Night, neon

by Joyce Carol Oates

From literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde, now a major motion picture, comes a brand new collection of haunting and, at times, darkly humorous mystery and suspense stories.

These are tales of psyches pushed to their limits by the expectations of everyday life - from a woman who gets lost on her drive back to her plush suburban home and ends up breaking into a stranger's house, to a first-person account of a cloned 1940s magazine pinup girl being sold at auction and embodying America's ideals of beauty and womanhood.

Taken as a whole, the collection forms a poignant tapestry of regular people searching for their place in a social hierarchy, often with devastating and disastrous results. Rendered with stylish, fresh writing from an author who continues to push the envelope, the stories deftly weave in and out of a stream-of-consciousness to reflect the ways we process traumatic experiences and impart that uncertainty and uneasiness to the reader. The stories comprising Night, Neon showcase Oates' mastery of the suspense story and her relentless use of the form to conduct unapologetically honest explorations of American identity.

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery, Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

299 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2021

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

[MarilynW · Rating 4 out of 5]

Night, Neon by Joyce Carol Oates, narrated by Chelsea Stephens and Joe Hempel

When I read short stories, I can finish them feeling like there wasn't enough, so I think I'm better suited to full length novels. But getting to listen to nine short stories, one after another, allowed me to move on from each, without feeling like I needed more, and this allowed me to feel more satisfied with what I heard. Also, I realize that I am more open to short stories when they are audio recordings. Each one of these stories is dark, many of the people are vile in one way or another. I know it helped that I heard them all together, so I don't dwell on them. I don't think I've ever read Joyce Carol Oates before listening to this audiobook. I'm going to look more of her work now.

"Detour" Sad, disturbing, and reality for some.

"Curious" An egocentric, cynical, obsessive writer intrudes into the life of someone he considers worthy of his notice. As flat as the main character.

"Miss Golden Dreams 1949" Pay for it and you'll pay for it

"Wanting" Was it worth it?

"Parole Hearing, California Institution for Women, Chino, CA" Disgusting excuses, all fake.

"Intimacy" The assault of words...terrifying

"The Flagellant" It's never his fault.

"Vaping: A User's Manual" One way the horror could happen/does happen.

"Neon, Night" Dysfunctional woman drawn to dysfunction.

Publication: August 3rd 2021

Thank you to HighBridge Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read short stories much, but I was intrigued by the emphasis of the collection being very "dark". All of the stories are subtle at first but are meant to make you ponder once they are finished. The premises are simple but that is to be expected with shorts ~75 pages long.

From just the few stories I've read, I know that I need to read more of Oates! Her writing style is definitely my sort of thing, and I'd be really curious to try a full-length novel. Thank you Netgalley!

[Karina · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Tonight he lifts the children in his arms. Lucas first, then Esther. The little boy is three years old, the little girl is one year old. In that year, how much has happened! But he does not blame either of them, it is the mother he blames. Wrong for a mother to love her babies more than she loves the father." (PG. 184, The Flagellant)

Trigger Warnings: Killing of young children, Rape, Patricide, drug use.

The stories were a strange mix of being inside someone's messed up head. Some stories were a bit erotic mixed with a suspenseful tone like the story on the Marilyn Monroe doll that was for auction, Miss Golden Dreams 1949. I would not say I was left satisfied in each one but at least they weren't boring. The narrators in each story had the same anxious quick tone but we don't find out until nearly the end why and sometimes the ending was left open for interpretation, which has come to bug me.

Readable but if you're looking for horror this might not be what you wanted.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC

[Nikki "The Crazie Betty" V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having thoroughly enjoyed Joyce Carol Oates’ anthology, Faithless, I was really excited to dive into this. Especially being tagged as short stories of mystery and suspense. However, I was ultimately disappointed. For one, I felt like the collection was wrongly listed as mystery and suspense. The stories are more of a contemporary fiction feel and none of them really have any mystery to them. There were a couple of the stories that did stick out to me though. The first story, ‘Detour’, follows a woman who may not have all her mental faculties. Is she being held hostage? Or is she forgetting something very important? That story and then ‘Parole Hearing’, where we are in the head of one of Manson’s girls as she resides in jail and is one time after another rejected for parole.

