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Middle Age: A Romance: When a Charismatic Hero Dies, a Small Town Uncovers His Flawed Humanity
In Salthill-on-Hudson, a half-hour train ride from Manhattan, everyone is rich, beautiful, and -- though they look much younger -- middle-aged. But when Adam Berendt, a charismatic, mysterious sculptor, dies suddenly in a brash act of heroism, shock waves rock the town. But who was Adam Berendt? Was he in fact a hero, or someone more flawed and human?
480 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2001
325 people are currently reading
1916 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
854 books9,636 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 289 reviews
October 12, 2018
Like many of Joyce Carol Oates' "lesser" books, this was so much stronger than the average book out there--the writing is so supple and precise, and the characterizations are so apt you laugh out loud. She is the current heavyweight champion of the American social novel, our Balzac... This is a lightweight compared with books like Blonde or We Were the Mulvaneys, an "entertainment"--as Graham Greene used to say of his ravishing but lesser books--it's a comic novel on the level of Bonfire of the Vanities but less cruel. Just what I was in the mood for.
Middle Age examines the Updike territory-- the interlocking lives of often awful middle-aged, privileged denizens in the small historic town of Salthill-on-Hudson, and how many of them are thrown into crisis by the death of a beloved neighbor (and dream-lover of many of the local wives).
Oates has a savage, scalpel-sharp understanding of these people and yet at the same time can empathize with their struggles--a wonderful brew. Loved how all the characters wear their middle age--these awful, suffering people and their awful children. The only happy man is the dead guy, Adam Berendt, a sculptor escaping a mysterious past.
Everyone's story is told from their own point of view. There's Marina Troy, the bookseller and youngest of the Salthill ladies in love with Berendt, and Abigail des Pres, the divorcee obsessed with her sullen son, a beauty secretly desired by all the men in town, and Augusta Cutler, the ripe Rubenesque sexpot. There's Camille Hoffman, the soulful housewife. There's Adam's (and everyone's) lawyer Roger Cavanaugh, the uneasy "free man" an awful and delightful character whose relationship with women is tortured and full of twists... the secret protagonist of the book. Various husbands also go into a spin in theirshock at Adam's death--for many he was their only confidant and non-"Salthill husband" friend.
This closely knit society explodes and then comes back together in new configurations as each middle aged person has his or her crisis. This book could have been played for high drama, but the comedic mode suits it beautifully. Whatever she's writing, comedy or intense drama, Joyce Carol Oates has a physician's eye and the chops to bring it home. Even in such a light book, she manages to fill the pages with terrific insights about the human condition.
Here's just a tiny example. Roger Cavanaugh is doing pro bono work for a legal foundation, an innocence project (one of Adam's causes) interviewing a lazy public defender who had failed to properly defend a now death-row inmate: "By degrees, Spires caved in. You could see he was a man who enjoyed caving in, at his own pace..." "Spires spoke in a childish whine. Roger could see that through his adult life, 'Boomer' had escaped punishment by pleading incompetence. He'd made a racket out of humility..."
His sexual escapades are always awful, interrupted or lacking in some way. "It wasn't that he was in love with Naomi... but he felt that she should be in love with him." What precision.
Not one of her big serious books but a great 'entertainment.' Would have given it 4.5 but no half stars.
Middle Age examines the Updike territory-- the interlocking lives of often awful middle-aged, privileged denizens in the small historic town of Salthill-on-Hudson, and how many of them are thrown into crisis by the death of a beloved neighbor (and dream-lover of many of the local wives).
Oates has a savage, scalpel-sharp understanding of these people and yet at the same time can empathize with their struggles--a wonderful brew. Loved how all the characters wear their middle age--these awful, suffering people and their awful children. The only happy man is the dead guy, Adam Berendt, a sculptor escaping a mysterious past.
Everyone's story is told from their own point of view. There's Marina Troy, the bookseller and youngest of the Salthill ladies in love with Berendt, and Abigail des Pres, the divorcee obsessed with her sullen son, a beauty secretly desired by all the men in town, and Augusta Cutler, the ripe Rubenesque sexpot. There's Camille Hoffman, the soulful housewife. There's Adam's (and everyone's) lawyer Roger Cavanaugh, the uneasy "free man" an awful and delightful character whose relationship with women is tortured and full of twists... the secret protagonist of the book. Various husbands also go into a spin in theirshock at Adam's death--for many he was their only confidant and non-"Salthill husband" friend.
This closely knit society explodes and then comes back together in new configurations as each middle aged person has his or her crisis. This book could have been played for high drama, but the comedic mode suits it beautifully. Whatever she's writing, comedy or intense drama, Joyce Carol Oates has a physician's eye and the chops to bring it home. Even in such a light book, she manages to fill the pages with terrific insights about the human condition.
