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Patricide: A Novella
Roland Marks is a Nobel Prize winning novelist with a penchant for younger women and four marriages behind him. Lou-Lou Marks, his grown daughter, is a successful academic in her own right. But her real career lies in attending to her father. An egomaniacal and emotionally manipulative man, he demands of her absolute filial loyalty and an uncompromising acquiescence to his every need—her only reward is his approval, which she feels she never fully receives, but desperately desires. When Roland falls in love with a woman fifty years his junior, Lou-Lou senses the precarious decline of her power. Intent on preventing Roland from marrying for a fifth time and signing away his estate—and her inheritance—the relationship takes a darkly comical turn. Astute, insightful, and mordantly hilarious, Patricide is Joyce Carol Oates at her best.
98 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 3, 2012
61 people are currently reading
473 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
871 books9,913 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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April 30, 2025دوستان سلام
بعد از یک وقفه طولانی ، سلام.
قراره بپردازیم به «پدرکُشی» از «جویس کارول اوتس».
از «اوتس» دوسال قبل در پاریس ، نمایشنامهای رو که یک تیم فرانسوی اجرا کرده بودن دیدم. بیش از حد مکانیکی و غرق در کلیشه شده بود. گویی که اونجا تشخیص دادم که تکنیک برای نویسنده از حس و حال داستان مهم تره. لذا که اون نمایش هم کار بدی بود.
در پدرکشی ، همون تکنیک رو هم نمیبینیم. در اون نمایش حداقل یکی دوتا شخصیت (بدون در نظر گرفتن اِلِمان های سختگیرانه من) شاهد بودم. اما اینجا ، همون رو هم نمیبینیم. چی میبینیم؟ مسخره بازی ، حروم کردن وقت و پول مخاطب ، توهین به خواننده با کلیشهای سراسری.
قبلا هم گفتم که من با اثر سرگرم کننده مشکلی ندارم ، بلکه لذت هم میبرم. چرا که یکی از وجوه اساسی ادبیات و کلاً هنر ، سرگرمیه. سرگرمی درست ، انسانی ، آدمیزادی و پر کشش. به یاد بیارید «خصم» از «کارر» رو ، «پوآرو»های «آگاتا کریستی» رو ، که نه تنها جذاب بودن بلکه انسانی و درست بودن.
حالا برای اینکه درباره این مزخرف هم کلامی گفته باشیم :
شاهد کاری هستیم که شخصیت هاش رو در حد اسم نگه میداره. کاری که تماما شخصیت ها حتی تیپ هم نمیشن. اسم هستن و ماقبل شخصیت.
داستان ، کلیشهای سراسری که مخاطب رو صرفا علاف و بیکار فرض میکنه.
دغدغه های نویسنده به حدی ساده و جمع و جورن که حتی دیده نمیشن.
و ترجمه...
بنظرم ترجمه این کار به حدی بد بود ، که قابل بیان و توصیف نیست.
دریغ از رعایت دستور زبان ساده
دریغ از بو بردن از ادبیات
دریغ از شناخت مهارت ترجمه
سر مجموع کتاب «پدرکُشی» از «جویس کارول اوتس» کاریه که نخوندنش و حتی نگاه نکردن به جلد کتابش ، شرف داره به خوندن و حتی نقد کردنش.
بعد از یک وقفه طولانی ، سلام.
قراره بپردازیم به «پدرکُشی» از «جویس کارول اوتس».
از «اوتس» دوسال قبل در پاریس ، نمایشنامهای رو که یک تیم فرانسوی اجرا کرده بودن دیدم. بیش از حد مکانیکی و غرق در کلیشه شده بود. گویی که اونجا تشخیص دادم که تکنیک برای نویسنده از حس و حال داستان مهم تره. لذا که اون نمایش هم کار بدی بود.
در پدرکشی ، همون تکنیک رو هم نمیبینیم. در اون نمایش حداقل یکی دوتا شخصیت (بدون در نظر گرفتن اِلِمان های سختگیرانه من) شاهد بودم. اما اینجا ، همون رو هم نمیبینیم. چی میبینیم؟ مسخره بازی ، حروم کردن وقت و پول مخاطب ، توهین به خواننده با کلیشهای سراسری.
قبلا هم گفتم که من با اثر سرگرم کننده مشکلی ندارم ، بلکه لذت هم میبرم. چرا که یکی از وجوه اساسی ادبیات و کلاً هنر ، سرگرمیه. سرگرمی درست ، انسانی ، آدمیزادی و پر کشش. به یاد بیارید «خصم» از «کارر» رو ، «پوآرو»های «آگاتا کریستی» رو ، که نه تنها جذاب بودن بلکه انسانی و درست بودن.
حالا برای اینکه درباره این مزخرف هم کلامی گفته باشیم :
شاهد کاری هستیم که شخصیت هاش رو در حد اسم نگه میداره. کاری که تماما شخصیت ها حتی تیپ هم نمیشن. اسم هستن و ماقبل شخصیت.
داستان ، کلیشهای سراسری که مخاطب رو صرفا علاف و بیکار فرض میکنه.
دغدغه های نویسنده به حدی ساده و جمع و جورن که حتی دیده نمیشن.
و ترجمه...
بنظرم ترجمه این کار به حدی بد بود ، که قابل بیان و توصیف نیست.
دریغ از رعایت دستور زبان ساده
دریغ از بو بردن از ادبیات
دریغ از شناخت مهارت ترجمه
سر مجموع کتاب «پدرکُشی» از «جویس کارول اوتس» کاریه که نخوندنش و حتی نگاه نکردن به جلد کتابش ، شرف داره به خوندن و حتی نقد کردنش.
