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Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? [story]
Original Fiction, Short Story
First published in Epoch, Fall 1966. Included in Prize Stories: O Henry Award Winners (1968), and The Best American Short Stories (1967).
Her name was Connie. She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right. Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything...
First published in Epoch, Fall 1966. Included in Prize Stories: O Henry Award Winners (1968), and The Best American Short Stories (1967).
Her name was Connie. She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right. Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything...
20 pages, ebook
Published January 21, 2015
4 people are currently reading
276 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
867 books9,862 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.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews
October 16, 2024
Another offering from the Short Story Club - this from the legendary JCO, who manages to strike up a very dark, suspenseful piece as you'd expect.
Vulnerable coming of age girl, dodgy bloke.
The dark, suspenseful undertones predominate. Somehow, we know Connie will relent to the guy with the smile and the hair - to make it worse, he has a mate in the car, waiting.
The scenarios running through one's mind are unbearable. Yet - Connie goes. The screen flickers, then is no more.
Horrible.
Great story though.
You can read this 20-page ripper here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Vulnerable coming of age girl, dodgy bloke.
The dark, suspenseful undertones predominate. Somehow, we know Connie will relent to the guy with the smile and the hair - to make it worse, he has a mate in the car, waiting.
The scenarios running through one's mind are unbearable. Yet - Connie goes. The screen flickers, then is no more.
Horrible.
Great story though.
You can read this 20-page ripper here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
May 29, 2023
4★
“Be nice to me, be sweet like you can because what else is there for a girl like you but to be sweet and pretty and give in?—and get away before her people come back?”
Supposedly inspired by Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, this is a very short, dark little story about what to me seems a reasonably typical self-centred, 15-year-old girl who’s convinced life is better somewhere else with someone else, doing something else.
Teen angst, anger, frustration, can’t-wait-to-grow-up-and-show-them-all-how- special-I-am-ism.
I’ve always figured all kids go through some form of this as Nature’s way of getting us ready to leave the nest so we don’t have all generations piled up on top of each other in some sort of feudal, walled city. That’s what I told my kids as they all got a bit antsy, and I still think that’s largely the case.
Connie's parents are woefully out-of-date (of course) and her older sister is 24, boring, working responsibly and still living at home (there goes my theory), so Connie listens to the usual pleas of why-can’t-you-be-more-like-your-sister?
Why do we even say these things to kids? What good can it possibly do?
For deep and meaningful discussion, I could guess that her name is really Constance, and that’s what she finds boring in her life. All is constant, nothing changes. She and a girlfriend spend their evenings in the company of various boys, pretending to their parents they’re going to the movies together. She craves some excitement. [Be careful what you wish for!]
“Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home.”
In the carpark, a guy she doesn’t know flirts briefly with her from his car. On the day this story takes place, her family has gone to a boring barbeque with friends. She’s far too cool for such an outing, so she opts to stay home, when what to her wondering eyes should appear . . . Arnold Friend dropping by.
I don’t know if his name is also a play on words (an old friend) or not, but it’s such a peculiar, heat-hazy kind of afternoon that it’s all a bit surreal. Connie stays inside the screen door while the “boy” (of indeterminate age) tries to sweet-talk her into coming for a ride with him and his friend in his too-cool-for-school gold car with slogans painted on the side.
She tries to put on her cool, evening persona to live up to his obvious expectations, but as he starts bragging about how much he knows about her and her family, she gets more and more nervous.
“Connie stared at him, another wave of dizziness and fear rising in her so that for a moment he wasn't even in focus but was just a blur standing there against his gold car, and she had the idea that he had driven up the driveway all right but had come from nowhere before that and belonged nowhere and that everything about him and even about the music that was so familiar to her was only half real.”
Yeah. That’s what I wondered. Is she hallucinating? She senses Arnold getting weirder and weirder. Telling his friend in the car to back off and leave the talking to him, Arnold says
“Don't hem in on me, don't hog, don't crush, don't bird dog, don't trail me," he said in a rapid, meaningless voice, as if he were running through all the expressions he'd learned but was no longer sure which of them was in style, then rushing on to new ones, making them up with his eyes closed. "Don't crawl under my fence, don't squeeze in my chipmonk hole, don't sniff my glue, suck my popsicle, keep your own greasy fingers on yourself!”
It's a short short story and you really should have a look yourself. I’ve not read Oates before (possibly started something once), but I can see why she’s got so many fans! Must find some more.
I haven’t read the Spark notes or discussions yet, so I may be WAY off the track. Get a copy of it here (free) and see what you think. It's only a dozen or so pages long.
https://www.cusd200.org/cms/lib/IL010...