For the most part, there is no mystery to any of these stories. I guess some of them have some suspense to them but mostly I just looked at all the stories as examples of how we all see reality differently. Our point of view is our point of view only and isn’t necessarily accurate to what is going on around us.

The collection was ok but definitely not one of JCO’s best.

Releases June 15, 2021

Received from Penzler Publishers via Netgalley

[Jaksen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of creepy stories. Like modern Gothic. People in difficult circumstances, making difficult choices. Here's a brief precis on each: (No spoilers.)

'Detour' An exploration into the mind - the aging mind, the confused mind and the story which hit closest to home for me. Well-done in every way. The one which will stay with me, as certain short stories do. Rank it up there with 'The Wallpaper,' and Stephen King's novella, 'Sun Dog.'

'Curious' About an egocentric, cynical writer's 'obsession' with a young woman. It's not what you think.

'Miss Golden Dreams 1949' Highly erotic, scifi-ish, and, at least for me, a strange departure from what Ms Oates usually writes.

'Wanting' A virtual creepfest as a woman sinks deeper and deeper into hidden desires.

'Parole Hearing, California Institution for Women, Chino, CA' I thought I knew what this was about, and boy, was I right! Still, it gets worse as you read, but also very enlightening.

'Intimacy' While reading this one I wondered if the author was ever in the 'situation' the MC here is. Late afternoon, alone in a large building, meeting with one of her students who has a certain 'edge' about him/her. Yeah, I've kind been there myself. (But with a student's parent!)

'The Flagellant' About a man responsible for something he will constantly - ad infinitum! - make excuses for.

'Vaping: A User's Manual' Horrifically real; a story to cringe through rather than just read.

'Neon, Night' The title story, but not my favorite. A wandering, rambling discourse through a young woman's thoughts as she chronicles how she got where she is - and where, very likely, she is going.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surrealistic, creeping, interesting set of stories, beautifully written as always by Joyce Carol Oates. My favorite was the first story, Detour, about a woman in a car accident who can’t quite seem to remember where she is or who she is. Then the story itself takes a similar detour.

These books aren’t quite as scary as her last collection, and no single story had the power of my favorite in the last collection, Miao Dao, but they make for a compelling and interesting read like only Joyce Carol Oates can deliver. Her use of language remains second to none and the stories here are weird and fascinating. There were interesting forays into pop culture, like Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson, as well as a somewhat humorous and creepy story answering the age old fan question to authors: “Where do you get your ideas?”

A day reading Joyce Carol Oates is always time well spent. Thanks to Penzler Publishers, the author and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another trip into the bleak imagination of Oates. By now I’m used to it, having read a number of her books, especially short story collections. They don’t have an easy or immediate appeal and thus are somewhat difficult to recommend, but for me there’s something attractive about them.
The bleakness is some of the appeal, definitely, Oates is gifted enough of a stylist to make it look good. She understands the degrees with which it should be gradually unveiled. She uses all the fifty shades of dark and unleashes a sort of quiet devastation and brutality upon her characters that only a master sadist would. And like a master sadist she seems to be an expert at knowing just where and how to twist the knife to the maximum effect. Most of this is owning to her profound psychological grasp of the psyche and the nature of relationship dynamics. Specifically male/female dynamics which are the theme of this collection.
So by now you should have gathered this isn’t a fun and happy read and it isn’t going to have any love stories or any stories for this matter than don’t end in tragedy. But even if you might guess at their terrible destinations, these journeys into the darkness still make for an interesting read.
The thing is, though, this collection being ever so timely, it’s very much from the recent bandwagon of a very specific kind of feminism, the strikingly dividing kind that essentially categorizes all men as brutes and violators and all women as some type of their victims. Oates is smarter and subtler than most of these writers so her takes are less polarizingly drum beating, but it’s still there, very potent, very pervasive and, frankly, much too one noted of an approach from such a talented author. And it does get tiresome.
There are some excellent deviations from the look at all the ways this woman gets screwed over by men, which is a theme most perfectly epitomized in the final and longest of the stories here.
Not sure of the titles, since the advance reading version the publisher provided tended to omit the, but #2 and 3 were great, the Marilyn auction one was excellent. Might be more I’m not thinking of.
All in all, if you’re a fan of Oates’ writing as I am, you’ll probably enjoy this book. Or if you’re looking for that kind of male/female dichotomy in fiction it would work too. For me, it doesn’t so much, too simple, too reductive, too black and white. But if one must read about it, it should be by Oates or someone of her caliber and emotional intelligence. Plus no one does bleak like she can. It’s her signature color. Thanks Netgalley.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each of these stories is an interior monologue, some plummeting depths that only a writer of Joyce Carol Oates's virtuosity can carry off. Here we encounter the damaged psyche of a cloned Marilyn Monroe, one of Manson's girls who at the age of 70 has not found redemption, a writer seeking to inveigle a young woman and unable to see the truth of her life. Read back to back, it's heavy stuff.

