O Street

by Corrina Wycoff

The tightly linked stories of Corrina Wycoff’s gripping debut collection
follow the life of Elizabeth Dinard. Raised in poverty by a schizophrenic
single mother who self-medicates with heroin, Elizabeth experiences
a childhood fraught with emotional and financial insecurity, as well as
darker exploitations.
 
Now living a fragmented and desperate adulthood, she continually attempts to outrun her brutal past but proves unable to let go of her love for the charismatic, lawless mother who continues to haunt her. In her struggles as she ages, leaves home, moves through lovers, loses her mother to suicide, and eventually becomes a single mother herself, Elizabeth’s gritty determination to simply survive--to exist--is an enormous, if bittersweet, victory.

Genres: Fiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2007

Reviews

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes me wonder about the difference between linked stories and a novel. Time gaps are common in novels, as are point of view shifts. No answers on this yet, just a floating question.

I loved O Street. My highest praise for Wycoff is that rarely have I seen a horrifying detail so expertly described. I thought about one small detail for weeks afterward, almost always with a shudder.

The characters are rich and contradictory, with a compelling combination of sympathetic characteristics and repulsive ones. You don't really love these people or want to hang out with them, but you might know them already.

"O Street," the title story, is phenomenal. The point of view shifts outside the bleak world of the characters to a classmate of the protagonist to tell this story. The story elucidates a critical plot point while providing exquisite commentary on the cruel social world of teenagers. Don't we all remember a time when we dared not risk talking to a person who was more socially damaged than us? I cringe to think of it.

I would read this book again--I still think I could learn from it. This is uncommon praise from me.

[Cris Mazza · Rating 5 out of 5]

The profound conflict in being compelled to love your mother, even when she can't return anything. Subtle, unsentimental, harrowing, but not depressing.

[Rachelle Bergstein · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book for free at BEA. This short collection of linked short stories, while sometimes entertaining, felt so emotionally manipulative that I just couldn't get into it. The topics covered - mental illness, heroin addiction, poverty, rape - tug at the heartstrings, and thus, in this case, inspire narrative laziness. Wycoff oversimplifies schizophrenia: the suffering mother views her daughter as "contaminated," her idealized older brother as pure and "white." In the end, I wanted this book to do more than disturb (one of the most potent, and powerful stories - also the title story - describes the aftermath of a gang rape in the second person: YOU didn't reach out to the victim, YOU were too weak to defend her). Are we being confronted with our vast social failures? Or just whacked over the head with a horrifying thought?

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started off with the promise of being great. But left me hanging quite a lot. It would often skip huge chunks of time and you had no idea why or what had happened. I found myself asking 'why' and 'what just happened' a lot. Maybe that was the point of the book - but I wasn't a fan. I wouldn't read it again.
I did learn a bit about schizophrenia and drug addicts but overall not a good book in my opinion.

[---]

I thought this book was going to be pulpy based on the blurb, but it turned out to be well-written and amazing. I didn't find the portrayal of mental illness/DPDR to be reductive or self-indulgent to the characters. It seemed every emotion or action that may deviate from the norm was tied to a physical event, described with spare but vibrant sensory details, and the story was rough but never turned into the misery porn I used to read in my teens. Amazing balance.

[Jeff Bursey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Corrina Wycoff deserves credit for representing something of the dire social conditions women in the US find themselves in. There's nothing uplifting about the situations Beth faces, and one leaves O Street convinced that her story would continue in a steadfastly miserable fashion. Whether she'd survive is an open question.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wycoff sets her spotlight on Elizabeth, who negotiates the greased ladder of social class from a childhood with her addicted, schizophrenic mother to a middle-class life with her lover, to places in between. O Street is dark; it's also mighty compelling.

[Jenny Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opens a portal into the dark side of modern capitalism, the author mysteriously guides one through to emerge just a little bit changed. This book is worth picking up.

[Allison Parker]

I don't rate books for which I played a role in publishing, however...
My description coming soon...

[Ava · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was extremely touching. So many secerets, stories, craziness, and hurt. Yet there is still room for the happiness and loving. This is my new favorite book.

[Melanie Wilson]

I like her style, but I had to stop reading as I started to realize from what I read and what other reviewers describe that this was going to be too triggering for me.