Thanks to the Goodreads Bound Together Group's monthly short story discussion for this. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
In 2023, it is another good read from the Goodreads Short Story Club which you can join and then follow the discussions for each story. There’s no requirement to participate, but the conversations are always interesting.
The Short Story Club
“Be nice to me, be sweet like you can because what else is there for a girl like you but to be sweet and pretty and give in?—and get away before her people come back?”
Supposedly inspired by Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, this is a very short, dark little story about what to me seems a reasonably typical self-centred, 15-year-old girl who’s convinced life is better somewhere else with someone else, doing something else.
Teen angst, anger, frustration, can’t-wait-to-grow-up-and-show-them-all-how- special-I-am-ism.
I’ve always figured all kids go through some form of this as Nature’s way of getting us ready to leave the nest so we don’t have all generations piled up on top of each other in some sort of feudal, walled city. That’s what I told my kids as they all got a bit antsy, and I still think that’s largely the case.
Connie's parents are woefully out-of-date (of course) and her older sister is 24, boring, working responsibly and still living at home (there goes my theory), so Connie listens to the usual pleas of why-can’t-you-be-more-like-your-sister?
Why do we even say these things to kids? What good can it possibly do?
For deep and meaningful discussion, I could guess that her name is really Constance, and that’s what she finds boring in her life. All is constant, nothing changes. She and a girlfriend spend their evenings in the company of various boys, pretending to their parents they’re going to the movies together. She craves some excitement. [Be careful what you wish for!]
“Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home.”
In the carpark, a guy she doesn’t know flirts briefly with her from his car. On the day this story takes place, her family has gone to a boring barbeque with friends. She’s far too cool for such an outing, so she opts to stay home, when what to her wondering eyes should appear . . . Arnold Friend dropping by.
I don’t know if his name is also a play on words (an old friend) or not, but it’s such a peculiar, heat-hazy kind of afternoon that it’s all a bit surreal. Connie stays inside the screen door while the “boy” (of indeterminate age) tries to sweet-talk her into coming for a ride with him and his friend in his too-cool-for-school gold car with slogans painted on the side.
She tries to put on her cool, evening persona to live up to his obvious expectations, but as he starts bragging about how much he knows about her and her family, she gets more and more nervous.
“Connie stared at him, another wave of dizziness and fear rising in her so that for a moment he wasn't even in focus but was just a blur standing there against his gold car, and she had the idea that he had driven up the driveway all right but had come from nowhere before that and belonged nowhere and that everything about him and even about the music that was so familiar to her was only half real.”
Yeah. That’s what I wondered. Is she hallucinating? She senses Arnold getting weirder and weirder. Telling his friend in the car to back off and leave the talking to him, Arnold says
“Don't hem in on me, don't hog, don't crush, don't bird dog, don't trail me," he said in a rapid, meaningless voice, as if he were running through all the expressions he'd learned but was no longer sure which of them was in style, then rushing on to new ones, making them up with his eyes closed. "Don't crawl under my fence, don't squeeze in my chipmonk hole, don't sniff my glue, suck my popsicle, keep your own greasy fingers on yourself!”
It's a short short story and you really should have a look yourself. I’ve not read Oates before (possibly started something once), but I can see why she’s got so many fans! Must find some more.
I haven’t read the Spark notes or discussions yet, so I may be WAY off the track. Get a copy of it here (free) and see what you think. It's only a dozen or so pages long.
https://www.cusd200.org/cms/lib/IL010...
Thanks to the Goodreads Bound Together Group's monthly short story discussion for this. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
In 2023, it is another good read from the Goodreads Short Story Club which you can join and then follow the discussions for each story. There’s no requirement to participate, but the conversations are always interesting.
The Short Story Club
June 12, 2023
Disturbometer: 10 out of 10
WARNING: light spoilers.
Number 7 from my list of "most disturbing (short) stories ever"
Trigger warning to rape survivors and those who had been victims of psychopaths.
The basic pattern of the events that take place in this story, has happened millions of times before, and probably will happen again, many many times. I know Arnold Friend, I’ve seen him before.
I know there isn’t consensus about exactly what a "psychopath"(/sociopath/malignant narcissist/person with anti-social personality disorder) is, but for purposes of this review, I’m going with James Fallon’s description in his enlightening book The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain, and using the term psychopath since that is the term that most people still know this personality type by.
The problem with this type of manipulative person is that the more intelligent ones almost have a sixth sense of where their potential victim’s frailties lie, and they know exactly how to exploit it.
They tend to have a lot of charisma and a superficial charm that often allows them to get under the potential victim's skin, or at least gives them a foot in the door towards gaining the attention of the potential victim.