[Cindy Landes · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’est moi qui donne 5 étoiles à un recueil de nouvelles? 😮

Et bien oui! Je trouve que la plume de Joyce Carol Oates se prête à merveille au format de nouvelle. Ses ambiances et ses personnages sont toujours tellement dérangeants, et c’était à nouveau le cas avec ces 9 courtes histoires! Il y a toujours une certaine critique de la vie ou de la société derrière chaque histoire et je pense que c’est ce qui fait que ça secoue à chaque fois. J’ai adoré!

[Cody | CodysBookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC! This book releases in June.

Some of Joyce Carol Oates’s best works are published with Mysterious Press, a smaller press that publishes her darker mystery/horror stuff and has been doing so for the last couple decades. Jack of Spades, The Pursuit, and Cardiff, by the Sea were all published by this press and all are winners—Night, Neon joins them, and how!

These stories are razor-sharp and thrilling, matching the sleek and dark and dangerous cover (okay seriously, what a gorgeous cover!). I can’t quite decide what my favorite in the collection is, but these stood out:

“Detour”: an aging woman likely suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s can’t get a handle on where she is, or where she belongs. Or is she totally in her right mind? A searing opener to this collection, this particular story quickened my pulse.

“Curious”: a strange and somewhat off-putting story, what elevates this one, for me, is Oates’s spot-on characterization and that banger ending.

“Intimacy”: JCO writes small, anxious situations well, and this terse interaction between a writer professor and an angry student—in the professor’s cramped office, no less—is another that had me nervously turning (digital) pages.

“Night, Neon”: the narrative in the title story, the length of which edges into novella territory, is given room to stretch its legs. In this the reader gets to know the narrator, Juliana, and her experiences in various bars over the years. A mood of rainy melancholy hangs over this one, and it almost borders on noir. As one who’s experienced his share of blurry, hazy drunken nights in various restaurants and bars, I really connected with this story . . . and its portrayal of the way her romantic relationships have grown around her late-night drinking habits.

This collection is even better than I expected, and I’m as big a Joyce Carol Oates fan as they come. Thrilling, suspenseful, (hey, that’s why these are called Tales of Mystery and Suspense!) I didn’t want to finish. Luckily JCO is always writing, always publishing. And we are better for it.

[Gianni · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’è tutto ciò che rappresenta la società americana, in questi nove racconti: il male di vivere in una società individualista e competitiva, la solitudine che tutto ciò genera, la violenza che permea i rapporti sociali e famigliari, il vuoto esistenziale che spinge a vivere nella zona d’ombra, a cercare emozioni anche estreme, lo sgretolamento del sogno americano; ma si va oltre, perché non è di sola America che si parla quando la fuga nell’alcol, nello sballo, nel sesso, nella violenza anche gratuita, sono lo strumento per riconoscersi e farsi riconoscere come soggetto e non si sfugge alla questione di genere e alla questione sessuale, che ne è emanazione e che rende questo approccio asimmetrico, con la donna in posizione subalterna, sottomessa, vittima di violenze e soprusi.

Come il clone di Marilyn Monroe, la Norma Jeane Miss Golden Dream 1949 ricostruita in laboratorio, che eredita dall’originale l’essere ”disperatamente in cerca d’amore per tutta la vita”, bisogno che potrebbe essere soddisfatto solo attraverso la mercificazione, perché ”se una donna non è bella desiderabile, affascinante, ‘sexy’, non sarà amata, e se non viene amata, non è niente.”