Here's just a tiny example. Roger Cavanaugh is doing pro bono work for a legal foundation, an innocence project (one of Adam's causes) interviewing a lazy public defender who had failed to properly defend a now death-row inmate: "By degrees, Spires caved in. You could see he was a man who enjoyed caving in, at his own pace..." "Spires spoke in a childish whine. Roger could see that through his adult life, 'Boomer' had escaped punishment by pleading incompetence. He'd made a racket out of humility..."
His sexual escapades are always awful, interrupted or lacking in some way. "It wasn't that he was in love with Naomi... but he felt that she should be in love with him." What precision.
Not one of her big serious books but a great 'entertainment.' Would have given it 4.5 but no half stars.
December 29, 2021
3.7 stars rounded up. This was a weird read for me in that sense that I didn't particular enjoyed the storyline but the writing was somehow compelling to keep reading and I didn't completely hate it. By someone else's writing skills might not have enjoyed my reading experience but Joyce Carol Oates pulled it off
November 30, 2009
I think I need to take a break from reading JCO. I love her books, but the last two I've read were definitely not my favorites.
The beginning of this book leads you to believe that it's going to be a mystery, of sorts. We were at least going to find out why the person who died, Adam, was not exactly who he said he was. Ok, so maybe we did find that out eventually, but I was surprised that that ended up being a very small part of the story. Instead, it goes on (and on and on) into the self-centered ridiculous lives of the other residents of the town who were so "devastated" by Adam's death. But they seemed way more devastated than they should have been, like it was really all an act. And Marina, who, at the beginning, was the person most important to Adam, turns out to be the person who best pulls herself together and moves on with her life. Maybe because she left town and wasn't ridiculously rich like everyone else?
I still like the book, but I was disappointed in it. I kept looking for the meaning in the book, but there wasn't any for me. Yes, it pulled itself together in the end (in a surprisingly neat and tidy way that almost bothered me for it's neat and tidiness) but by then I was just glad that the whining was over.
The beginning of this book leads you to believe that it's going to be a mystery, of sorts. We were at least going to find out why the person who died, Adam, was not exactly who he said he was. Ok, so maybe we did find that out eventually, but I was surprised that that ended up being a very small part of the story. Instead, it goes on (and on and on) into the self-centered ridiculous lives of the other residents of the town who were so "devastated" by Adam's death. But they seemed way more devastated than they should have been, like it was really all an act. And Marina, who, at the beginning, was the person most important to Adam, turns out to be the person who best pulls herself together and moves on with her life. Maybe because she left town and wasn't ridiculously rich like everyone else?
I still like the book, but I was disappointed in it. I kept looking for the meaning in the book, but there wasn't any for me. Yes, it pulled itself together in the end (in a surprisingly neat and tidy way that almost bothered me for it's neat and tidiness) but by then I was just glad that the whining was over.
April 23, 2017
Adam Berendt dominates this story from Page 1, even though he is involved in a fatal accident. An enigmatic man, who avoided any questions about his past or his personal life, he was a sculptor and philosopher, physically unappealing but every man’s friend and the lover every woman coveted. The impact of this character on everyone else in the book is explored in Joyce Carol Oates’ signature way: courageously, with unstinting honesty, and in many instances, uncomfortably real. Even when I was cringing at some of the characters’ words and actions, I was swept up in the authenticity of their experience. I would recommend this book to all readers who enjoy deep, meaningful character studies – and how people’s lives are unerringly governed by both their successes and their follies. If the inner workings of people’s thoughts and feelings are not your preference, I recommend this to everyone who enjoys a great story that is superbly well told.
November 22, 2012
On these pages, someone mentioned Anne Tyler and Joyce Carol Oates in the same breath. I'm a big fan of Ms. Tyler and I've read all her books, some more than once. But I'd never read more than a short story from Ms. Oates. So with this reading I repaired that error.
Comparisons are irresistible. Unlike Ms. Tyler, Ms. Oates does not love her characters unconditionally. The narrator's attitude seems to be one of newspaper-journalist cynic. All of her characters are fools. Rich, spoiled fools. Which tempts another comparison - to another journalist-cynic - Tom Wolfe.
Is this a New York thing?
Or maybe it's a middle-aged thing.
Because as the characters in Middle Age begin to emerge from it - perhaps it's a temporary condition crazed as adolescence - they become decent, tender, and loving, almost unbelievably so.
I'll reserve judgment until I've read some more of Ms. Oates to see whether she ridicules her characters no matter what their age. Come to think of it, the few younger characters in this book are arrogant snots.