August 10, 2025
It has been a long time since I read a story by Joyce Carol Oates. Her dramatic, breathless writing style bates me, but I find that after a few chapters, it also tires me. Plus her story arcs frequently end up disappointing me.
I thought I would try PATRICIDE because it was novella length, a length well suited to her stream-of-consciousness narrative technique. And for a while, I did find myself engrossed in the story, but by the middle, around the 50% point, I had to stop, because it was also gruelling to read. I didn't want to dnf. It wasn't a boring story, just one that taxed my thought processes.
'Before I saw my father's desperate hand on the railing, that collapsed with the steps, in what seemed at first like cruel slow-motion, I heard: my father's terrified voice calling for—me.'
Sentence after sentence like that overtaxed me. Although grammatically correct, they are exhausting to the mind, because they make it difficult to think logically. I stopped reading the story for a few days, but eventually returned to finish it.
The narrator is Lou-Lou, the daughter of a Noble Prize winning author, and a respected academic herself. Her father, Roland Marks, is a selfish womanizer, a man whose other children (and five ex-wives) have rejected him. But Lou-Lou remains tied to her now 74-year-old father, having become his chief caregiver and constant companion, until a young woman enters the scene—Cameron, a 24-year-old who becomes Roland's assistant and then his lover, and finally his fiancee. Lou-Lou resents Cameron's intrusion, yet continues to act at her father's bidding, even to the extent that she neglects her academic responsibilities.
The story arc involved a complicated Oedipus complex relationship that Lou-Lou has developed with her father, and the title promised more than it delivered. Although the ending was somewhat satisfying, I expected more. I got an outlandish psychological rendering of Lou-Lou's behaviour. In addition, Cameron's behaviour didn't make a lot of sense, except to someone who worshipped at the alter of Freud.
I finished the novella. The story and writing style will appeal to Joyce Carol Oates aficionados. To me, there were good portions and disappointing portions, and so I gave it 3.0 stars.
I thought I would try PATRICIDE because it was novella length, a length well suited to her stream-of-consciousness narrative technique. And for a while, I did find myself engrossed in the story, but by the middle, around the 50% point, I had to stop, because it was also gruelling to read. I didn't want to dnf. It wasn't a boring story, just one that taxed my thought processes.
'Before I saw my father's desperate hand on the railing, that collapsed with the steps, in what seemed at first like cruel slow-motion, I heard: my father's terrified voice calling for—me.'
Sentence after sentence like that overtaxed me. Although grammatically correct, they are exhausting to the mind, because they make it difficult to think logically. I stopped reading the story for a few days, but eventually returned to finish it.
The narrator is Lou-Lou, the daughter of a Noble Prize winning author, and a respected academic herself. Her father, Roland Marks, is a selfish womanizer, a man whose other children (and five ex-wives) have rejected him. But Lou-Lou remains tied to her now 74-year-old father, having become his chief caregiver and constant companion, until a young woman enters the scene—Cameron, a 24-year-old who becomes Roland's assistant and then his lover, and finally his fiancee. Lou-Lou resents Cameron's intrusion, yet continues to act at her father's bidding, even to the extent that she neglects her academic responsibilities.
The story arc involved a complicated Oedipus complex relationship that Lou-Lou has developed with her father, and the title promised more than it delivered. Although the ending was somewhat satisfying, I expected more. I got an outlandish psychological rendering of Lou-Lou's behaviour. In addition, Cameron's behaviour didn't make a lot of sense, except to someone who worshipped at the alter of Freud.
I finished the novella. The story and writing style will appeal to Joyce Carol Oates aficionados. To me, there were good portions and disappointing portions, and so I gave it 3.0 stars.
August 5, 2018
كتاب خوبيه، داستانش جالب و تا حدودى متفاوته اما ترجمه اش چندان جالب نيست. و اين كتاب شد دومين دليل عدم اعتماد من به نشر نيماژ.
August 17, 2012
Carol Oates has crafted a story about a father and daughter relationship.
He is a celebrated writer and the author of a Nobel prize winning novel.
This is a strained relationship at times but the father and daughter have an understanding and have had some great moments in their lives.
She is not married or with kids and she seems to not want flee the household of her father and takes up the role helping administer his busy writing life.
The title of this novella is the name of the novel of which he has written and is to be published in this story.
This story also focuses on loss and relationships.
He has many women to his name, many wives and through them all his daughter as always been there. She talks vastly about being around these women and how she kept many of them away.
His daughter is loyal and caring she's never had a child nor had sexual relations with a man or woman. Quite the opposite and contrast to her fathers lifestyle.
At seventy-four years old he falls in love with a woman of twenty-four, the daughter eventually accepts their being together and the new partner as a genuine mate.
His time with this new love hits an obstacle an unplanned, unpredicted fate that separates him from his loved ones.
Carol Oates is a masterful storyteller when it comes to writing about the human condition and a vast cast of characters with dilemmas and flaws, happiness and sadness.
She's right up there in Flannery O'Connor territory.
A novella that is heartfelt and captivating, delivered in a easy flowing prose.
Review also @ http://more2read.com/review/patricide-a-novella-by-joyce-carol-oates/
He is a celebrated writer and the author of a Nobel prize winning novel.
This is a strained relationship at times but the father and daughter have an understanding and have had some great moments in their lives.
She is not married or with kids and she seems to not want flee the household of her father and takes up the role helping administer his busy writing life.
The title of this novella is the name of the novel of which he has written and is to be published in this story.
This story also focuses on loss and relationships.