In Deviazione la protagonista Abigail, presa nel suo ruolo di moglie/madre e che fin ”da giovane, anzi da bambina, aveva imparato a modellarsi sulle aspettative degli altri”, è costretta a cambiare il percorso del rientro a casa per via di una deviazione stradale e viene a trovarsi in una realtà alternativa allucinante da cui uscirà liberando tutta la violenza sopita dentro di sé a cui riuscirà ad attingere.

LK, in Voglia, paga un prezzo altissimo il suo volere un uomo, ”Quanto vuole un uomo, lei. Lei vuole un uomo, ma quanto. Lei vuole un uomo. Quanto lo vuole”. La sua voglia, che la fa andare fino in fondo, è più forte della consapevolezza della sua fine, ”quando la sua caduta si arresta, la voglia terribile finisce.”

La violenza non risparmia le donne anche quando ad esercitarla sono altre donne; in Udienza per la libertà condizionale, California Institution for Women, Chino, California un memoriale delirante, redatto per la richiesta della libertà condizionale, riporta all’uccisione di Sharon Tate a colpi di pugnale nel 1969; è scritto da una detenuta ormai settantenne, presumibilmente Susan Denise Atkins seguace di Charles Manson e incolpata dell’assassinio, ed è una storia di abusi, violenze, plagi, che nella furia non ha risparmiato la Tate, ”Be’, sì, è vero, l’ho pugnalata sedici volte. La bella ‘stella del cinema’. Ed è vero, ogni pugnalata è stata un urlo di gioia. Ed è vero, nella foga ho pugnalato il bambino che portava in grembo, otto mesi e cinque settimane”.

Intimità è il racconto del rapporto professionale tra ”due individui, l’insegnante (femmina) di mezz’età, e lo studente (maschio) di scrittura creativa quasi trentenne, americano, reduce di guerra. Due individui che non si conoscono e che si ritrovano a condividere uno spazio ristretto di circa venti metri quadrati in un ufficio nel seminterrato dell’università.”. È una situazione che genera una sorta di intimità che l’insegnante, pur consapevole e in ansia, non riesce a gestire pienamente o, meglio, che sembra risolversi, ma…

L’ergastolano de Il flagellante è un uomo condannato per aver rapito i piccoli figli, morti nell’incidente occorso durante la fuga, bambini che pagano con la vita la vendetta nei confronti della moglie, che non è un modello di virtù, e questo aspetto è una delle cose interessanti del racconto.

N. è il protagonista di Curiosità; è uno scrittore di successo che prende spunto da vicende che a lui accadono, o come in questo caso egli stesso provoca, per scrivere i suoi racconti. L’incontro al supermercato con una cassiera fa scattare un meccanismo perverso che lo porta a intervenire attivamente nel determinare una serie di eventi che avranno ripercussioni sulla donna e, allo stesso tempo, a conoscerla maggiormente; Keisha è una donna dimessa, fragile, malata e in terapia oncologica, vittima di violenza domestica. N. mostrerà curiosità, compassione, solidarietà, forse anche amore, ma poi distacco, fino a dimenticarsene come succede per le vite di tutti gli altri che sono stati spunto per i suoi personaggi, ”ciò che succede a queste persone dopo il mio trasferimento non è di mio interesse. Ho smesso di pensare a loro subito, o quasi subito.” Ma l’epilogo sarà un tuffo amaro nella vita reale.

Sigaretta elettronica: istruzioni per l’uso è la storia di Jacey, ragazzino quindicenne che accompagna la madre malata alle sedute di chemioterapia e che rifiuta il padre che se n’è andato per costruirsi una nuova vita. La via di fuga è una svapata di nicotina assunta con la sigaretta elettronica a cui è costretto a ricorrere sempre più di frequente, perché ”ecco cosa ti fa la sigaretta elettronica al cervello: ti fa vedere. Tutta la strana, bellissima merda che non vedi mai col tuo cervello ordinario. Con il peggioramento delle condizioni di salute della madre aumentano la frustrazione e la rabbia di Jocey, soprattutto nei confronti del padre.