Comparisons are irresistible. Unlike Ms. Tyler, Ms. Oates does not love her characters unconditionally. The narrator's attitude seems to be one of newspaper-journalist cynic. All of her characters are fools. Rich, spoiled fools. Which tempts another comparison - to another journalist-cynic - Tom Wolfe.
Is this a New York thing?
Or maybe it's a middle-aged thing.
Because as the characters in Middle Age begin to emerge from it - perhaps it's a temporary condition crazed as adolescence - they become decent, tender, and loving, almost unbelievably so.
I'll reserve judgment until I've read some more of Ms. Oates to see whether she ridicules her characters no matter what their age. Come to think of it, the few younger characters in this book are arrogant snots.
April 27, 2022
it is without a doubt an anwer to this other book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... the same denuement with opposite result. Possibly it is also an answer to to other books I haven't read.
August 4, 2009
If you like Desperate Housewives you will probably like this book.
Adam has just died in a heroic boating accident, leaving behind a tight-knit community of well-to-do NYC suburbanites who are as confused about his death as they are about how they should continue on with their own lives. One woman decides to run away to the Pennsylvania mountains for a year. Another just runs away. Various men become involved with far-younger women, and one of these men's abandoned wives turns their million-dollar estate into an informal kennel for unwanted dogs. What do these characters have in common? You guessed it: middle age.
I have read several of Joyce Carol Oates's short stories, and I've read that she's among the United States' finest writers, that she and Philip Roth are our best hope for another Nobel Prize within the next decade, and I can appreciate the irony and styled prose with which she weaves this novel's interconnected stories. However. This is one repetitive five-hundred page book. (A friend of mine says that's "Oates's style", to revisit and revisit certain topics.) The book is called Middle Age, and there's no way you'll forget that its characters, who are described as "old middle age" and "youthful middle age" and so on, are all middle aged. Even the dogs are middle aged. I'm not making that up.
My problem with the repetition is, it seems to come at the expense of the book's conclusion. Take a look at the Table of Contents: "Part 1" and "Part 2" are each about 200 pages long. And they move slowly -- lots of talk of Marina's knotted wine-red hair, of Adam's glossy blinded eye, of the woes and crises of middle age. "Part 3", the resolution to all these woes and crises, is only 60 pages, and many of the chapters contained therein are concluded elliptically, with only an indication of how the characters have changed now that they've survived middle age and are headed -- where exactly?
At times I loved the book, and at times I hated it, but in the end, it succeeds at what it is: An old-fashioned dramedy of interwoven suburban tragedies and revelations. You're welcome to watch it on Sunday nights with Terri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman, but if you need a harder fix, you'll find it from Joyce Carol Oates.
Adam has just died in a heroic boating accident, leaving behind a tight-knit community of well-to-do NYC suburbanites who are as confused about his death as they are about how they should continue on with their own lives. One woman decides to run away to the Pennsylvania mountains for a year. Another just runs away. Various men become involved with far-younger women, and one of these men's abandoned wives turns their million-dollar estate into an informal kennel for unwanted dogs. What do these characters have in common? You guessed it: middle age.
I have read several of Joyce Carol Oates's short stories, and I've read that she's among the United States' finest writers, that she and Philip Roth are our best hope for another Nobel Prize within the next decade, and I can appreciate the irony and styled prose with which she weaves this novel's interconnected stories. However. This is one repetitive five-hundred page book. (A friend of mine says that's "Oates's style", to revisit and revisit certain topics.) The book is called Middle Age, and there's no way you'll forget that its characters, who are described as "old middle age" and "youthful middle age" and so on, are all middle aged. Even the dogs are middle aged. I'm not making that up.
My problem with the repetition is, it seems to come at the expense of the book's conclusion. Take a look at the Table of Contents: "Part 1" and "Part 2" are each about 200 pages long. And they move slowly -- lots of talk of Marina's knotted wine-red hair, of Adam's glossy blinded eye, of the woes and crises of middle age. "Part 3", the resolution to all these woes and crises, is only 60 pages, and many of the chapters contained therein are concluded elliptically, with only an indication of how the characters have changed now that they've survived middle age and are headed -- where exactly?
At times I loved the book, and at times I hated it, but in the end, it succeeds at what it is: An old-fashioned dramedy of interwoven suburban tragedies and revelations. You're welcome to watch it on Sunday nights with Terri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman, but if you need a harder fix, you'll find it from Joyce Carol Oates.
August 31, 2009
This is the second book I've read by Joyce Carol Oates and I think despite the fact that she is Alison's favorite author it will be the last. I find all her characters to be too whiny and unsympathetic I think. This book had a lot of characters and I struggled to like a single one of them. Plus I wonder, at least based on this book, about Oates's view of women. All of them were middle-aged unself-fulfilled women chasing after men who didn't care about them or allowing themselves to be taken advantage of by men who disgusted them. I don't get behind the whole you disgust me I want nothing to do with you until you force yourself on me and then I'll melt into your arms deal. Not realistic and totally propagating date rape in my opinion. Not that any raping occurs in this book, I just think stuff like that gives people the idea that no doesn't mean no.