He has many women to his name, many wives and through them all his daughter as always been there. She talks vastly about being around these women and how she kept many of them away.
His daughter is loyal and caring she's never had a child nor had sexual relations with a man or woman. Quite the opposite and contrast to her fathers lifestyle.
At seventy-four years old he falls in love with a woman of twenty-four, the daughter eventually accepts their being together and the new partner as a genuine mate.
His time with this new love hits an obstacle an unplanned, unpredicted fate that separates him from his loved ones.
Carol Oates is a masterful storyteller when it comes to writing about the human condition and a vast cast of characters with dilemmas and flaws, happiness and sadness.
She's right up there in Flannery O'Connor territory.
A novella that is heartfelt and captivating, delivered in a easy flowing prose.
"Vulnerable to women, particularly young women, Dad was always "seeing" someone and always being "disappointed"-yet I dreaded the day when my seventy-four-year-old father might announce that he was "remarrying"-again!-and that our Thursday evening routine, the very core of my emotional life, was coming to an end."
"At last count I have four stepmothers, in addition to my own mother. They are Monique, Avril, Phyllis, Sylvia. There are step-brothers and sisters in my life but they are younger than I am, of generation, and resentful of me as their fathers favourite.
I think of my stepmothers as fairy-tale figures, sisters united by their marital ties to Roland Marks, but of course these ex-wives of Roland Marks detest one another."
"The love-affair of a daughter with her father encompasses here entire life. There has never been a time when she has not been her father's daughter.
I thought none of them can take my place. None of them can know him as I do."
Review also @ http://more2read.com/review/patricide-a-novella-by-joyce-carol-oates/
July 5, 2018
کاملاً بدون شناخت قبلی کتاب رو شروع کردم و انتظار چندانی ازش نداشتم. ولی با هر صفحه ای که جلو تر می رفت، داستان شیوا تر و خوندنی تر می شد. به رغم این که کتاب کاملاً زنانه هست و من گریزون از این وادی، کاملاًَ غرق دنیای کتاب شدم. مطمئن باشید از مطالعه ش لذتی بیش از انتظار تون می برید :).
//
//
July 14, 2025
«بعضی از زیباترین پروانهها هیچ چیز را بیشتر از پرتاب خودشان به درون شعلههایی که نابودشان خواهد کرد نمیخواهند.»
داستان با حوصله نوشته شده بود؛ از نوشتن جزئیات دست نکشید و پرش های بین گذشته و آینده را به درستی و زیبایی نشان داد و از سرگردان سازی خواننده خودداری کرد. این داستان، یک داستان معمولی نیست. ما در این داستان، به روان شخصیت داستان سفر میکنیم، او با ما، با پدرش و با خودش در کلنجار است و زندگی اش را در حسادت میگذراند.
داستان با حوصله نوشته شده بود؛ از نوشتن جزئیات دست نکشید و پرش های بین گذشته و آینده را به درستی و زیبایی نشان داد و از سرگردان سازی خواننده خودداری کرد. این داستان، یک داستان معمولی نیست. ما در این داستان، به روان شخصیت داستان سفر میکنیم، او با ما، با پدرش و با خودش در کلنجار است و زندگی اش را در حسادت میگذراند.
July 25, 2012
We have met Roland Marks before. Phillip Roth wrote about a character just like him in "Exit Ghost." Self absorbed. Serial womanizer because he places his needs and vanity above the needs and welfare of his family. Seeking the attention of younger and younger women as he diminishes both physically and artistically and struggles with his increasing irrelevance.
The difference here is that the perspective is not of the aging literary lion---which tends to create sympathy for him. This beautifully written novella tells the story from the point of view of his daughter. The dutiful daughter that one may say lacked the sense to move on and away from the selfish life devouring presence of her famous father. We see him in all his selfishness, his aggression used to mask his insecurities, and his overwhelming and all encompassing ego.
Good books sometimes not only make you think about what you have read, but make you re-evaluate other books that you have read. Patricide is just such a book. Told with the chilling understatement of a master.
The difference here is that the perspective is not of the aging literary lion---which tends to create sympathy for him. This beautifully written novella tells the story from the point of view of his daughter. The dutiful daughter that one may say lacked the sense to move on and away from the selfish life devouring presence of her famous father. We see him in all his selfishness, his aggression used to mask his insecurities, and his overwhelming and all encompassing ego.
Good books sometimes not only make you think about what you have read, but make you re-evaluate other books that you have read. Patricide is just such a book. Told with the chilling understatement of a master.
January 2, 2026
My favorite JCO work is her roast of Elon Musk, but this was good too.
August 22, 2025
I really love JCO and her writing style. It makes you feel unsettled. Well written and always clear characters
September 9, 2012
A lovely, compact novel, closely focused. Rather like an extended short story. "Lou-Lou" is the narrator, the daughter of a great writer. He rarely offers her any praise for her part in his life, even though all of his wives and his other children have abandoned him to his self-centered ways. Roland Marks, the writer, is now in his seventies and is working with his daughter to sell his massive archive to the New York Public Library. He is hoping for a large sum from the sale, not least because of the money that has been draining from his coffers for his ex-wives.
Two of his wives went beyond alimony to sue him for their part in some of his books. They stated that they helped him write the books or provided the characters. The charges were spurious but judges are usually not literary critics and often do not identify with self-important writers.
Lou holds down a professorship and is dean of a department at a small college not far from her father's house, so that she can visit him when needed. At the least, she visits once a week and they have take-out food together. She also takes care of some of his bills and helps get repairs made to the old house. She sacrificed a better position elsewhere for this closeness. And then entered the graduate student.