They will not hesitate, for example, to use a person’s concern for their loved ones against them. They’ll use anything; your sense of shame, your fear of bodily harm, your innate greed, anything that they can spot after prodding and probing in an effort to figure out where your weak spots lie.
And they do, believe me, they do figure it out, and they use this knowledge to devastating effect. The best one can do is to keep a cool head and place as much distance as you still can between yourself and this person. For some, though, it might be too late by the time they realize what they’re dealing with.
Joyce Carol Oates' depiction of the situation and the personalities involved, is so spot-on, that the effect is chillingly realistic. Absolutely frightening in it's psychological accuracy.
WARNING: light spoilers.
Number 7 from my list of "most disturbing (short) stories ever"
Trigger warning to rape survivors and those who had been victims of psychopaths.
The basic pattern of the events that take place in this story, has happened millions of times before, and probably will happen again, many many times. I know Arnold Friend, I’ve seen him before.
I know there isn’t consensus about exactly what a "psychopath"(/sociopath/malignant narcissist/person with anti-social personality disorder) is, but for purposes of this review, I’m going with James Fallon’s description in his enlightening book The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain, and using the term psychopath since that is the term that most people still know this personality type by.
The problem with this type of manipulative person is that the more intelligent ones almost have a sixth sense of where their potential victim’s frailties lie, and they know exactly how to exploit it.
They tend to have a lot of charisma and a superficial charm that often allows them to get under the potential victim's skin, or at least gives them a foot in the door towards gaining the attention of the potential victim.
They will not hesitate, for example, to use a person’s concern for their loved ones against them. They’ll use anything; your sense of shame, your fear of bodily harm, your innate greed, anything that they can spot after prodding and probing in an effort to figure out where your weak spots lie.
And they do, believe me, they do figure it out, and they use this knowledge to devastating effect. The best one can do is to keep a cool head and place as much distance as you still can between yourself and this person. For some, though, it might be too late by the time they realize what they’re dealing with.
Joyce Carol Oates' depiction of the situation and the personalities involved, is so spot-on, that the effect is chillingly realistic. Absolutely frightening in it's psychological accuracy.
April 26, 2021
¿Dónde vas? ¿Dónde estuviste? (1966) es un magnífico cuento de Joyce Carol Oates (1938-) en línea con sus temáticas recurrentes de poner de manifiesto los problemas a los que se enfrentan las mujeres ante muchos hombres y ante la sociedad en general simplemente por su género. Una indefensión tanto física como moral, que está siempre acechando el normal desarrollo de sus vidas.
Estupendamente guiado y narrado, sólo me ha faltado un final más justiciero, pero entiendo que en ese caso perdería, por desgracia, su realismo.
Estupendamente guiado y narrado, sólo me ha faltado un final más justiciero, pero entiendo que en ese caso perdería, por desgracia, su realismo.
April 24, 2021
Una maravilla de cuento. Quién lo quiera leer, os lo paso, aunque quién pueda que lo lea mejor en inglés. Ultimamente se ha puesto de actualidad porque se ha reeditado la adaptación cinematográfica que se hizo en 1985, Smooth Talk, una adaptación muy fiel y casi perfecta, que os recomiendo. Pero primero el cuento:
https://www.literatura.us/idiomas/jco...
https://www.literatura.us/idiomas/jco...
May 30, 2023
This intricate story about a predator at work on a young innocent girl demonstrates a deep psychological understanding and a clear knack for creating tension and suspense. It’s disturbing and thought-provoking.
But it’s another of my unsuccessful attempts at appreciating this talented author. She has a style that feels distant to me, removed, like she’s accurately describing people but not getting under their skin. I don’t know … it just doesn’t work for me.
But it’s another of my unsuccessful attempts at appreciating this talented author. She has a style that feels distant to me, removed, like she’s accurately describing people but not getting under their skin. I don’t know … it just doesn’t work for me.
March 27, 2017
Be nice to me, be sweet like you can because what else is there for a girl like you but to be sweet and pretty and give in?
Loosely based off of real life killer Charles Schmid, this book is horrifying. My heart was actually pounding heavier than normal while reading this. I've never read any of Oates work before this, but my god is she good at creating tension. Sweat producing tension.
The repetition used to create Arnold Friends menace actually gave me goosebumps, and Ellie, sat motionless and quiet in the car, is really, truly unsettling.
A story portraying the naivety and easy persuasion of the longing-to-be-free teenage mind, this story is haunting.
Be careful who you open your door to, folks.
Loosely based off of real life killer Charles Schmid, this book is horrifying. My heart was actually pounding heavier than normal while reading this. I've never read any of Oates work before this, but my god is she good at creating tension. Sweat producing tension.
