, as to why she would allow such abuse.
In "Bonobo Momma," the relationship of a gorgeous mother and her sickly daughter, who will never measure up to her mother's expectations, is rendered brilliantly, as is the heartbreaking ending to a day the daughter had long anticipated.
In these stories, death does not herald the end of a dysfunctional relationship, but rather the birth of guilt, as in "Bitch," where a father happens to die on the day of his daughter's birthday: "As a girl she had loved her father but eventually she'd given up, as we do when our love is not returned"; still, she considers herself "a bitch to think such thoughts at such a time ... she deserved bad luck."
In "Amputee," a librarian, whose state attracts a married man, struggles to hold onto her power and independence by refusing to express her love for him, instigating a cycle of luring men only to reject them. She lost her legs; she will not lose her power.
The crowning jewel of these stories is the title story -- this, too, the tale of a widow, "the sole survivor of the wreckage at 299 Valley Drive," whose behavior proves even more peculiar, and inexplicable, than that of other women in these stories. The thought occurs to her that "[t]he husband might have advised her 'Be very careful Sophie. You will make mistakes in your posthumous life, I won't be there to correct.' " And mistakes she certainly commits. An especially foolish one catapults her into a nightmare from which it might be impossible to wake up. Three weeks after her husband's death, in answer to a cryptic invitation from a man she barely knew many years ago, she packs her bags and goes to him. Despite her understandable need to flee the house in which she once lived with her deceased husband -- "The surviving spouse inhabits a space not much larger than a grave" -- it's hard to imagine any woman in her right mind, even one as grief-stricken and desperate as Sophie, picking herself up and flying to Sourland, Minn., to spend time in the wilderness with a stranger. The monster she encounters and the strange events that ensue will cause Sophie to ask herself, "Why have I come here, am I mad!" This reader asked the same question, even if she couldn't help but turn one page after another to discover what happens next.
These stories are not for the weak of heart. None of Oates' stories are. Those who dare to navigate the treacherous paths of "Sourland" and the lives of its inhabitants will be rewarded by a skillfully rendered cast of outlandish characters, Oates' trademark fascination with the unexpected that propels the story ahead, and the alarming twists and turns of events that have a way of souring and bruising the most normal of relationships.
October 13, 2023
This book contains over a dozen short stories. I found most of them wild, wonderful, and totally JCO.
These short stories centered around loss of some sort and all affecting ordinary, every day people...like you and me. They related to how the characters dealt with their loss and moved forward with their lives. Each story was unique, individual, and creepy.
The writing is superb. All of the characters are well defined and easy to relate to. This group of stories is very dark, macabre, bizarre, and violent. Just so you know...
Another winner by JCO who always amazes me.
These short stories centered around loss of some sort and all affecting ordinary, every day people...like you and me. They related to how the characters dealt with their loss and moved forward with their lives. Each story was unique, individual, and creepy.
The writing is superb. All of the characters are well defined and easy to relate to. This group of stories is very dark, macabre, bizarre, and violent. Just so you know...
Another winner by JCO who always amazes me.
May 5, 2011
This book of short stories has taught me somthing about myself and that somthing is : I do not like Short Stories.
So this was not the book for me, and maybe Joyce Carol Oates was not the author I should be reading when my attitude towards short stories is luke warm at best. I have read that Joyce Carol Oates is a master of the short story and that may be true, I apparently am not one to say. They are well written but I find Short Stories so unsatisfying, like a salad for dinner.I know this will not fill me up, I will be hungry for the rest of the night which will make me grumpy and in fact this is what Sourland did to me, made me grumpy.
So this was not the book for me, and maybe Joyce Carol Oates was not the author I should be reading when my attitude towards short stories is luke warm at best. I have read that Joyce Carol Oates is a master of the short story and that may be true, I apparently am not one to say. They are well written but I find Short Stories so unsatisfying, like a salad for dinner.I know this will not fill me up, I will be hungry for the rest of the night which will make me grumpy and in fact this is what Sourland did to me, made me grumpy.
May 6, 2015
I wanted to read something haunting and modern. I sure did get that. Although it was a collection of short stories, at the end of the read, all of those stories melded into one great horrifying modern day nightmare. Her themes are singular and recurring which seemed redundant to have such similar narratives. As if reading a rewrite of a previous story. But no one I have read can write and convey the experiences she pulls her characters though in such a way. All of her stories start out rolling and then build. Like watching a car crash in very slow motion and then at the last minute playing it in real time.
October 7, 2010
Joyce Carol Oates is a powerhouse of a writer. Her strengths lie in the ability to portray so many different types of pain, loss, disfigurement and cruelty, but in such vivid, gorgeous prose that a reader has to force themself to look away. These stories are strong stuff, and I took them a few at a time. Impossible to read from cover to cover without a respite. My admiration for her has not diminished in the almost 40 years that I've been her fan, knowing that each year I'll have something new from her to relish.
October 15, 2010
She leaves me so drained. Loved the amputee librarian story, the pumpkinhead rape, and the tense title story.
"All that she had dreaded in Sourland, had happened."