Cameron was an attractive young woman, in her twenties, doing her thesis on the great man. She had asked Roland Marks if she could interview him. Normally Marks resisted extending such interviews, but in this case he lets Cameron into his life more and more, until the two are taking trips to various functions together. For her part, Cameron appears to be genuinely interested in Marks and is unfailingly kind to Lou.
While she is secretly seething inside, Lou maintains a friendly attitude toward this woman who could very well become Marks' sixth wife. If she does, chances are that Lou's title as literary executor of Roland Marks' estate would likely fall to Cameron instead, a clearly unfair situation. Lou frets over it, and frets especially over the fact that she is being excluded from her father's life more and more as time goes on. She does, however, "check on" the house, as requested by Marks, when the couple are away, and arranges for a contractor to come to repair the back stairs that extend to the beach. She has tried to get her father to stop using the stairs because they are so damaged, but he persists, laughs at her worries, and somehow the stairs do seem to hold him all right.
Perhaps I have said too much already! A final note: Lou admits to herself that if she met Cameron in another setting she would like her. She can't really find fault with her, other than her effect on her father. How it all ends is, for me, the best part.
Two of his wives went beyond alimony to sue him for their part in some of his books. They stated that they helped him write the books or provided the characters. The charges were spurious but judges are usually not literary critics and often do not identify with self-important writers.
Lou holds down a professorship and is dean of a department at a small college not far from her father's house, so that she can visit him when needed. At the least, she visits once a week and they have take-out food together. She also takes care of some of his bills and helps get repairs made to the old house. She sacrificed a better position elsewhere for this closeness. And then entered the graduate student.
Cameron was an attractive young woman, in her twenties, doing her thesis on the great man. She had asked Roland Marks if she could interview him. Normally Marks resisted extending such interviews, but in this case he lets Cameron into his life more and more, until the two are taking trips to various functions together. For her part, Cameron appears to be genuinely interested in Marks and is unfailingly kind to Lou.
While she is secretly seething inside, Lou maintains a friendly attitude toward this woman who could very well become Marks' sixth wife. If she does, chances are that Lou's title as literary executor of Roland Marks' estate would likely fall to Cameron instead, a clearly unfair situation. Lou frets over it, and frets especially over the fact that she is being excluded from her father's life more and more as time goes on. She does, however, "check on" the house, as requested by Marks, when the couple are away, and arranges for a contractor to come to repair the back stairs that extend to the beach. She has tried to get her father to stop using the stairs because they are so damaged, but he persists, laughs at her worries, and somehow the stairs do seem to hold him all right.
Perhaps I have said too much already! A final note: Lou admits to herself that if she met Cameron in another setting she would like her. She can't really find fault with her, other than her effect on her father. How it all ends is, for me, the best part.
March 30, 2014
First of all, I must say that all my reviews contain spoilers. Personally, I prefer to read reviews after (and not before ) I read something so I tend to behave rather nilly-willy towards censoring in my reviews. This is a rarity for me to mark the review as containing a spoiler, but I must alert the reader...THIS REVIEW WILL SPOIL YOUR READINGS OF THE STORY.
I liked it quite a bit. I tend to like Oates stuff and it is an interesting complement to Rape:A Love Story (which also deals with similar topics from a very different angle and is quite short).
My biggest complaint was that it felt a bit too trite and stereotypical. The domineering, genius father who relies upon the adoring, supplicant daughter is also a womanizer who falls to his death just prior to marrying his 6th wife who is young enough to be his granddaughter. There wasn't a whole lot of variation in these characters until the last 5 pages or so when Lou-Lou (who we discover to be a virgin) seems to be falling in love with the "almost widowed" Cameron. I think the beauty in the whole novella is in this twist at the end.
That said, Oates does have some great descriptive (and apt) quotes about male/female sexuality and gender presentation:
"In my professional life I had a reputation for being confident, strong-willed, decisive, yet fair-minded--I'd shaped myself into the quintessence of the professional woman, who is a quasi-male, yet the very best kind of male."
"Beauty is skin deep: we perceive it immediately. What's beneath, if it's ugly, will require more time."
"The era of Women's Liberation was the 1970s, or should have been. Yet, women are still bound to men. The majority of women, regardless of age. And a famous man attracts women as a flame attracts moths--irresistibly, fatally."
"Living with a genius you come to realize: the 'genius' is hidden from you, somewhere inside the deeply flawed if loveable and mortal person."
"This was a disgruntlement that felt easy and comfortable, like worn bedroom slippers. I laughed thinking This is what a family is. This."
Overall it is short and poignant and has some great quips.
I liked it quite a bit. I tend to like Oates stuff and it is an interesting complement to Rape:A Love Story (which also deals with similar topics from a very different angle and is quite short).
My biggest complaint was that it felt a bit too trite and stereotypical. The domineering, genius father who relies upon the adoring, supplicant daughter is also a womanizer who falls to his death just prior to marrying his 6th wife who is young enough to be his granddaughter. There wasn't a whole lot of variation in these characters until the last 5 pages or so when Lou-Lou (who we discover to be a virgin) seems to be falling in love with the "almost widowed" Cameron. I think the beauty in the whole novella is in this twist at the end.
That said, Oates does have some great descriptive (and apt) quotes about male/female sexuality and gender presentation:
"In my professional life I had a reputation for being confident, strong-willed, decisive, yet fair-minded--I'd shaped myself into the quintessence of the professional woman, who is a quasi-male, yet the very best kind of male."