At any rate the book centers around a guy named Adam who moves at some point in his adulthood to this small upper class town in New York. It is evident from the first few pages of the book that he has a secret past. He also dies in the first chapter or so and you figure the story is going to be about the discovery of his past after his death. Not so much. The story revolves around all these people in the town who knew him and their sad pathetic lives. All of them, mostly the women, but a couple of the men (not sexually) were entirely obsessed with Adam for some reason that remains elusive at least to me. So you get to find out what happens to their lives in the wake of his death. Finally near the end of the almost 500 page book you find out about Adam's past. It was rather a let down and not worth reading through all the melodrama to find out about. I would definitely skip this book if I were you.
At any rate the book centers around a guy named Adam who moves at some point in his adulthood to this small upper class town in New York. It is evident from the first few pages of the book that he has a secret past. He also dies in the first chapter or so and you figure the story is going to be about the discovery of his past after his death. Not so much. The story revolves around all these people in the town who knew him and their sad pathetic lives. All of them, mostly the women, but a couple of the men (not sexually) were entirely obsessed with Adam for some reason that remains elusive at least to me. So you get to find out what happens to their lives in the wake of his death. Finally near the end of the almost 500 page book you find out about Adam's past. It was rather a let down and not worth reading through all the melodrama to find out about. I would definitely skip this book if I were you.
February 12, 2011
This lengthy, literary soap opera follows an ensemble of affluent characters whose lives are deeply effected when Adam Berendt, a mysterious sculptor they are all acquainted with, suddenly dies. Mid-life crises unspool, opening a depressing window on what lies ahead for those who have yet to acknowledge they're old. Most of the wealthy Salthill characters are so self-centered, it's hard to care about them. Sure, they all have their "romances," but they're passionless and disconnected. As a result, the reader is kept at a distance, watching, instead of feeling. Berendt's secret past fails to live up to the 400 page build-up, and its revelation still leaves some questions unanswered. Ultimately, Middle Age equals middle-of-the-road.
March 15, 2023
I looove JCO!
Some of the passages in this book are so visceral and true. I love how she captures the hideous behaviours and attitudes of teenagers, especially the cruelty of girls, and the horror of well-meaning neighbours!
Since the novel seemingly revolves around the death of one man in the opening chapter, I could have used more info on him throughout. The idea that we follow three local women who were all seemingly in love with him, even if married, is such a cool premise—but I want to be convinced that he was so loveable? Now typing this out I’m realising perhaps it was projection on the part of these women and maybe I was supposed to have picked that up? Unless I’m being too kind?
Oh well.
Worth a read I guess but not essential?
Won’t be long before my next JCO!
Some of the passages in this book are so visceral and true. I love how she captures the hideous behaviours and attitudes of teenagers, especially the cruelty of girls, and the horror of well-meaning neighbours!
Since the novel seemingly revolves around the death of one man in the opening chapter, I could have used more info on him throughout. The idea that we follow three local women who were all seemingly in love with him, even if married, is such a cool premise—but I want to be convinced that he was so loveable? Now typing this out I’m realising perhaps it was projection on the part of these women and maybe I was supposed to have picked that up? Unless I’m being too kind?
Oh well.
Worth a read I guess but not essential?
Won’t be long before my next JCO!
August 2, 2017
The first time I read this book, I was in my early thirties, and I probably would've scored it lower then if I'd had a Goodreads account. Now as a middle-aged woman, this book speaks powerfully to me, which I think is kind of the point.
The blurb for this book makes it all about Adam Berendt, but the book really isn't about Adam. Adam is merely the event, the shock to the characters' comfortable and settled lives that is the impetus for the changes they go through. And every character is confronted by change, meeting it differently...which is what middle age is really about: "In the prime of their lives, they'd been successful and then, perhaps abruptly, unexpectedly something had happened--illness, accident, financial losses, disappointing children, divorce, death--to break them and make them doubt everything they'd believed in. Yet somehow they'd mended, and made a decision to live, and to live happily, as long as possible."
Adam is the personification of this unexpected something, but each character confronts at least one of the items Oates lists. Some come out of this confrontation stronger, more wise, more accepting, more in touch...while others fail to make the transition at all. Salthill on the Hudson, the community of the book, is merely a microcosm of the middle aged world--people who all have to confront their own limitations and experience the weakness of it before deciding how Life: Part II will be lived.