Notte al neon è il racconto più lungo della raccolta a cui dà anche il titolo, rappresentandone un po’ il condensato, anche se i racconti sono stati pubblicati separatamente in tempi diversi e su differenti riviste. Il male di vivere si acuisce di notte, al ”crepuscolo, l’ora dello strazio”, ma è anche l’ora in cui ”il neon si accende”, i neon dei bar, con la loro luce colorata, smorzata, elettrica. È l’ora in cui le solitudini si incontrano, si stemperano nell’alcol perché ”un bevitore è sempre un bevitore, che beva oppure no”, mostrano i lati più desiderabili del proprio doppio, nascondendo l’inganno, ”perché non era forse quella la promessa di tutti quei luoghi illuminati dai neon? Invisibilità, anonimato”. Ma anche l’accesso alla notte è asimmetrico perché ”le donne sono sempre più a rischio” e ritorna alla mente In cerca di Mr. Goodbar”, la pellicola della fine degli anni ‘70.

C’è un filo che lega tutti i racconti, un senso di dipendenza che lega nonostante rappresenti l’accettazione della sottomissione, la frustrazione, l’improbabile smetto quando voglio, fino al limite della violenza, perpetrata o subita.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been trying to read more short stories lately and since the premise of Night, Neon: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates sounded so good I figured I would give it a shot. Unfortunately, this is definitely not my favorite collection I have ever read, and it was more odd than anything. I also wouldn't say any of the stories are particularly suspenseful or mysterious which is what I was really hoping for. I saw one reviewer refer to these stories as bleak, and I definitely second that. They are very dark and at times very disturbing, so we aren't lacking in that aspect. One of my favorite stories from the book is Miss Golden Dreams 1949 that involves a full-sized Marilyn Monroe which is like a robotic (maybe??) sex doll and reminded me a lot of the book The Hierarchies. I ended up enjoying that book a lot more than I thought I would and is probably part of the reason I enjoyed that short story so much.

I did think the audiobook was really well done and the narrators Chelsea Stephens & Joe Hempel were perfect for every single story. I especially loved Stephens's narration for Miss Golden Dreams 1949 and couldn't believe how well she nailed that. I think I definitely preferred the audio to actually reading, and the narrators did a great job of keeping me engaged with all of the stories. There are plenty of readers that liked this collection a lot more than I did, so I do recommend checking out Night, Neon if you are looking for a grittier read in the form of short stories. Some of them aren't really clear-cut and there are some graphic details so they aren't for the faint of heart, but they will make you think and intrigue you.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[Lauren D'Souza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually my first time reading any of Joyce Carol Oates's writing. Of course, I've heard her name a million times - which probably inflated my expectations a bit - but even so, I really enjoyed her writing. As many good short story collections often go, you don't really know what's happening until you're almost done with the story. She dives right in the middle and often emulates stream of consciousness, hopping from one time period to another. Still, the journey of figuring out who's talking, what happened, why you're hearing this POV - it's all part of the ride. I could see myself learning new things about some of these stories on a second or third read - even, shock and awe, imagine myself dissecting them in a book club or English class!

I wouldn't say any of these stories are scary, mysterious, or suspenseful. All of them have dark undertones, are told by a twisted narrator, or are a little unsettling. You really stay for the excellent writing and characterizations that pack big punches in mere dozens of pages.

Some of my favorites were "Detour," (the opening story) "Miss Golden Dreams 1949," "Parole Hearing, California Institution for Women, Chino, CA," and "Intimacy." Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley!

[Lisa M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A slog, if I'm being honest.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers as well as Joyce Carol Oates for the copy in exchange for my honest review. Unfortunately Night, Neon just wasn't for me. There were times I would get into what Joyce Carol Oates was writing about and then out of nowhere it abruptly stops or goes in a completely different course. This is probably the writing style of Joyce Carol Oates as this was my first reading by her. I respect her writing as I would any author, because it's a unique, creative skillset that I do not have, but I just didn't vibe with these stories.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read several of JCO's full-length novels, and they've been pretty incredible -- exactly what you'd expect from an author as prolific and iconic as she is. But in my opinion, it's in her novellas and short stories where she really excels. The structure of the short story allows her to explore the darkest parts of the human psyche in an unflinching way in her trademark stream-of-consciousness style.

The stories in Night, Neon ask a lot from the reader, but they really deliver on their unsettling, disturbing concepts. I'm not sure calling these stories "tales of mystery and suspense" is entirely accurate, though. The stories are more disquieting than anything else, simultaneously subtle and ominous in their exploration of the inner workings of the human mind. The stories are uncomfortable and deeply psychological, while also serving as insightful critiques of modern society and the issues that plague it.

