Matt Snediker’s Reviews > We Were the Mulvaneys > Status Update

I’ve read BLACK WATER, WHERE ARE YOU GOING, and 52% of this book. JCO’s oeuvre posits that men see the world as being all male, invariably: front to back, guy to lady, animal to human,vegetable to mineral; and that the most progressive and understanding the men can hope to become is to eventually, with much dismay & self-loathing, come to the conclusion that everything male, including themselves, should be killed

I wanna say that the popular 2 star goodreads review of this book where the person’s like “um, this isn’t about a horrible event destroying a perfect family? The parents are awful!!!” is a perfect example of the literacy crisis in America, but I think there’s a lot more than illiteracy going on there tbh…

Not a book for someone who wants their messages spoon fed, themes highlighted, morals made clear.

Oates gets at this thing of how men see the dignity, character, & perception of the women in their life as a reflection of their own self-worth – treat them like show dogs whose misgroomed fur, or too-long claws,or unwiped eye boogies are a direct reflection of their owner’s own shortcomings, mean the owner is worth less – and that this objectification & ownership is at the root of a big Evil Thing in our world

The amount of rage JCO induces in the reader, the emotionally-unsatisfying-but-deftly-rendered realism with which she grounds the story, the magic and surreality of the Judd solo sequences.

It’s just all so overwhelming.