"Beauty is skin deep: we perceive it immediately. What's beneath, if it's ugly, will require more time."
"The era of Women's Liberation was the 1970s, or should have been. Yet, women are still bound to men. The majority of women, regardless of age. And a famous man attracts women as a flame attracts moths--irresistibly, fatally."
"Living with a genius you come to realize: the 'genius' is hidden from you, somewhere inside the deeply flawed if loveable and mortal person."
"This was a disgruntlement that felt easy and comfortable, like worn bedroom slippers. I laughed thinking This is what a family is. This."
Overall it is short and poignant and has some great quips.
August 6, 2012
It's been a while since I've read any Oates, but as soon as I started reading this there was no mistaking her voice. Being a novella, this is very short, but she still manages to flesh out her characters pretty well. Essentially we come in on the final days of Roland Marks, as viewed by his daughter Lou Lou. An accomplished and intelligent woman, her obsession with her father's live eventually destroys her own, at least in part. If you enjoy Oates I recommend picking this up, but this is very much in the vein of her usual fiction about women whose lives revolve a bit too much around their men, and who don't seem to have much agency.
November 7, 2018
Which is worse, to be a downright terrible person with no regard for anything but his own satisfaction or a helplessly devoted, unappreciated, overlooked daughter? This novella explores the question in Oates' signature highly dramatic style.
May 9, 2023
Roland Marks is an award-winning author. He's also an old school chauvinist and a serial womanizer. Lou-Lou is his oldest daughter, a dean at a college and also his favourite offspring. She's not one to say no when her father needs things done around the house. Over the past number of years, she's literally tied at the hip to her father. It's a toxic relationship, one with no redeeming qualities. One day, her father falls madly in love with a young woman (young enough to be his granddaughter). It's at this point that Lou-Lou flies into a jealous rage, one she keeps under wraps. What develops is a twisted but satisfying outcome, one the reader doesn't see coming from miles away..
July 21, 2019
کتاب درمورد زن میانسالی به اسم لو هست. که لولو صداش می کنن. لو عاقش پدرش هست و یک جور زندگی ادیپ وار دارد...پدری که برنده جایزه نوبل هست. اما هیچ کسی او را درک نکرده... حتی ازدواج های متعدد او...
نویسنده بیشتر درمورد قضاوت مانور میدهد. یک اتللوی عصر جدید. کتاب جالبی بود.
نویسنده بیشتر درمورد قضاوت مانور میدهد. یک اتللوی عصر جدید. کتاب جالبی بود.
September 22, 2022
The way JCO puts words to nameless, conflicting, batshit emotions, man.
September 5, 2012
A lot of this story about being a Father's daughter rang very true. Plus JCO writes so well, it is great to read anything she writes!
January 14, 2013
I've always enjoyed Oates' storytelling techniques. She draws the reader in with dark and disturbing view of human nature.
July 17, 2013
All telling. No showing. Feels like a draft for a story rather than a story.
March 7, 2014
Roland Marks is a successful, famous, Nobel Prize winning author. He is a womanizer who has collected ex-wives throughout the years, including his daughter Lou-Lou’s mother. Lou-Lou is “forty-six years old and the dean of the faculty at a small, highly regarded liberal arts college in Riverdale, New York” (Oates, Patricide). Though she is highly successful in her professional life, the relationship she has with her father leaves time for little more. She idolizes her father, referring to him by his full name, Roland Marks, granting him an almost god-like status. Lou-Lou is obsessed with being the most important woman in his life, showing extreme jealousy when her position as the most needed woman is threatened. This threat comes when Cameron, a young Ph.D. student becomes his assistant. Not wanting to be replaced by a woman half her age, Lou-Lou begins to let her professional responsibilities slip as she increases how much she caters to her father’s every need. Oppositely, her father decreases the small amount of attention he shows her, devoting all of his time to his latest love interest, who becomes his fiancée. Towards the end of the story, Roland is killed when he falls down steps that collapse beneath him. After his death, Lou-Lou’s life transforms into something that had not been possible while he was alive.
She becomes the most important person in her father’s terminated life and through that power, finds the self she never knew while he was alive. Lou-Lou feels responsible for his death because she knew the steps were faulty and had not fixed them. Following Roland’s death, Lou-Lou and Cameron become close, relying on one another for grief, companionship, and support. She even hires her father’s fiancée to be her assistant while she handles her father’s estate. His literary estate is the most valuable of all of his possessions. It is what he was most protective over in his life. Now, Lou-Lou has power over it. Together with her father’s former fiancée, she defies his orders by negotiating a movie adaption of his works with Hollywood filmmakers. It is not just his literary career that Lou-Lou has the rights to, it is also Cameron. She admits to never feeling sexual desire before her father’s death. Once he is gone, she finally feels this desire for Cameron. With him gone, Lou-Lou is finally able to admit who she really is as she replaces her father in the heart of his fiancée.
Interpreting this story through a psychoanalytic perspective, it is clear that Lou-Lou’s life is controlled by the oedipal dynamics of her relationship with her father. She is obsessed with him to the point that he occupies her every thought and desire. She spends her entire life trying to please him because she wants to be the number one woman in his life. When the relationship with her father and her own mother failed, she chose her father over her mother. From that moment she resents and wants to beat out every woman who enters his life, including Cameron. When she feels Cameron winning the battle for her father’s attention, Lou-Lou develops a defense mechanism for the pain from being rejected by spending even more time than she already did taking care of his house and finances. She becomes so obsessed trying to insert herself into her father’s life that she fails to maintain her responsibilities at work and gets demoted. After her father’s death, Lou-Lou’s repressed desires to replace her father become apparent.