A few of the standouts for me:

- "Curious," in which a rich man performs a social experiment with devastating consequences;
- "Parole Hearing," in which a Manson girl attempts to explain why she deserves to be released from prison;
- "Intimacy," a claustrophobic tale in which a professor's meeting with a student takes an ominous turn;
- "Vaping: A User's Manual," in which a teen boy deals with his mother's terminal illness the only way he knows how.

Thank you to Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review. I'll be thinking about this collection of stories for a long time.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected this to be very wild and unexpected and it is and seedy and scary and so so true. what a writer she takes you into stories you almost want to back out of they are so real and tense and touching. nightlife tales and the lonely end of them all.

[Leo Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love it. I always zip through Oates books. Their pages just seem to dissolve in my hands!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection!! Full review soon!

[Cora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a much better collection compared to JCO's other release in 2021 (The (Other) You), which I read earlier this year (shortly after it's release date). While I found The (Other) You to contain an equal number of hits and misses (50/50), this collection contained many stories that were very compelling and enjoyable to read (only 2-3 that I disliked or that didn't strike my interests). Although none featured a true mystery (JCO is more subtle than that; JCO's brand of "mystery" is more open-ended questions and ambiguous endings), the suspense and intrigue was pretty top-notch, and many of the stories are a kind of character study, which I love. Here's a break-down of the highs and lows (in my opinion):

1. "Detour": 4 stars; a surreal story about a older married woman who has always been "waiting for her true life to start;" and an ambiguous ending (which, in this case, is done very well)
2. "Curious": 4.5 stars; a story with a male main character who is rarely curious about or interested in anything, except when he is and when he is, the object of his fascination becomes an obsession (in this case, JCO did a great job of writing a male MC -- for JCO, that is not always the case, in my opinion)
3. "Miss Golden Dreams 1949": 4 stars; a very short story on the topic of sexual objectification and the resentment towards men that sexual objectification breeds (a topic that I find compelling and interesting); the female character is not the main focus of this story, but this story had me searching for more information on Marilyn Monroe's life
4. "Wanting": 4.5 stars; thematically, this story delves into the topics of loneliness and desire, and specifically, sexual desire and a desire for revenge; this one had a really unexpected, shocking ending that disturbed me so much; highly unlikely I'll be able to get that ending out of my head any time soon
5. "Parole Hearing, California Institution for Women, Chino, CA": 3.5 stars; some gruesome imagery in this one, but all in all, this one is too short (not enough pages to really develop any sense of atmosphere or dread)
6. "Intimacy": 3 stars; similarly, some dark and creepy ideas in this one, but it's not long enough to develop a strong sense of atmosphere or dread; it also ends on an anticlimactic moment
7. "The Flagellant": 2 stars; not enough development of the character; hard to feel sympathy for a character like this, and hard to see the point or purpose of this story; religious themes that were not believable
8. "Vaping: A User's Manual": 1 star; in my opinion, this one is the worst in this collection; in short, this is about a teenage boy who wants revenge against his father for leaving his family in order to start a new family, and also he vapes (I don't get the connection, unless JCO is trying to insinuate that vaping ruins kids' minds, and if that's the case, well frankly, I don't care; everyone has a vice because life is just damn difficult without one.)
9. "Night, Neon": 5 stars; the longest and most fantastic story in this collection; I don't even know how to summarize, but it was just fantastic

[Garrett Rowlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

By now, JCO is more like a product than a writer, which isn't meant as a pejorative, except than reading this book is oddly comforting in spite of the edgy, nervy, and often self-destructive behavior of the protagonists in the stories and the titular novella within. You pretty much know what you're getting. And if a story about a visiting writing teacher cornered in her office by a disturbed student in her seminar is reminiscent of her story "In the Region of Ice," well, just call it theme and variation. The only story I didn't like and didn't finished was about a teenage girl with a vaping addiction. It felt like something made up after reading an article. I read the "Night, Neon" novella in a train ride out of Los Angeles, and while it is more like traditional JCO story, that is, not particularly mysterious or suspenseful, it really kept my interest about an abused woman (by men, a recurring theme in the collection) slipping into alcoholism. I am impressed by her ability to keep on keeping on.