I think those who read this expecting a typical "romance" miss the point--this is a book about falling in love with yourself despite an aging, less attractive body. It's about the romance you have to develop with the self you are becoming, no apologies and despite expectations.
I'm glad I picked it back up, and if you read it, but didn't love it the first time, pick it up after your own "unexpected something" makes you change, mend, and decide to live...it will resonate.
The blurb for this book makes it all about Adam Berendt, but the book really isn't about Adam. Adam is merely the event, the shock to the characters' comfortable and settled lives that is the impetus for the changes they go through. And every character is confronted by change, meeting it differently...which is what middle age is really about: "In the prime of their lives, they'd been successful and then, perhaps abruptly, unexpectedly something had happened--illness, accident, financial losses, disappointing children, divorce, death--to break them and make them doubt everything they'd believed in. Yet somehow they'd mended, and made a decision to live, and to live happily, as long as possible."
Adam is the personification of this unexpected something, but each character confronts at least one of the items Oates lists. Some come out of this confrontation stronger, more wise, more accepting, more in touch...while others fail to make the transition at all. Salthill on the Hudson, the community of the book, is merely a microcosm of the middle aged world--people who all have to confront their own limitations and experience the weakness of it before deciding how Life: Part II will be lived.
I think those who read this expecting a typical "romance" miss the point--this is a book about falling in love with yourself despite an aging, less attractive body. It's about the romance you have to develop with the self you are becoming, no apologies and despite expectations.
I'm glad I picked it back up, and if you read it, but didn't love it the first time, pick it up after your own "unexpected something" makes you change, mend, and decide to live...it will resonate.
March 9, 2012
Nowhere near her masterpiece level (Blonde, The Falls), but pretty good, and I give her major props for the meaty section about the racist prison/injustice system and the death penalty, and the privileged fancy lawyer learning a little something about the real world from his work on a death row case. Much class consciousness and social commentary throughout, as always, which makes reading about a bunch of highly overprivileged people palatable. Unusually, there's a confluence of happy endings except for one jackass who gets his comeuppance which was sort of delicious.
One complaint: Most revered JCO, please stop misusing the word "bemused," or at least if you're going to misuse it don't use it so often. Bemused means musing, thinking about, in a state of musing. It is not a synonym for amused. Yeah, I went there.
One complaint: Most revered JCO, please stop misusing the word "bemused," or at least if you're going to misuse it don't use it so often. Bemused means musing, thinking about, in a state of musing. It is not a synonym for amused. Yeah, I went there.
December 1, 2023
This might be my 6th or 7th JCO book (A Book of American Martyrs, Hazards of Time Travel, The Falls, Night. Sleep. Death. the Stars, My Heart Laid Bare, We Were the Mulvaneys, (and two volumes of her short stories). I rate this one as one of the better, 3.5 stars rounded up. She is such a keen observer of the American scene and is at her best in alternately eviscerating and faintly mocking the foibles and fears of the upper middle classes of the northeast, in this case the denizens of the 'perfect' fictional town Salthill-on-Hudson, NY. 'Write what you know' they say and it quite apparent that she is in her milieu in this book.
With her unique writing style, at times both hilarious and shocking, you never know quite what you are going to get with JCO. That she has been so productive (like 70+ books) for something like six decades is remarkable and that she has not won a single Pulitzer perhaps even more so, although apparently a finalist several times. Having read a number of fiction winners over the years I am pretty sure that it is a travesty of sorts.
With her unique writing style, at times both hilarious and shocking, you never know quite what you are going to get with JCO. That she has been so productive (like 70+ books) for something like six decades is remarkable and that she has not won a single Pulitzer perhaps even more so, although apparently a finalist several times. Having read a number of fiction winners over the years I am pretty sure that it is a travesty of sorts.
March 4, 2019
I am tormented on whether I like this author or I don't. Her book "We are the Mulvaneys" was an Oprah preferred book. I didn't read that book and am deciding whether I want to or not, I found the story going in all directions and it was hard for me to concentrate on what was going on. I guess I need some input on other readers review of any of her books.
August 19, 2015
My first Joyce Carol Oates! I thought it would be funny (there is a misleading blurb on the back) but it’s really quite thoughtful and sad. I love how Oates weaves together the different stories of so many individuals whose lives touch. You get to feel like you know everyone in Salt Hill on Hudson, New York.
Everyone is rich and middle-aged. (I was briefly horrified to realize these “middle-aged” characters were frequently my age or younger. So like the characters themselves!) There is a lot of dealing with mortality. There are timeless themes, and the characters are all well-realized and interesting.
But what sold me on this and bumped it up to a four star rating was the ending. What seems like a lack of structure comes firmly together, sharp and tight as a lock clicking closed on the last page. Loved it.