"All that she had dreaded in Sourland, had happened."
January 25, 2015
Meh. Couple stories at the front of the book were good. Most weren't my cup of tea.
June 27, 2020
"Sourland" is a monotonous short story collection which reveals the weaknesses of Carol Oates' writing.
You could play BINGO with JCO's work. The story has sexual assault? Check. The story mentions an Ivy League school? Check. The story features a protagonist who is a widow, or, if young, just lost her dad? Check. The protagonist has a job that somehow relates to books (a librarian, teacher, works at press, etc.)? Check. There is "she thought" in the text? Check and BINGO!
That it feels like you could play Bingo with her stories shows how limited JCO is as an author. JCO seems unable to write about a life that is much different from the one she has inhabited as an adult, and so she writes about the same type of person, the same type of life, the same types of problems, and in the same "voice" with the same descriptions pretty much all the time. I listened to the majority of the book in one day, and most of the stories ran together as soon as they were finished because there wasn't much to distinguish them from one another. JCO has been a constant anthology editor, so it is surprising that her own collections of short stories seem so poorly edited. She should have been able to look at the pieces and go "this needs something different in tone to break up the monotony."
That JCO uses sexually assault as one of her go-to ways to try to shock her readers is lazy. Of course people are afraid of sexual assault, but they are afraid of many other things too. JCO could look at more of those and leave lazy, fetishized, rape off her page. She's used it more than enough already.
Overall "Sourland" is a short story collection that shows JCO to be a very limited writer.
You could play BINGO with JCO's work. The story has sexual assault? Check. The story mentions an Ivy League school? Check. The story features a protagonist who is a widow, or, if young, just lost her dad? Check. The protagonist has a job that somehow relates to books (a librarian, teacher, works at press, etc.)? Check. There is "she thought" in the text? Check and BINGO!
That it feels like you could play Bingo with her stories shows how limited JCO is as an author. JCO seems unable to write about a life that is much different from the one she has inhabited as an adult, and so she writes about the same type of person, the same type of life, the same types of problems, and in the same "voice" with the same descriptions pretty much all the time. I listened to the majority of the book in one day, and most of the stories ran together as soon as they were finished because there wasn't much to distinguish them from one another. JCO has been a constant anthology editor, so it is surprising that her own collections of short stories seem so poorly edited. She should have been able to look at the pieces and go "this needs something different in tone to break up the monotony."
That JCO uses sexually assault as one of her go-to ways to try to shock her readers is lazy. Of course people are afraid of sexual assault, but they are afraid of many other things too. JCO could look at more of those and leave lazy, fetishized, rape off her page. She's used it more than enough already.
Overall "Sourland" is a short story collection that shows JCO to be a very limited writer.
February 6, 2017
In one sentence I can describe this book as visceral and it hit at the heart of human darkness. Extremely disturbing and hard to push through and read sometimes. Sourland is about heartbreaking situations of how bad humans can be bad to each other: violence, murder, abuse, rape, beating, indignation, resentment. Everything goes sour – hence Sourland.
Oates is an amazing writer and hits deep at writing down those patterns that flow in your mind about when you are in a threatening situation. There where times when I was reading where I would think “I have experienced that.” Scary stuff. The writing is what kept me going throughout the book because there were times I really wanted to just put it down and step away.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. I gave this book a 3 because it was just disturbing and I don't go to the library to find material like this on purpose. I do enjoy reading Stephen King however so I don't know what kind of category to put myself in.
Oates is an amazing writer and hits deep at writing down those patterns that flow in your mind about when you are in a threatening situation. There where times when I was reading where I would think “I have experienced that.” Scary stuff. The writing is what kept me going throughout the book because there were times I really wanted to just put it down and step away.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. I gave this book a 3 because it was just disturbing and I don't go to the library to find material like this on purpose. I do enjoy reading Stephen King however so I don't know what kind of category to put myself in.
November 12, 2020
SPOILER ALERT! I think all men/teenagers should read the short story "Sourland." So many women have been through something similar to what Sophie went through. We often don't stand up for what we want or don't want and are too worried about hurting someone's feelings to do so. I know there are plenty of men who would be horrified if they unwittingly "forced" a woman into sexual acts she really didn't want any part of. So, they need to be aware of the fact that some women have trouble saying stop or no, even thought they are screaming it in their heads. I would think it's better to be safe and stop and ask the woman if what you are doing is okay, just to be sure, and not get wrapped up in the heat of your own passion.
And we should all try to raise our children to stand up for themselves and not feel the need to be polite to the point of submitting to things you really don't want to happen.
It is a powerful story that all men and women alike should read and think about.
And we should all try to raise our children to stand up for themselves and not feel the need to be polite to the point of submitting to things you really don't want to happen.
It is a powerful story that all men and women alike should read and think about.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2025
I really liked the stories, my favourite being the 'Bonobo Momma' - they had a lot of depth and great characterisation. I was impressed with how skilfully Oats can enter the internal world of such different people and still manage to depict something which feels fresh and original. How can she include so much detail?! I had major writer envy. I felt the stories were quite 'American' and detailed themes that relates to the cultural history & society. The only downfall of these stories for me was that after a while, they felt flat, going over themes which were very similar to each other, and I didn't have enough interest or motivation to carry on with them all.