Though typically, the Oedipus complex refers to wanting to replace the same-sex parent, Lou-Lou’s character develops from wanting to replace all of the females in her father’s life to eventually wanting to replace him. This is revealed when Oates explains that Lou-Lou finds her happiness following Roland’s death. She absorbs his power by gaining control of his estate, to include the rights to all of his literary works. While he was living, she had not been able to defy him; however, after his death, she goes against his wishes and entertains the idea of allowing Hollywood to make film productions of his stories. Finally, it is revealed that she wants to replace him sexually when her first sexual desire is felt for Cameron. The title of the novella, Patricide, speaks to Lou-Lou’s true desire: to kill her father, take his power, and replace him sexually.
This story is a good, easy read. The main character, Lou-Lou is well-developed. She grows throughout the story from a weak, sexually repressed, obsessed daughter into a strong woman who discovers her true identity after the death of her father. Roland is a stereotypical, egotistical man who is more wrapped up in his own life to care about his family. The imbalance of power and love between this father and daughter is shown when Lou-Lou says, “I had to leave Thursday evenings open for my father; but my father might make other, more interesting plans for Thursday without notifying me” (Oates, Patricide). Oates does a good job showing the obsession Lou-Lou has for her father as well as the indifference he feels towards her. Lou-Lou describes their Thursday night dinners as “the very core of my emotional life” (Patricide). Oppositely, her father dismisses this important ritual when tempted by Cameron. He unemotionally tells his daughter, “Cameron and I have more serious things with which to occupy ourselves, OK?” (Oates, Patricide). The story is laced with these types of exchanges, where Lou-Lou’s greatest desire is to be with her father and his is to be anywhere else.
Though the characters in Patricide create an interesting storyline, the story lacks the level of climax that is promised in the title. The title creates suspense and excitement with the hint that Lou-Lou might snap and murder her emotionally void father at any moment. Because of this, it loses excitement and is disappointing to realize that the title is more figurative than literal about the end of their relationship. The disappointment in the lackluster climax spills over into the falling action because it takes a few pages to come to terms with the fact that Roland is killed accidentally rather than murdered, which seemed promised.
This disappointment is short-lived when it becomes apparent that Lou-Lou had not been jealous of the other women’s involvement in her father’s life, but rather had been jealous of her father’s life. Though grieving for her father, Lou-Lou enjoys taking power over his literary works. She then takes his place in Cameron’s life and even admits while snuggling with her one night, “A rich red sensation begins in my throat and spreads through my chest, my belly and my loins” (Oates, Patricide). Figuratively, Lou-Lou becomes her father. This twist in the plot makes up for the let-down of Lou-Lou not actually murdering him. It elevates the book from a regular suspense story to the type of high-quality literature for which Oates is known.
She becomes the most important person in her father’s terminated life and through that power, finds the self she never knew while he was alive. Lou-Lou feels responsible for his death because she knew the steps were faulty and had not fixed them. Following Roland’s death, Lou-Lou and Cameron become close, relying on one another for grief, companionship, and support. She even hires her father’s fiancée to be her assistant while she handles her father’s estate. His literary estate is the most valuable of all of his possessions. It is what he was most protective over in his life. Now, Lou-Lou has power over it. Together with her father’s former fiancée, she defies his orders by negotiating a movie adaption of his works with Hollywood filmmakers. It is not just his literary career that Lou-Lou has the rights to, it is also Cameron. She admits to never feeling sexual desire before her father’s death. Once he is gone, she finally feels this desire for Cameron. With him gone, Lou-Lou is finally able to admit who she really is as she replaces her father in the heart of his fiancée.
Interpreting this story through a psychoanalytic perspective, it is clear that Lou-Lou’s life is controlled by the oedipal dynamics of her relationship with her father. She is obsessed with him to the point that he occupies her every thought and desire. She spends her entire life trying to please him because she wants to be the number one woman in his life. When the relationship with her father and her own mother failed, she chose her father over her mother. From that moment she resents and wants to beat out every woman who enters his life, including Cameron. When she feels Cameron winning the battle for her father’s attention, Lou-Lou develops a defense mechanism for the pain from being rejected by spending even more time than she already did taking care of his house and finances. She becomes so obsessed trying to insert herself into her father’s life that she fails to maintain her responsibilities at work and gets demoted. After her father’s death, Lou-Lou’s repressed desires to replace her father become apparent.
Though typically, the Oedipus complex refers to wanting to replace the same-sex parent, Lou-Lou’s character develops from wanting to replace all of the females in her father’s life to eventually wanting to replace him. This is revealed when Oates explains that Lou-Lou finds her happiness following Roland’s death. She absorbs his power by gaining control of his estate, to include the rights to all of his literary works. While he was living, she had not been able to defy him; however, after his death, she goes against his wishes and entertains the idea of allowing Hollywood to make film productions of his stories. Finally, it is revealed that she wants to replace him sexually when her first sexual desire is felt for Cameron. The title of the novella, Patricide, speaks to Lou-Lou’s true desire: to kill her father, take his power, and replace him sexually.
This story is a good, easy read. The main character, Lou-Lou is well-developed. She grows throughout the story from a weak, sexually repressed, obsessed daughter into a strong woman who discovers her true identity after the death of her father. Roland is a stereotypical, egotistical man who is more wrapped up in his own life to care about his family. The imbalance of power and love between this father and daughter is shown when Lou-Lou says, “I had to leave Thursday evenings open for my father; but my father might make other, more interesting plans for Thursday without notifying me” (Oates, Patricide). Oates does a good job showing the obsession Lou-Lou has for her father as well as the indifference he feels towards her. Lou-Lou describes their Thursday night dinners as “the very core of my emotional life” (Patricide). Oppositely, her father dismisses this important ritual when tempted by Cameron. He unemotionally tells his daughter, “Cameron and I have more serious things with which to occupy ourselves, OK?” (Oates, Patricide). The story is laced with these types of exchanges, where Lou-Lou’s greatest desire is to be with her father and his is to be anywhere else.