Everyone is rich and middle-aged. (I was briefly horrified to realize these “middle-aged” characters were frequently my age or younger. So like the characters themselves!) There is a lot of dealing with mortality. There are timeless themes, and the characters are all well-realized and interesting.
But what sold me on this and bumped it up to a four star rating was the ending. What seems like a lack of structure comes firmly together, sharp and tight as a lock clicking closed on the last page. Loved it.
April 24, 2012
Middle Age: I like other novels by her far better but she will always receive at least 3 stars because she is a beautiful writer, even if she wrote about a goldfish swimming round and round it would still be somewhat fascinating. It wasn't my favorite Oates novel. I think you always learn something about life when you pick of her novels as her characters are always very human (flawed, beautiful, terrible) and you swear you know someone like them. I won't go on and summarize, just to say all of her work is worth reading, you always take something away and are left with heavy thoughts but not my favorite.
March 30, 2015
At the very start of this novel, one of the main characters dies when saving the life of a drowning young girl. The remainder of the story revolves around the people around him, whose life's were, and are, very much affected by him. As the story unfolds, we learn that no one really knew him and a lot is perhaps never unveiled, but a number of sub-plots involving the other characters instead develops. Good storytelling and prose, interesting and believable characters, I have no problem seeing why JCO is a very popular author and I will be reading more of her books.
September 6, 2011
Loved the book and Adam. Nicely weaved story of all the women Adam touched, before and after his death. They didn't even know Adam, but Augusta finds out all the mystery of Adam's origins. It was very interesting to see how many people were in love with him, and how giving Adam was. Interesting to see how after his death, so many of his friends changed directions with their own life. Great Book!! A real find.
May 27, 2011
In spite of my contrarian nature, sometimes I like to fit in. When a moved to Virginia eight years ago, I started to drink sweetened iced tea. We southerners call it ‘sweet tea.’ So now, here I am on GR and I seem to be surrounded by people reading and loving romance novels. I have never been a romance or soap opera person and I have been reading a long time. I would even call my attitude about the romance genre as derisive. But I am reading Middle Age A Romance by Joyce Carol Oates and it says ‘romance’ right there in the title. But I don’t know if it is really a romance. So I can’t decide if I should like it or not! Help me out, please. What is it about ‘romance’ novels that people like and is JCO a ‘romance’ writer?
There are some things about JCO that I am not sure about. As I read more of her books, I will be examining how she deals with sexism with examples of date rape, male domination and women as objects in Middle Age. Can a feminist admire JCO? Maybe I should just ask my 18 year old daughter to read this book and to let me know.
JCO also confronts ageism as she explores the young middle aged and the old middle aged, the young beautiful women and than the old dowdy. The author seems to be describing a world she sees rather than a world she prefers. But I would have to see a balance of characters that are non-sexist and non-ageist to get some vision of available life choices. And I don’t recall seeing many JCO characters that show women as equals of men. Well, maybe Naomi Volpe, the bisexual, paralegal near the end of the book … But even this is more role reversal rather than equality.
JCO characters explore some unusual options and different pathways through life. One man sees polygamy as the natural state with adultery as the available option in the current society. For one woman, maybe it is that she is a lesbian and that explains everything. Some characters in Middle Age do actually change for the better in the end. Hooray!
In the male world that JCO creates, she has many portraits of women. They are women who most frequently (but not always) see themselves as subservient to the men:
There is an outrageousness about many of the characters JCO creates. And there is an over the top absurdity of aspects of the story. But how can I judge this one book by JCO without reading many more?
Some of the topics in just this one book include small town America, modern American society, the privileged upper middle class, marriage and divorce, dysfunctional families, self-knowledge, capital punishment, parenting, morality, abortion and more. And she has dozens of books and short stories and plays and poems and essays. I will be looking for and working on that summary statement about JCO. But I am beginning to suspect that there is no easy summary for JCO who does it all and just keeps cranking out words.
From a reading guide for this book from the publisher:
In an interview with Greg Johnson, her biographer, Joyce Carol Oates said, "All my longer novels are political, but not obtrusively so, I hope."
http://www.harpercollins.com/author/m...
You might want to check out the biography of JCO, Invisible Writer. I have my copy coming from Alibris for $4.16. My summer fun may be to understand this prolific woman writer. Clearly I will find a lot of help from her books and her biography in seeking that understanding.
There are some things about JCO that I am not sure about. As I read more of her books, I will be examining how she deals with sexism with examples of date rape, male domination and women as objects in Middle Age. Can a feminist admire JCO? Maybe I should just ask my 18 year old daughter to read this book and to let me know.