October 8, 2023
All the stories on this book are masterfully written, memorable and thought provoking. I would even say intrusive thought provoking. The highlights are above excellent and probably some of the best short fiction I've ever read. "The Story Of The Stabbing", "The Beating" and "Babysitter" are spellbinding in a way I've only experienced reading Joyce's Dubliners or reading Poe for the first time as a kid. I read this one very slowly, in small doses. It's a dark and, at times, tiresome read. But a rewarding one.
October 27, 2017
(First, can someone explain “Probate Court” to me? Or the ending of “Pumpkin-head”?)
Dark short stories. Most of them have weird sexual twists to them. I can understand if that isn’t your cup of tea.
There was a spelling mistake on page 10. The protagonist’s name is Hadley and it’s misspelled once as Hardley. Terrible way to start off, but I didn’t notice anything else. Good stories I’ll never read again. Glad to have it off my shelf.
Dark short stories. Most of them have weird sexual twists to them. I can understand if that isn’t your cup of tea.
There was a spelling mistake on page 10. The protagonist’s name is Hadley and it’s misspelled once as Hardley. Terrible way to start off, but I didn’t notice anything else. Good stories I’ll never read again. Glad to have it off my shelf.
November 29, 2025
as I write this, Sourland has been one of the longest-running items on my saved library lists. I mean probably 10 years. I have no recollection of how or why this ended up on my list. I have read no other Joyce Carol Oates writings. (heard of her, yes. Read anything? no.) I finally took the leap for an e-reader, and this was "Available Now" on the Libby app. Time to clear it off the backlog!
I think it's important to note that all of these stories were published as independent stories in various publications, such as The New Yorker. The publisher obviously decided to publish these as a collection at some point, and their theme in the collection was "very dark." Short story collections are like that; sometimes they are thematic (from various authors), or an author might have everything from one year. This theme was maybe a combination of a specific time with the themes, and it makes for heavy reading. All the stories are fairly dark, with very little to no respite or lightness between. I'm not sure I like that choice of the curator.
It's hard to rate because EMOTIONALLY, I'm like... 2 stars. Literary merit maybe 4. I like short stories that have memorable characters, or action, or punchy endings, and I felt like these missed the mark for me. Most of the characters were just ruminating in their thoughts, and that part got tedious, as all the stories shared that style choice.
I think it's important to note that all of these stories were published as independent stories in various publications, such as The New Yorker. The publisher obviously decided to publish these as a collection at some point, and their theme in the collection was "very dark." Short story collections are like that; sometimes they are thematic (from various authors), or an author might have everything from one year. This theme was maybe a combination of a specific time with the themes, and it makes for heavy reading. All the stories are fairly dark, with very little to no respite or lightness between. I'm not sure I like that choice of the curator.
It's hard to rate because EMOTIONALLY, I'm like... 2 stars. Literary merit maybe 4. I like short stories that have memorable characters, or action, or punchy endings, and I felt like these missed the mark for me. Most of the characters were just ruminating in their thoughts, and that part got tedious, as all the stories shared that style choice.
October 2, 2018
Holy smokes! This is definitely not one of those books you want to read before bed. I could only read one story per night and sometimes I honestly had to take days off and read something else to get my mind off of it.
Brilliant writer. No doubt about it but man do her stories creep me out sometimes. By all means, dive right in but take caution because Joyce does not hold back.
Brilliant writer. No doubt about it but man do her stories creep me out sometimes. By all means, dive right in but take caution because Joyce does not hold back.
July 27, 2019
Truthfully this book was mostly read. I couldn't bring myself to finish the last 3 stories. Well written, yes but also negative, depressing, dysfunctional stories. I don't think there was an uplifting moment or character in any of them. I probably will never read Ms. Oates again. There are too many other authors waiting to be read.
September 28, 2020
My introduction to Joyce Carol Oates, this almost made my "abandoned" list. I wanted to enjoy it more than I did but a few stories in it fell flat and I put it aside. Months later, I've finally finished it, underwhelmed by the writing. I doubt I'll read any of her other work. So many books . . .
January 11, 2021
I don’t like to leave books unfinished, but I will say the main emotion I experienced reading this collection was dread. An ok read, but difficult — suspenseful but not necessarily in an enjoyable way. Reminded me of Roxanne Gay’s Difficult Women.
Some items:
Quicksand
Germs
Misbuttoned coats
Hospitals
Bereavement
Some items:
Quicksand
Germs
Misbuttoned coats
Hospitals
Bereavement
October 2, 2021
Certaines des nouvelles sont superbes, d'autres un peu moins. A mon sens, le travail éditorial est raté. Chaque nouvelle aurait pu être resituée et peut-être que cet amoncellement par moment indigeste (nouvelles glauques qui parfois se répètent) aurait gagné à être séparé en deux volumes. Il reste une grande leçon de littérature.
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