Though the characters in Patricide create an interesting storyline, the story lacks the level of climax that is promised in the title. The title creates suspense and excitement with the hint that Lou-Lou might snap and murder her emotionally void father at any moment. Because of this, it loses excitement and is disappointing to realize that the title is more figurative than literal about the end of their relationship. The disappointment in the lackluster climax spills over into the falling action because it takes a few pages to come to terms with the fact that Roland is killed accidentally rather than murdered, which seemed promised.
This disappointment is short-lived when it becomes apparent that Lou-Lou had not been jealous of the other women’s involvement in her father’s life, but rather had been jealous of her father’s life. Though grieving for her father, Lou-Lou enjoys taking power over his literary works. She then takes his place in Cameron’s life and even admits while snuggling with her one night, “A rich red sensation begins in my throat and spreads through my chest, my belly and my loins” (Oates, Patricide). Figuratively, Lou-Lou becomes her father. This twist in the plot makes up for the let-down of Lou-Lou not actually murdering him. It elevates the book from a regular suspense story to the type of high-quality literature for which Oates is known.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2025
پدرکشی داستان زنی در اواخر جوانی را روایت میکند که در مراسم مرگ پدرش تمام سالهای ارتباط با پدرش را مرور میکند. پدری که در تمام این سالها خود را محبوب او میدید. جایی در ابتدای داستان راوی میگوید «تقدیرش» این بوده است که پدرش او را «از همهی فرزندانش بیشتر دوست داشته باشد.» اما با گذر زمان و مرور بیشتر خاطرات مخاطب و همراه او، راوی، در مییابد این عشق بهانهای بوده برای سواستفاده عاطفی پدر از دختر. پوششی روی رابطهی ناسالمی که آن دو داشتند. چنان که در جایی دیگر راوی میگوید «بابا تحمل وجود شخص دیگری را در زندگیام نداشت و با کوچکترین اختلال در برنامهاش احساس ترس میکرد.» ترس پدر از ازدست دادن حمایت دختر مشهود است. حالا بعد از مرگ پدر، زن از قید این عشق رها شده است و یک باره خود را تنها یافته است. گویی از نو متولد شده، فرصتی دست داده تا شاید خود را از نو باز شناسد. مخاطب با این سوال میماند که آیا او از این فرصت استفاده خواهد کرد؟ این فرصت به چه قیمتی به او دست داده است؟ آیا راوی میتواند خود را ببیند؟ راویای که خود را کوچک و ناچیز میپندارد؟ و این کوچک شمردن محصول نگاه پدر است «میدانستم که در هر صورت بابا مرا فردی بازنده میداند، نه موفق.»
زبان اوتس در این داستان، خشک و بیآرایه است، گویی خود داستان قصد دارد واقعیت دردناک را بدون هیچ پردهای به مخاطب تحمیل کند.
نظر من؟ پدرکشی داستانی است دربارهی دروغهای نجاتبخشی که انسان برای دوام آوردن میسازد. داستان بسیار جذاب، پرکشش با حوصله و ریتمی آرام پرده از روابط این دو بر میدارد و در نهایت احساس سنگینی از باورهای چندین ساله زن روی دل باقی میماند.
زبان اوتس در این داستان، خشک و بیآرایه است، گویی خود داستان قصد دارد واقعیت دردناک را بدون هیچ پردهای به مخاطب تحمیل کند.
نظر من؟ پدرکشی داستانی است دربارهی دروغهای نجاتبخشی که انسان برای دوام آوردن میسازد. داستان بسیار جذاب، پرکشش با حوصله و ریتمی آرام پرده از روابط این دو بر میدارد و در نهایت احساس سنگینی از باورهای چندین ساله زن روی دل باقی میماند.
January 4, 2022
There are only three characters in this novella and I am not quite sure how I feel about any of them!
ROLAND MARKS -- In his 70's...Nobel prize winning author....father of many....husband of many failed marriages/relationships. He is emotionally and verbally abusive to his one daughter, Lou-Lou. He treats her as he would the help. Yet, of all his children, she is the only one who is in his life.
Lou-Lou -- Oh, she tries so hard to please her father and as hard as she tries the more the mistreats her. He seems to love her....maybe/sorta/kinda ... but he sure has a hell of a way of showing it. Roland always has and always will affect Lou-Lou's life in so many ways. She is mostly alone and seems to be always sad and defeated.
Cameron -- Younger than Lou-Lou and WAY younger than Roland, Cameron shows up and becomes a part of their lives whether they want her to or not. She is beautiful, unsure of herself, and very taken with Roland.
Only JCO would make this short little novella work and work so well. I was sitting on the edge of my seat most of my reading time. JCO makes normal seem spooky, creepy, and with evil lurking directly around the corner.
I just NOW defined the word patricide......
Good book. Check it out.
ROLAND MARKS -- In his 70's...Nobel prize winning author....father of many....husband of many failed marriages/relationships. He is emotionally and verbally abusive to his one daughter, Lou-Lou. He treats her as he would the help. Yet, of all his children, she is the only one who is in his life.