JCO also confronts ageism as she explores the young middle aged and the old middle aged, the young beautiful women and than the old dowdy. The author seems to be describing a world she sees rather than a world she prefers. But I would have to see a balance of characters that are non-sexist and non-ageist to get some vision of available life choices. And I don’t recall seeing many JCO characters that show women as equals of men. Well, maybe Naomi Volpe, the bisexual, paralegal near the end of the book … But even this is more role reversal rather than equality.
Rarely now did he and Volpe have sex, and that only when Volpe, aroused from a day of frustrations at the office, initiated it.
JCO characters explore some unusual options and different pathways through life. One man sees polygamy as the natural state with adultery as the available option in the current society. For one woman, maybe it is that she is a lesbian and that explains everything. Some characters in Middle Age do actually change for the better in the end. Hooray!
In the male world that JCO creates, she has many portraits of women. They are women who most frequently (but not always) see themselves as subservient to the men:
If the women’s sharp eyes have observed that the Donegal Croom who stands before them is a battered-looking wreck in his fifties who bears only a fleeting resemblance to his handsome publicity photos, they are too tactful to acknowledge it; these are women accustomed to not seeing imperfections in men, though anxiously aware of the smallest imperfections in themselves.
There is an outrageousness about many of the characters JCO creates. And there is an over the top absurdity of aspects of the story. But how can I judge this one book by JCO without reading many more?
Some of the topics in just this one book include small town America, modern American society, the privileged upper middle class, marriage and divorce, dysfunctional families, self-knowledge, capital punishment, parenting, morality, abortion and more. And she has dozens of books and short stories and plays and poems and essays. I will be looking for and working on that summary statement about JCO. But I am beginning to suspect that there is no easy summary for JCO who does it all and just keeps cranking out words.
From a reading guide for this book from the publisher:
In an interview with Greg Johnson, her biographer, Joyce Carol Oates said, "All my longer novels are political, but not obtrusively so, I hope."
http://www.harpercollins.com/author/m...
You might want to check out the biography of JCO, Invisible Writer. I have my copy coming from Alibris for $4.16. My summer fun may be to understand this prolific woman writer. Clearly I will find a lot of help from her books and her biography in seeking that understanding.
April 23, 2011
Wavering between a five-star read and four stars. Five for the ultimately redemptive close of the book, with ends tied up and possibilities opened up like windows, to admit fresh air. Five for the intricately woven plot, embedding a mystery which serves as a touchstone for multiple story threads: you can re-invent yourself, in some pretty surprising ways. Five for character growth--lots of originally annoying characters show some amazing but believable transformations. There's some dark humor (although this is not a "comic romp" as the cover suggests).
But--Joyce Carol Oates (as always) lacks a serious editor. The prose is repetitive. The similes and metaphors range from brilliant to confusing to repulsive, including a point where a central character's penis is referred to as a "thalidomide arm." Oates tries to shock us, paint pictures for us, instruct and inspire us--and succeeds only sometimes. It takes awhile for the plot to kick in, to hook us on the story. Until then, it just feels overwritten.
But--Joyce Carol Oates (as always) lacks a serious editor. The prose is repetitive. The similes and metaphors range from brilliant to confusing to repulsive, including a point where a central character's penis is referred to as a "thalidomide arm." Oates tries to shock us, paint pictures for us, instruct and inspire us--and succeeds only sometimes. It takes awhile for the plot to kick in, to hook us on the story. Until then, it just feels overwritten.
May 28, 2020
L’età di mezzo è già di per sé caratterizzata da “cose si che incrinano”, da paure che si affacciano, da dubbi (d’aver sbagliato tutto, perfino!) che assalgono. E, talvolta, da equilibri che si rompono. In più, a Salthill-on-Hudson, cittadina degli Stati Uniti, la morte improvvisa di Adam Berendt, uomo di mezza età interessante ed amato - “uno con cui si poteva parlare, aprire il proprio cuore” -, accelera lo scompaginamento degli assetti tra i fragili coetanei: sono in molti - donne, soprattutto - a soffrirne la mancanza, ad avere ripensamenti esistenziali, a sperimentare nuovi modi di vivere. Qualcuno finisce dentro tempeste che sconvolgono, e alla quiete ambisce poi chi sopravvive.
È un romanzo intenso e coinvolgente, questo della Oates, almeno per gran parte: delude leggermente nel finale, quando l’attesa ‘chiusura del cerchio’ risulta - date le aspettative alte - un po’ frettolosa e sottotono.
È un romanzo intenso e coinvolgente, questo della Oates, almeno per gran parte: delude leggermente nel finale, quando l’attesa ‘chiusura del cerchio’ risulta - date le aspettative alte - un po’ frettolosa e sottotono.
August 8, 2013
Oates has been on my "must read someday" list for almost forever and I finally got around to reading this, on my shelf since it came out in paperback. I do understand why she is compared to Updike in that she offers a window onto American life in a way that is uniquely hers.