[Thomas Bruso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joyce Carol Oates’s latest compilation of nine suspense and mystery stories, “Night, Neon,” is a spellbinding narrative on self-exploration and an unapologetically driven tale of endurance.

In the title story, “Night, Neon,” Oates demonstrates the vulnerability of a young woman who tries to survive in a man’s world, using her beauty and intelligence to navigate the murky pitfalls of life’s journey in a world dominated by an insatiable hunger of the male persuasion.

Richly-layered and deeply menacing is the story “Wanting,” where a woman confronts a man from her past (a man she does not recognize, not at first—not until it is too late). Poignant, almost sacrificial—a lamb to the slaughter—the reader watches as Oates meticulously weaves a spiderweb-like plot with subtle, intricate precision, almost reminiscent of a Hitchcock film, where the reader can’t look away from the story playing out in front of them.

An uncanny, stunning collection of forbidding tales that will keep readers transfixed to every word, “Night, Neon” is Oates at her best: a tapestry of beautiful language and syntax, and in their stunning and hauntingly richness, each story is alluring and exploratory. A reflection of life imitating art, fine-tuned by an artist’s incomparable, skilled, assured hand.

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time, long time favorite Authors has been Joyce Carol Oates and when I saw she came out with a book consisting of dark chilling, mystery & suspense stories; I knew I had to have it. It did not disappoint, the first story set the theme for how much I would enjoy enjoy the entirety of the book with its’ bizarre thrilling stories. They will blow and bend you mind and really make you think. To me it made me think of BLACK MIRROR on Netflix. You really need to check this out.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joyce Carol Oates is my go to author when I want well written, dark novels. I couldn’t finish this collection of short stories. I read 2 1/2 and called it quits. These 3 felt like a parody of Oates. I imagined her agent telling her that she was past deadline and to quickly whip out a few stories. Quality is irrelevant. I’m moving on.

[Simms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Individual story ratings:
Detour - 3.5
Curious - 3
Miss Golden Dreams 1949 - 4.5
Wanting - 2
Parole Hearing, California Institution for Women, Chino, CA - 4.5
Intimacy - 4
The Flagellant - 4.5
Vaping: A User's Manual - 4
Night, Neon - 4
Average: 3.78

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

first story rules, the rest are pretty forgettable.

[Kira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oates's writing is masterful, and I've been interested in reading more of her work since I first read "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" in school. This collection explored the intersection of horror and the female experience in many stories, which I enjoyed. Most of the protagonists were female and overly concerned with appearances, seeming pleasant and appealing to men who had the potential to hurt them, versus self-preservation. Societal expectations putting people at risk is always an intriguing avenue to explore since it is often thrilling but also opens the door for further social commentary.
Unfortunately, this collection wasn't exactly what I had hoped for. Oates experimented with many concepts and styles that kept each story fresh but ultimately meant that there were weaker tales. Not every short can be expected to be a standout, but I wish that there were a few more to balance the scales. Still, I am eager to read more from this author in the future.

[Hatseflats · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the fourth or fifth book I've read by JCO, and of those, the second collection. In this collection, my two favorites were Miss Golden Dreams 1949 and Vaping: A User's Manual. Both stories rely upon an internal monologue from the main character to form the narrative. In the former story, the main character is a sex robot duplicate of Marilyn Monroe as cloned from her DNA while she is being auctioned at Christie's (or is it Sotheby's? I can't recall). It's a highly entertaining and cynical view of how rich and powerful men view femininity as mirrored back by the object of their fascination, Marilyn. The latter story is about a 15 year-old-boy who is obsessed with vaping and is coping -poorly- with his mother's terminal illness.

I have found everything I have read by Joyce Carol Oates is genius. The stories in this collection are no exception.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Joyce Carol Oates and I have finally connected in this very interesting collection of suspenseful tales. The hair-raising unease and tension here ranged from subtle to nail-biting and the character development throughout was ridiculously good. I found myself rethinking several stories days later which is a true indicator of a good read. As many reviewers before me have said in different ways, I’m not sure Joyce Carol Oates likes people very much but she certainly understands the darkest parts of all of us. Highly recommended.