The repetition used to create Arnold Friends menace actually gave me goosebumps, and Ellie, sat motionless and quiet in the car, is really, truly unsettling.
A story portraying the naivety and easy persuasion of the longing-to-be-free teenage mind, this story is haunting.
Be careful who you open your door to, folks.
April 24, 2021
Una historia redonda. Hay que ver qué bien escribe - y describe - esta autora!!
September 10, 2018
Vanità di Cappuccetto rosso
Questo è uno dei più famosi racconti di Joyce Carol Oates ed è in effetti molto potente. Si parte come una sceneggiatura di Happy days con tre ragazzine che vanno di nascosto in un bar drive-in e occhieggiano i ragazzi più grandi, valutando quanto sono alla moda e di bell'aspetto: il trionfo della frivolezza dell'adolescenza. Poi si materializza il destino (?) che punisce la civetteria di una ragazza, che aveva soppesato con lo sguardo un tipo, il quale si era fatto delle idee. Nell'introduzione è scritto che il racconto riprende i sermoni medievali che invitavano le fanciulle alla modestia, illustrando le conseguenze di una condotta imprudente; in effetti, nel XX secolo, JC Oates ha scritto un racconto morale, riprendendo inquietanti dettagli da un caso di cronaca che aveva turbato gli USA. Singolare coincidenza, il racconto fu pubblicato nel 1966, lo stesso anno di A sangue freddo, di Truman Capote: stessa collocazione negli Stati Uniti centrali, desolati e spazzati dai venti.
JC Oates è una scrittrice molto talentuosa, ma la sua vena nera toglie la voglia di uscire di casa; oppure, a seconda dei casi, fa venir voglia di fuggire nel vasto mondo, nell'anonimato.
Mi viene voglia di aggiungere che le brave ragazze vanno in paradiso, ma quelle cattive vanno dappertutto, sia pure a loro rischio e pericolo.
Questo è uno dei più famosi racconti di Joyce Carol Oates ed è in effetti molto potente. Si parte come una sceneggiatura di Happy days con tre ragazzine che vanno di nascosto in un bar drive-in e occhieggiano i ragazzi più grandi, valutando quanto sono alla moda e di bell'aspetto: il trionfo della frivolezza dell'adolescenza. Poi si materializza il destino (?) che punisce la civetteria di una ragazza, che aveva soppesato con lo sguardo un tipo, il quale si era fatto delle idee. Nell'introduzione è scritto che il racconto riprende i sermoni medievali che invitavano le fanciulle alla modestia, illustrando le conseguenze di una condotta imprudente; in effetti, nel XX secolo, JC Oates ha scritto un racconto morale, riprendendo inquietanti dettagli da un caso di cronaca che aveva turbato gli USA. Singolare coincidenza, il racconto fu pubblicato nel 1966, lo stesso anno di A sangue freddo, di Truman Capote: stessa collocazione negli Stati Uniti centrali, desolati e spazzati dai venti.
JC Oates è una scrittrice molto talentuosa, ma la sua vena nera toglie la voglia di uscire di casa; oppure, a seconda dei casi, fa venir voglia di fuggire nel vasto mondo, nell'anonimato.
Mi viene voglia di aggiungere che le brave ragazze vanno in paradiso, ma quelle cattive vanno dappertutto, sia pure a loro rischio e pericolo.
January 31, 2026
The Wheel of Love and Other Stories by Joyce Carol Oates was a finalist for the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it was called "Quite simply, one of the finest collections of short stories ever written by an American” – you find a few thousand reviews of magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other lists, plus other thousands of notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other sites on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
9 out of 10
Black Water https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by Joyce Carol Oates is an enchanting read, seeing that, I would have started Blonde, which is ranked 723rd on The GOAT site for masterpieces, but it is extremely long, I think it has more than one thousand pages…
In The Region of Ice is the fist in this collection - one of the others is at 6843 on this GOAT page – and it has already caught my attention, to the point where I moved on to the next two, and these tales appear to promise a delightful read, most importantly, they keep me focused, attention deficit disorder is a plague of the times
In this first story, we have a very munificent nun, Sister Irene, who is a professor at this catholic university, where she has a new student, a Jewish man, Alan Weisntein, with wonderful abilities, but a troubled life, he has a long-standing conflict with his father, who would commit him to a hospital, eventually…
Weinstein talks about Nietzsche, Freud, he debates the fact that Shakespeare appears to contradict himself with his themes, only Sister Irene explains that the genius had various approaches in different plays, he did not produce them all at the same time…Alan Weinstein disappears and writes from the hospital, asking for help
Where are You Going, Where Have You Been is the next in the Collection, and the main character is Connie, who is fifteen, but very near serious trouble, when a stranger, Arnold Friend, approaches her and wants to take her in his car, with a mate of his, and the promise is that he will be her…lover, he will explain it
This would be statutory rape, but this man is trouble on more, or all fronts: when the girl realizes that he is much older, he must be about thirty, and dangerous, she wants to call the police, but he is blackmailing her now: ‘you don’t want your family to be hurt’, meaning he will use some weapon, burn the house
This criminal – we do not know that he has a record, but his behavior leaves no doubt – knows the name of the girl, that the parents are away, where they are, he even speculates that they must have the barbecue now, at this fat woman, Arnold Friend does not like heavy women, he likes them just the way Connie is…
We have the feeling that there is no happy exit from all this, the author is honest, and this dark figure reminds me of the one I see as the epitome of evil in the world now, he has reached the zenith – they call themselves in the MAGA cult ‘apex predators’ – and does not have a decent human feeling in that awful soul of his
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
9 out of 10
Black Water https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by Joyce Carol Oates is an enchanting read, seeing that, I would have started Blonde, which is ranked 723rd on The GOAT site for masterpieces, but it is extremely long, I think it has more than one thousand pages…
In The Region of Ice is the fist in this collection - one of the others is at 6843 on this GOAT page – and it has already caught my attention, to the point where I moved on to the next two, and these tales appear to promise a delightful read, most importantly, they keep me focused, attention deficit disorder is a plague of the times
In this first story, we have a very munificent nun, Sister Irene, who is a professor at this catholic university, where she has a new student, a Jewish man, Alan Weisntein, with wonderful abilities, but a troubled life, he has a long-standing conflict with his father, who would commit him to a hospital, eventually…
Weinstein talks about Nietzsche, Freud, he debates the fact that Shakespeare appears to contradict himself with his themes, only Sister Irene explains that the genius had various approaches in different plays, he did not produce them all at the same time…Alan Weinstein disappears and writes from the hospital, asking for help
Where are You Going, Where Have You Been is the next in the Collection, and the main character is Connie, who is fifteen, but very near serious trouble, when a stranger, Arnold Friend, approaches her and wants to take her in his car, with a mate of his, and the promise is that he will be her…lover, he will explain it
This would be statutory rape, but this man is trouble on more, or all fronts: when the girl realizes that he is much older, he must be about thirty, and dangerous, she wants to call the police, but he is blackmailing her now: ‘you don’t want your family to be hurt’, meaning he will use some weapon, burn the house
This criminal – we do not know that he has a record, but his behavior leaves no doubt – knows the name of the girl, that the parents are away, where they are, he even speculates that they must have the barbecue now, at this fat woman, Arnold Friend does not like heavy women, he likes them just the way Connie is…
We have the feeling that there is no happy exit from all this, the author is honest, and this dark figure reminds me of the one I see as the epitome of evil in the world now, he has reached the zenith – they call themselves in the MAGA cult ‘apex predators’ – and does not have a decent human feeling in that awful soul of his
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
May 12, 2016
This creeped me and freaked me out like no other story did for a long time.
I didn't expect this, it seems to be about a pedophilic (?) man, and a self-absorbed teenager who gets herself into trouble, with no way out. I didn't expect this story or how creepy it was, but that man is really terrifying and the way he threatens her is just bad.
It definitely made me feel terrified and uncomfortable.
I didn't expect this, it seems to be about a pedophilic (?) man, and a self-absorbed teenager who gets herself into trouble, with no way out. I didn't expect this story or how creepy it was, but that man is really terrifying and the way he threatens her is just bad.
It definitely made me feel terrified and uncomfortable.
July 3, 2016
Joyce Carol Oates scared me with 20 pages. Damn that was good writing.
July 29, 2023
With a visceral feeling of dread, this powerful short story grips the reader with an inevitable loss of innocence.
A coming of age story, where the descent from blissful ignorance is rapid and brutal.
A coming of age story, where the descent from blissful ignorance is rapid and brutal.
March 19, 2026
Rating: 2.95 🌟 🌟
I understood every word in this story—and still felt like I missed something deeply unsettling hiding underneath it.
What the hell did I just read.
No, seriously.
I finished this like 3 hours ago and I’m STILL sitting here trying to process what exactly happened and what it all meant. It’s not that I didn’t understand the story—I did. I followed the events, I knew what was happening, who was doing what.
But the meaning? The deeper layer? It just… slipped through my fingers while reading.
And somehow that’s the most frustrating AND intriguing part.
---
Plot (no spoilers):
The story follows Connie, a teenage girl navigating her identity, appearance, and independence while living in a household where she constantly feels compared and misunderstood.
One day, she’s left alone at home—and that’s when two strangers show up.
What follows is not action-heavy, but intensely psychological. The entire story unfolds through a conversation that slowly turns disturbing, tense, and deeply uncomfortable.
---
Atmosphere, Tone & Setting:
This is where the story REALLY got me.
There’s this constant underlying unease. Nothing is outright happening in a dramatic way, but everything feels wrong. The tone is quiet, almost casual at first—but then it slowly shifts into something suffocating.
It honestly feels like a dream you can’t wake up from. Or worse—a situation you realize too late that you’re not in control of.
---
Character Analysis:
Connie:
She feels very real. Flawed, a little naive, a little self-absorbed, but also just… a teenage girl trying to exist and be seen. You can feel her confusion, her hesitation, her fear building up.
And that’s what makes everything hit harder.
Arnold Friend:
I don’t even know how to describe him properly.
He’s not just “creepy.” He’s wrong. In a way that’s hard to explain. The more he talks, the more you realize something is off—but you can’t fully grasp what.
And that ambiguity? That’s what makes him terrifying.
Ellie Oscar:
Ellie barely speaks, barely moves—and yet, he feels important in a quiet, unsettling way.
He just sits there, watching everything unfold without interfering. And honestly? He felt like a reflection of us as readers. We see something is wrong, we feel the tension, but we can’t do anything about it.
He doesn’t manipulate like Arnold—he just observes.
And somehow, that silence feels just as disturbing.
---
Critical Analysis:
Okay, here’s where I’m conflicted.
I can SEE that this story is layered. I can tell it’s about loss of innocence, manipulation, control, maybe even something symbolic or psychological beyond literal interpretation.
But while reading? I didn’t feel that depth clearly—I only realized it AFTER finishing.
And that’s my main issue.
I appreciate stories that make you think, but I also need to feel connected while I’m reading—not just afterward when I sit and analyze it.
That being said, the fact that I’m still thinking about it hours later means the story DID something right.
It unsettled me. It lingered. It made me uncomfortable in a quiet, creeping way.
But at the same time, it also left me confused in a way that slightly disconnected me from the experience while reading.
---
Final Verdict:
This was one of those reads where I know there’s brilliance in it… but I couldn’t fully grasp it in the moment.
It intrigued me, it unsettled me, and it’s STILL living in my head—but I can’t ignore the fact that I felt lost while reading it.
So yeah—almost a 3-star read.
But not quite.
Because my brain is impressed…
but my heart is still like, “yeah no, what was that?”
I understood every word in this story—and still felt like I missed something deeply unsettling hiding underneath it.
What the hell did I just read.
No, seriously.
I finished this like 3 hours ago and I’m STILL sitting here trying to process what exactly happened and what it all meant. It’s not that I didn’t understand the story—I did. I followed the events, I knew what was happening, who was doing what.
But the meaning? The deeper layer? It just… slipped through my fingers while reading.
And somehow that’s the most frustrating AND intriguing part.
---
Plot (no spoilers):
The story follows Connie, a teenage girl navigating her identity, appearance, and independence while living in a household where she constantly feels compared and misunderstood.
One day, she’s left alone at home—and that’s when two strangers show up.
What follows is not action-heavy, but intensely psychological. The entire story unfolds through a conversation that slowly turns disturbing, tense, and deeply uncomfortable.
---
Atmosphere, Tone & Setting:
This is where the story REALLY got me.
There’s this constant underlying unease. Nothing is outright happening in a dramatic way, but everything feels wrong. The tone is quiet, almost casual at first—but then it slowly shifts into something suffocating.
It honestly feels like a dream you can’t wake up from. Or worse—a situation you realize too late that you’re not in control of.
---
Character Analysis:
Connie:
She feels very real. Flawed, a little naive, a little self-absorbed, but also just… a teenage girl trying to exist and be seen. You can feel her confusion, her hesitation, her fear building up.
And that’s what makes everything hit harder.
Arnold Friend:
I don’t even know how to describe him properly.
He’s not just “creepy.” He’s wrong. In a way that’s hard to explain. The more he talks, the more you realize something is off—but you can’t fully grasp what.
And that ambiguity? That’s what makes him terrifying.
Ellie Oscar:
Ellie barely speaks, barely moves—and yet, he feels important in a quiet, unsettling way.
He just sits there, watching everything unfold without interfering. And honestly? He felt like a reflection of us as readers. We see something is wrong, we feel the tension, but we can’t do anything about it.