Lou-Lou -- Oh, she tries so hard to please her father and as hard as she tries the more the mistreats her. He seems to love her....maybe/sorta/kinda ... but he sure has a hell of a way of showing it. Roland always has and always will affect Lou-Lou's life in so many ways. She is mostly alone and seems to be always sad and defeated.
Cameron -- Younger than Lou-Lou and WAY younger than Roland, Cameron shows up and becomes a part of their lives whether they want her to or not. She is beautiful, unsure of herself, and very taken with Roland.
Only JCO would make this short little novella work and work so well. I was sitting on the edge of my seat most of my reading time. JCO makes normal seem spooky, creepy, and with evil lurking directly around the corner.
I just NOW defined the word patricide......
Good book. Check it out.
April 14, 2025
خواندن این کتاب هم توفیق اجباری بود، به مناسبت روز سرمایه انسانی از جاربار کیک سفارش دادیم و چون تعداد سفارش بالا بود دو کتاب و یک مجموعه کارت پستال کوچک هم به عنوان هدیه ارسال کردند. من هم تصمیم گرفتم تا کتابها بخشیده نشدهاند یکی را بخوانم و قرعه به نام این کتاب افتاد.
«پدرکشی» داستان دختری است که پدر نویسندهی مشهور و زنبارهای دارد. دختر داستان، لولو، پدرش را بسیار دوست دارد و البته فرزند محبوب پدر هم هست. با این حال این محبوبیت طوری نیست که انتظار داریم و به نظرم بیشتر شبیه عشقی یکطرفه است. عاشقی که مدام در جلب رضایت معشوق میکوشد و معشوق بهای چندانی به این عشق نمیدهد اما کوچکترین توجه و محبت برای عاشق دوست داشتنی است.
بناست لولو دستیار پدر شود اما پای زنی جوان و تازه به زندگی پدر باز می شود که باعث حسادت لولو و بروز مشکل در زندگی حرفهایش میشود. انتهای قصه طوری پیش میرود که انگار داستان نسبتا رضایتبخش برای همه تمام میشود.
داستان نسبتا پرکشش بود اما رفتارهای پدر و سرسپردگی دختر مرا آزرده خاطر میکرد و ترجمهی نه چندان روان هم باعث میشد علاقهام به کتاب کمتر هم بشود.
نکته مثبت کتاب این بود که من از جویس کارول اوتس زیاد شنیده بودم اما گمانم جز چند داستان کوتاه پراکنده چیزی نخوانده بودم و فرصتی شد با نوشتههایش کمی آشنا شوم.
«پدرکشی» داستان دختری است که پدر نویسندهی مشهور و زنبارهای دارد. دختر داستان، لولو، پدرش را بسیار دوست دارد و البته فرزند محبوب پدر هم هست. با این حال این محبوبیت طوری نیست که انتظار داریم و به نظرم بیشتر شبیه عشقی یکطرفه است. عاشقی که مدام در جلب رضایت معشوق میکوشد و معشوق بهای چندانی به این عشق نمیدهد اما کوچکترین توجه و محبت برای عاشق دوست داشتنی است.
بناست لولو دستیار پدر شود اما پای زنی جوان و تازه به زندگی پدر باز می شود که باعث حسادت لولو و بروز مشکل در زندگی حرفهایش میشود. انتهای قصه طوری پیش میرود که انگار داستان نسبتا رضایتبخش برای همه تمام میشود.
داستان نسبتا پرکشش بود اما رفتارهای پدر و سرسپردگی دختر مرا آزرده خاطر میکرد و ترجمهی نه چندان روان هم باعث میشد علاقهام به کتاب کمتر هم بشود.
نکته مثبت کتاب این بود که من از جویس کارول اوتس زیاد شنیده بودم اما گمانم جز چند داستان کوتاه پراکنده چیزی نخوانده بودم و فرصتی شد با نوشتههایش کمی آشنا شوم.
July 10, 2025
Joyce Carol Oates delivers again
I loved this book. She is one of my favorite authors. The actions of Roland as a self-absorbed, famous author are thinly veiled dismissive insults that he uses to control his adoring girlfriends and daughter.
He considers himself the center of the Universe and people fall over themselves trying to please him.
Joyce Carol Oates writes a story about two women who love him, and he doesn't care if he destroys their lives. It's a study of manipulation that pulled me into the story without being cringy and overly dramatic. I loved every page.
I loved this book. She is one of my favorite authors. The actions of Roland as a self-absorbed, famous author are thinly veiled dismissive insults that he uses to control his adoring girlfriends and daughter.
He considers himself the center of the Universe and people fall over themselves trying to please him.
Joyce Carol Oates writes a story about two women who love him, and he doesn't care if he destroys their lives. It's a study of manipulation that pulled me into the story without being cringy and overly dramatic. I loved every page.
June 21, 2018
One of the weaker of Joyce Carol Oates works, based on the limited experience I have with her books (I've only read two or three before this). In part, I think, it's because it's short, and in part it's because the conclusion is fairly obvious from early on in the book. It's in the denouement that something truly interesting happens, something unexpected, that makes all that came before worthwhile.
July 18, 2025
I never know what to expect from a Joyce Carol Oates work. I’m left with the feeling that I’m not sure what actually happened. In this case, I’m not sure anything did happen. But it might have. What I do know is that we’re left with a surprisingly happy-ish ending, I think.
August 1, 2017
maybe i'm a bad person but i loved the ending
November 2, 2017
This is a story that explores a father daughter relationship.
Read
October 5, 2021DNF
February 4, 2025
as much as I hate the main character, I think I’m supposed to- well written.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews