We were the Mulvaneys - Rambling Readers

454 pages

English language

Published Nov. 19, 1997 by Plume.

ISBN:: 978-0-452-28282-7
OCLC Number:: 37854327

(2 reviews)

A family of six disintegrates after a daughter is raped by a high-school student. It happens to the wealthy Mulvaneys in upstate New York. The disgrace--there is some question if it was rape--sends the father to drink and financial ruin, the girl leaves home, the others follow. By the author of What I Lived For.

8 editions

mictter reviewed We were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

Review of 'We Were the Mulvaneys' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Los Mulvaneys: padre, madre, tres hijos y una hija, viven más o menos felices en una granja del upstate New York hasta que un incidente pone sus vidas patas arriba, la de cada uno de una forma diferente.

Una novela larguísima, de esas que te tienen entretenido un mes entero. Y buena, cuesta trabajo dejarla para (por ejemplo) ponerse a hacer la cena. La construcción de los personajes, la narración, los diálogos, todo encaja perfectamente, todo se comprende. Me recuerda mucho a los novelones de Jonathan Franzén, muy probable discípulo de Joyce Carol. Si no la has leído, ya estás tardando.

crabbygirl reviewed We were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

Review of 'We were the Mulvaneys' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

something bad happens at the start of this book, maybe even something terrible - but nothing so bad that merits the absolute destruction of this family... and yet that's exactly what it does. the reader is left pondering all the 'what-if's' where the outcome could have been changed, the damage curtailed.

now don't get me wrong, most of the character motivation and subsequent action (or inaction) was understandable: the dad felt targeted, talked about, the brothers - complicite, and the mother (all of them really) abandoned by the former good will and loyal friendships of their small town. the daughter is crippled by her father's rejection, so she cannot her see own value, and flees from every attempt to promote her or recognize her.

in short, every family member is damaged tragically, and yet, realistically the ending was both hopeful and implausible.
they prevail.

somehow, after many years, all are …

something bad happens at the start of this book, maybe even something terrible - but nothing so bad that merits the absolute destruction of this family... and yet that's exactly what it does. the reader is left pondering all the 'what-if's' where the outcome could have been changed, the damage curtailed.

now don't get me wrong, most of the character motivation and subsequent action (or inaction) was understandable: the dad felt targeted, talked about, the brothers - complicite, and the mother (all of them really) abandoned by the former good will and loyal friendships of their small town. the daughter is crippled by her father's rejection, so she cannot her see own value, and flees from every attempt to promote her or recognize her.

in short, every family member is damaged tragically, and yet, realistically the ending was both hopeful and implausible.
they prevail.

somehow, after many years, all are gathered and the family seems united once again. i can believe that. families, with their unbreakable blood ties, are able to get 'past' the past, or at least live in the present.

but the author does a poor job of convincing me how each character got to that spot. the daughter, in particular, has escaped her habitual self-doubt without much explanation.
i feel like the author cheats by leaving those parts out.

Subjects

Teenage girls -- Fiction
Rape victims -- Fiction
Farm life -- Fiction
Family -- Fiction
New York (State) -- Fiction