He doesn’t manipulate like Arnold—he just observes.
And somehow, that silence feels just as disturbing.
---
Critical Analysis:
Okay, here’s where I’m conflicted.
I can SEE that this story is layered. I can tell it’s about loss of innocence, manipulation, control, maybe even something symbolic or psychological beyond literal interpretation.
But while reading? I didn’t feel that depth clearly—I only realized it AFTER finishing.
And that’s my main issue.
I appreciate stories that make you think, but I also need to feel connected while I’m reading—not just afterward when I sit and analyze it.
That being said, the fact that I’m still thinking about it hours later means the story DID something right.
It unsettled me. It lingered. It made me uncomfortable in a quiet, creeping way.
But at the same time, it also left me confused in a way that slightly disconnected me from the experience while reading.
---
Final Verdict:
This was one of those reads where I know there’s brilliance in it… but I couldn’t fully grasp it in the moment.
It intrigued me, it unsettled me, and it’s STILL living in my head—but I can’t ignore the fact that I felt lost while reading it.
So yeah—almost a 3-star read.
But not quite.
Because my brain is impressed…
but my heart is still like, “yeah no, what was that?”
February 12, 2023
i was just telling ren about this story and how much it stuck with me and then i woke up this morning with a burning urge to reread, so i did, and it still hits. jco is absolutely insane. i love the strangeness, love the setting, love the emotions, love the characters, LOVE all the little details. it becomes such a frightening, ethereal encounter with the devil (and adulthood, and maturity, and violence, and trauma) and tears apart the thin reality we build for ourselves where little things matter and we forget about real evil. anyways i'm not articulating myself well but this story is dope and always has been. the vibes are impeccable. i love a goat person. all the kudos to this story for many reasons, including sticking with me this long. i love a good, weird short story.
January 19, 2021
I have read this story many times and while I pick up on something new everytime, it still mystifies me.
I actually listened to an audio performance of this story performed by Christine Baranski on the Symphony Space’s Selected Shorts American Classics. She did do an excellent job.
I actually listened to an audio performance of this story performed by Christine Baranski on the Symphony Space’s Selected Shorts American Classics. She did do an excellent job.
June 18, 2022
So incredibly disturbing in so few pages.
December 10, 2025
deeply uncomfortable and very disturbing
January 18, 2026
➳ 4.5 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚
this story is so cool. i read this for my english class and when i originally read it i didn't enjoy it as much because i only saw it at face value as a story about a young girl who is taken advantage of but once we discussed it and i annotated and reread it i could see all of the nuances and deeper meanings of this story and wow. its such a cool story about growing up accepting the changes we go through in young adulthood and i loved the way the author conveyed this message through music and the events of this story. also all the biblical references were co interesting and i just really enjoyed understanding this story so well so thank you to my english professor lol ily barbara. i highly recommend this!
୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆
this story is so cool. i read this for my english class and when i originally read it i didn't enjoy it as much because i only saw it at face value as a story about a young girl who is taken advantage of but once we discussed it and i annotated and reread it i could see all of the nuances and deeper meanings of this story and wow. its such a cool story about growing up accepting the changes we go through in young adulthood and i loved the way the author conveyed this message through music and the events of this story. also all the biblical references were co interesting and i just really enjoyed understanding this story so well so thank you to my english professor lol ily barbara. i highly recommend this!
୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆
February 7, 2017
I understand why a story like this would be very important for us to read but reading it only made me feel very upset. I mean, Connie, the fifteen year old MC, in the end goes along with the "murderer" (though it isn't confirmed but my professor relayed his whole theory of the numbers painted on Friend's car symbolized the ages of both himself and his victims). What I didn't like was how Connie was portrayed as this 'wild' girl whose simple eye contact with Friend led to his growing interest to a level of stalking her and finding out the smallest detail about her family's schedule. Did Connie 'deserve' to have a mcfreaking possible serial killer on her trail JUST because she dared to share eye contact with the man? This short story only made me more apprehensive of men and more protective of teenage girls.
October 4, 2017
Based on a true story, a pied piper invites a young teen on a vehicular date. He spends time coaxing the young girl out of her home, promising love and bliss behind sinister eyes.
I knew of the true story before reading this tale. Both scare the hell out of me. Not for the faint of heart, this story serves a cautionary tale about placing trust on strangers, even if they wear tight leather jeans and woos like no other.
5/5
I knew of the true story before reading this tale. Both scare the hell out of me. Not for the faint of heart, this story serves a cautionary tale about placing trust on strangers, even if they wear tight leather jeans and woos like no other.