While I laughed at the characters weaknesses in the first half of the book, by the second half, I was tired of them and felt the outcomes where quite predictable.
Using Platonic allegory as a character tool wears thin for this modern reader and there is no discernible plot.
If there is a seminal work of Oates to be read, perhaps that will find its way to me...and I will read it long after it lands on my lap.
While I laughed at the characters weaknesses in the first half of the book, by the second half, I was tired of them and felt the outcomes where quite predictable.
Using Platonic allegory as a character tool wears thin for this modern reader and there is no discernible plot.
If there is a seminal work of Oates to be read, perhaps that will find its way to me...and I will read it long after it lands on my lap.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 11, 2017
Ok, I couldn't finish it, but here's what I got: that Adam is Socrates, he's a cyclops, he's a centaur. His dog is a sad, devoted disciple, a stray sheep from the cave. Adam's death frees every intolerable fool in town from his or her own flawed self-perception, except the dog, who doesn't need that BS. It's all a bit of a stretch, I felt; the philosophic conceit cowers in the weak shadows of these characters' anemic lives. The book excelled at putting me to sleep, which was good, so there's that. Oh, and it made me google some Socrates stuff. I recommend just doing that.
May 17, 2015
Middle aged! I suppose so, but from my point of view they seemed young. Fascinating how this one mysterious man has an influence on so many after his death. Fascinating for awhile at least. I did begin to tire of it. Especially after I began to for get who was who in the cast of characters. Still it was a good, if lengthy read.
March 20, 2013
As a big JCO fan, very disappointing book. The book comes to a nice resolution by the end but it takes a LONG time to get there. The characters are not particularly engaging so I was never quite sure who I was rooting for. A true reflection of middle age for some, but fortunately not all!
November 12, 2013
Although Joyce Carol Oates writes really well, I found this a difficult book to read; very confronting and emotionally exhausting.
August 8, 2018
The first paragraph was very intriguing, but I got up to page 25 and decided to leave it - it felt too much like hard work, and I wasn't really enjoying it.
May 10, 2019
This was a terrible book about awful people...
August 16, 2021
Another page-turner by JCO.
December 2, 2018
24 hours later I am still thinking about this book, especially the last poignant chapters. I have been struggling a bit as to whether I would give it 4 stars or 5 stars because it was a bit slow going at first but the individual stories of all of the characters in this book had to be explained and I now feel that Oates set the story up well in the first part of the book.
At first I thought the characters were overdrawn caricatures of real people...but then later realized that, nope, people really are this way and wealthy, somewhat privileged white people are no different than the less well-to-do strata of society who flaunt their dysfunction to the public on The Jerry Springer Show. The rich just keep their neuroses and family problems closer to the chest.
I saw my 53 year old self in this book as well and while I don't have quite the same sets of problems or the money that would allow me to deal with them in quite the same way, I found myself getting wrapped up in all of the individual characters' stories and wanting to see the resolution.
I liked the full circle aspect of the book...the death of Adam Berendt and the eventual telling of his story and I especially liked the character of Augusta Cutler who is the one who makes the road trip and discovers his story. Not so oddly, she is one of the characters I liked the least in the first part of the book (Middle Age is divided into 3 parts as well as individual chapters) but it is a credit to Oates' chronicling of her journey that I found my feelings completely turned around.
Finally, this is the first full novel I have read by Joyce Carol Oates...for whatever reason, to this point I have only read collections of her short stories....she is a master short story teller. She is also a master novelist.
Any book that brings me close to tears, I guess, is automatically a 5 star read.
At first I thought the characters were overdrawn caricatures of real people...but then later realized that, nope, people really are this way and wealthy, somewhat privileged white people are no different than the less well-to-do strata of society who flaunt their dysfunction to the public on The Jerry Springer Show. The rich just keep their neuroses and family problems closer to the chest.
I saw my 53 year old self in this book as well and while I don't have quite the same sets of problems or the money that would allow me to deal with them in quite the same way, I found myself getting wrapped up in all of the individual characters' stories and wanting to see the resolution.
I liked the full circle aspect of the book...the death of Adam Berendt and the eventual telling of his story and I especially liked the character of Augusta Cutler who is the one who makes the road trip and discovers his story. Not so oddly, she is one of the characters I liked the least in the first part of the book (Middle Age is divided into 3 parts as well as individual chapters) but it is a credit to Oates' chronicling of her journey that I found my feelings completely turned around.
Finally, this is the first full novel I have read by Joyce Carol Oates...for whatever reason, to this point I have only read collections of her short stories....she is a master short story teller. She is also a master novelist.
Any book that brings me close to tears, I guess, is automatically a 5 star read.
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