The Virgin in the Rose Bower

by Joyce Carol Oates, John McDonough (Narrated by)

In this first part of her Gothic mystery trilogy, National Book Award–winning author Joyce Carol Oates introduces Xavier Kilgarvan: romantic hero and amateur detective. He must discover who has murdered an innocent babe while it slept in its mother’s arms. This turn-of-the-century tale of monstrous deeds and heart-stopping suspense will leave you eagerly looking for the next Kilgarvan case.

(This story is included in Oates' Mysteries of Winterthurn.)

Genres: Gothic, Mystery

Audio

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Joyce 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.

Reviews

[Anne Hawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very stange. I have read everything I could find on the web to get an idea of what I was missing. Apparently it was written this way in the misguided idea that rarely in real life to we have all the answers in a mystery. What this means is that the reader is struggling to figure out what the various strange happenings and murders in the Honeymoon bedroom mean, who did them, why, and most importantly, how. Well, you are never quite sure of most of the above, especially the "how."

I also read that is was a parody on the Gothic mystery, but I wasn't really satisfied with that. I agree with one reviewer that it needed to be either a parody or a Gothic mystery, but not both. On the other hand, the book was very interesting. It had the feel of The Moonstone and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins and I think it could have been as good if there was an explanation of the mystery. I did like it and I figured out enough of the solution to feel somewhat satisfied, but it could have easily been a great book.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I am reviewing the WRITTEN novella, not the audio version, but this was the only entry I could find for it.

Oates successfully parodies the twisted syntax, plotting, and logic of Gothic mysteries so well that I feel casual readers will likely get understandably lost in what she's trying to do.

Perhaps it's not 100% successful, which helps in explaining my rating and the rating overall. What works best for me is Oates' ability to suggest things without outright stating them.

The section where we learn about how one character's two wives were "unaccountably clumsy" while describing the bruises, cuts, and other injuries that were likely committed by the husband without outright telling you that is more horrifying than the strange little mystery revealed at the end, at least to me.

That little detail mirrors the reality of how such abuse was explained away at the time but also lets you know that the story is full of unrevealed elements hidden from casual reading. Everything is kind of kept under wraps, for decorum's sake. Nobody ever really says what they think, and if they do, they're considered most crude indeed!

In other words, this is a story that actually makes you (horror of horrors) THINK a little bit about what you've read, connect the dots, and draw conclusions without the author explaining every little detail.

In other words, the exact opposite of what the average spoon-fed "please explain every little detail to my creatively vacant brain" reader of today wants. Any text that requires even a millisecond of thinking is to be discarded for the joys of binge-watching the latest idiotic reality show.

Rant over. Sorry.

Weird place for it in what is, by Joyce's standards, a pretty middle-of-the-road work. I enjoyed it, finished it in a few days, and assume the other volumes come together to complete a unique examination of the life of the main character, Xavier. This sets things up for it.

[cycads and ferns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nor did his customary methods of treating such disorders, involving vinegar douches, vigorous daily purges, by way of Epsom salts, laxatives, and cold-water enemas and bloodletting, by way of a rare subspecies of leech affixed to the female genitalia appear to be having much salutary effect. "So mysterious is the alteration in young Mrs. Kilgarvan," the good doctor said pensively, "that, were one not a rationalist, and fervently on the side of progress, an hypothesis of ‘demonic possession' might well be
entertained."


Part gothic horror and part mystery.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh! That’s nine hours of my life I’ll never get back. Between the gothic vernacular of the narrative, the confusing timeline jumping around, the amount of unnecessary side stories, the incredibly plodding pace and the totally unsatisfying “solution”, I won’t be continuing with this series or author.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, just lovely.

[Molly Engle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't understand it. The story line was confusing. The mixing of story lines was awkward.

[Kaitlin Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ending was horrible. You don’t even get to know what happened to Georgina or why it was so shocking she laughed at the man who loved her.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning Gothic novel done as only JCO can do it. The prose is rich and dense, without a wasted word. It's homage, of course, to the great 19th century Gothic novels, but it is not a love story. There is misplaced love and passion, much of it unrequited, and the horrifying aspects are written with a boldness that a real 19th century writer would never have dared. Not a fast read, but thoroughly enjoyable if you're a JCO fan or a love of the form.

[Cyn (RaeWhit) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to stop reading this at several points. Slow for me.

[Kristen]

So, so boring. I just couldn't. I listened to the first 4 sections (out of 23?) and that was enough. The murder hadn't happened and the detective hadn't been introduced yet!