5/5
September 28, 2025
Saw this recommended on r/horrorlit and it did not disappoint. It’s just about perfect. I could nitpick if I wanted to (I didn’t always find the dialogue convincing, for example), but it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, and in so few pages, too. The building sense of dread is just immaculate.
I wish this had been my first JCO instead of Pursuit; not that I’m an expert in Oates’ work, but I’d say this is a great entry point for anyone wanting a taste of her writing.
I wish this had been my first JCO instead of Pursuit; not that I’m an expert in Oates’ work, but I’d say this is a great entry point for anyone wanting a taste of her writing.
October 30, 2016
I sure do not want Arnold Friend as my friend.
February 17, 2026
qué pasada
February 5, 2017
Whilst this is very short it is also very effective.
The tension Joyce instils is amazing and the growing unease stays with you at lot longer than it takes to read the story. The writing is brilliant and I cannot fault it!
This is the first time I've read anything by Joyce Carol Oates and I will definitely be checking out her other works.
The tension Joyce instils is amazing and the growing unease stays with you at lot longer than it takes to read the story. The writing is brilliant and I cannot fault it!
This is the first time I've read anything by Joyce Carol Oates and I will definitely be checking out her other works.
November 5, 2020
This story gave me goosebumps. What a creepy story!
(After some research, I found out that this story was inspired by Charles Schmid, an American serial killer.)
(After some research, I found out that this story was inspired by Charles Schmid, an American serial killer.)
January 15, 2026
Wonderful writing, captivating dialogue, and a thought provoking situation
February 6, 2026
Is this a thriller, a coming of age story, a supernatural tale? You decide! Had to read this for my college writing class and I think I’ve enjoyed reading different interpretations than the actual story. For my essay I went with Arnold being Hades Ellie being Hermes who have come to take Connie to the underworld.
July 23, 2015
Read the short here: https://www.d.umn.edu/~csigler/PDF%20...
The story veers away from a tale of a young, albeit shallow (she's a 15/16 year old girl who is rather vain and judgmental... so your average 15-16 year old girl), woman living a life with her non-attentive father, overly critical mother, and non-existent but frumpy sister into the realm of magical realism and horror.
When everyone but Connie, our protagonist, goes off to a barbecue, a man named Arnold Friend appears at the home and Connie is taken from her whimsical, juvenile worldview to something that is more closely related to the darkness of adulthood. Friend is not joyous, nor are his promises of getting what he wants--a position he assumes which negates all of Connie's agency.
There is a lot of symbolic actions in the tale and metaphor and not much of explicit direction. Connie's shift is not sudden, it's a prolonged evolution brought on by external stressors, and the end result leaves someone less than whole. It is an interesting tale, even a cautionary tale for young women, that is worth a read to experience but I do not find it to be ground-breaking or revolutionary. Maybe it would be more poignant and meaningful to me were I woman.
The story veers away from a tale of a young, albeit shallow (she's a 15/16 year old girl who is rather vain and judgmental... so your average 15-16 year old girl), woman living a life with her non-attentive father, overly critical mother, and non-existent but frumpy sister into the realm of magical realism and horror.
When everyone but Connie, our protagonist, goes off to a barbecue, a man named Arnold Friend appears at the home and Connie is taken from her whimsical, juvenile worldview to something that is more closely related to the darkness of adulthood. Friend is not joyous, nor are his promises of getting what he wants--a position he assumes which negates all of Connie's agency.
There is a lot of symbolic actions in the tale and metaphor and not much of explicit direction. Connie's shift is not sudden, it's a prolonged evolution brought on by external stressors, and the end result leaves someone less than whole. It is an interesting tale, even a cautionary tale for young women, that is worth a read to experience but I do not find it to be ground-breaking or revolutionary. Maybe it would be more poignant and meaningful to me were I woman.
November 1, 2020
TW: Kidnapping (potential death/r*pe)
I didn't know this was based off of a real story until reading other reviews. I actually didn't know anything about this short story at all, I just read it from a list of suggested short stories for Halloween this year.
It was not for me. The writing style was meh; it didn't engage me at all and left me confused at parts (particularly when she tries to get the phone?). That's okay because I wasn't prepared or in the mood for this specific subject matter anyways and might not have been able to finish even a short story of an author who connected well with me.
I didn't know this was based off of a real story until reading other reviews. I actually didn't know anything about this short story at all, I just read it from a list of suggested short stories for Halloween this year.
It was not for me. The writing style was meh; it didn't engage me at all and left me confused at parts (particularly when she tries to get the phone?). That's okay because I wasn't prepared or in the mood for this specific subject matter anyways and might not have been able to finish even a short story of an author who connected well with me.
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