A Book of American Martyrs audiobook

736 pages in 4 days, wow. 500 of them were great, too. But then, well, not so great. Joyce Carol Oates falls into a trap which she carefully dug herself.The story is about the shotgun murder of an abortionist doctor by an evangelical Christian guy. There have been eleven such murders in the USA between 1993 and 2015. JCO brilliantly narrates this crime from the killer’s point of view and then from everyone else’s. The rest of the book is about how the two families thus gruesomely conjoined cope, and the answer in each case is very badly. Mothers abandon their children, the two fathers are either dead or in jail, brothers and sisters seem to hate each other, the repercussions just keep on repercussing. The two eldest daughters in each family become the main focus of the whole thing, but everybody gets a look in, lots of cross-cutting between the major and minor characters, a real mosaic. Great stuff. So this is my kind of thing, the big bold social activist novel, going beyond the tabloid headlines to unearth the moral complexities and blah blah blah you know.Now the big problem. JCO’s novel presents the killer Luther Dunphy as a semi-literate working class Midwesterner, a nasty bully and rapist until he got religion, when he gradually transposed into a murderer. This novel is not a great advert for the Christian religion. The only Christians in this book are nutters. Meanwhile, the victim, Dr Augustus Voorhees, is vastly cultured, wonderfully warm and articulate, an adored if absent father, and after his decease, universities are falling over themselves to commemorate his life in some hifalutin way, foundations are established and blah blah blah, the works. Well, that’s kind of the way it would be. The shooters in these cases usually could not tell a Mondrian from a first edition Proust and the doctors are, you know, educated. True. But then Naomi the doctor’s unhappy lost daughter is contacted by her long lost paternal grandmama who turns out to be a philosophy professor living at 110 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, which is very specifically mentioned and described, and is a real place too. Then we get the real high-culture porn – Naomi goes to live with Grandma and is immediately is smothered in Philip Glass concerts, Moma exhibitions, introductions to Janet Malcolm (!) and Edmund White (!) and elegant dinner parties in the manner of Mena Suvari being smothered by those gorgeous red rose petals in American Beauty. This goes on for pages. Then Naomi finds out by chance that the daughter of the killer is now a professional female boxer. So we then get a hundred or so pages about female boxing, which is a sport in which two women from the lower depths of American society beat each other senseless for very little money to the indifference of the crowd who still don’t give a stuff for female boxing.What is JCO demonstrating so clearly here? Well, the middle class, you see, is so much – how can I put this delicately – better than the working class. And New York is so much better than wherever it was, er, oh yes, Ohio, and all those dreadful Midwest places. The only people who live there are fundamentalist Neanderthals. No, I don’t think JCO meant to leave the reader with anything like those sentiments, but in this novel, that is what you kind of come away thinking. Don’t go to Ohio!But the first 500 pages are a blast, so 4 stars.

Joyce Carol Oates’s new novel, “A Book of American Martyrs,” arrives splattered with our country’s hot blood. As the Republican Congress plots to cripple Planned Parenthood and the right to choose hinges on one vacant Supreme Court seat, “American Martyrs” probes all the wounds of our abortion debate. Indeed, it’s the most relevant book of Oates’s half-century-long career, a powerful reminder that fiction can be as timely as this morning’s tweets but infinitely more illuminating. For as often as we hear that some novel about a wealthy New Yorker suffering ennui is a story about “how we live now,” here is a novel that actually fulfills that promise, a story whose grasp is so wide and whose empathy is so boundless that it provides an ultrasound of the contemporary American soul.The opening pages explode. Immediately we’re there, inside the head of. . . .To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

I'll be honest: in all my years of selling books, I had never read anything by Joyce Carol Oates. As I sit here in my sublime book-hangover, I can't believe I waited this long to find my way to reading what Oates has given to the literary world. I'm not sure I can write a review worthy enough to express how this raw and striking tale of two families is told. An exquisite portrait of one most provocative topics of our time told with unexpected and deep intimacy.

I could not put this book down. For Joyce Carol Oates I will gladly set aside a week but I read it in three days! Coming practically on the heels of Brit Bennett's The Mothers, I was not sure I was ready for another novel on the abortion dispute. But since I have chosen to read and write about books as my form of activism in these divided times, I dove in. Joyce Carol Oates goes at the issue from a different direction than Brit Bennett did. Here we have two men who are willing, you could even say eager, to die for their beliefs regarding a woman's right to decide about her own body and her own reproductive role. In fact, in this novel, we never directly see the issue from a pregnant woman's viewpoint. Luther Dunphy, the evangelical killer of an abortion doctor, is unmistakably a JCO creation. He is quite nearly insane or at least an example of how a religious belief system can intermingle with a human being's weaknesses and drive him to insane behavior. However, Dr Augustus Vorhees has his own demons driving him to take the liberal view of a woman's rights to equal extremes. Both men endanger their wives and leave their children bewildered and lost.I did not expect a pleasant read but I was impressed by the sure-handedness with which the author covered a large and complex issue that has its roots deep in the American psyche. She also shows through the children and wives of these two men, that as divided as we appear to be, our deepest hopes and fears come from similar places. In the final denouement, which I confess I did see coming, she even offers some hope.Joyce Carol Oates is a strong cup of tea, not to all readers' liking. If you do like her, or want to read her for the first time, I can guarantee you will not have wasted your time. Also, whatever side of the fence you are on, you will find a clearer understanding of the other side.

Me ha gustado. MuchoUna historia completa y compleja que refleja los extremismos y su peligrosidadhttp://entremontonesdelibros.blogspot...

This powerful, sprawling novel begins with the murder of an abortion doctor by a right-wing evangelical Christian, then goes on to provide an in-depth character study of the families on both sides, examining the legacy of "martyrdom" and the effect it has on those left behind.Oates, smartly, refrains from injecting her own moral judgments. Instead, she moves from one character to another, writing them as they perceive themselves and each other, so that we the readers can make our own. This approach yields a complex understanding of each character. There's a specific focus throughout on the eldest daughters of each family as they attempt to find meaning and purpose in the absence of their fathers and the aftermath of their broken families.With a relentless pace that moves quickly in spite of the carefully detailed prose and 700+ pages, Oates delivers a profound, raw and achingly intimidate novel—a visceral and stunning portrait of grief and consequences amid the backdrop of a contentious social issue.

Thought provoking, Intense, Real, Gut wrenching, Satisfying, & Heartbreaking literary fiction! My God! Joyce Carol Oates is a genius. She managed to write a novel about a topic that would cause a normal person to lean more to one side. She did not! She didn't cut corners, or sugar coat this issue. And that ending was simply perfect. "Tears"

Not only is this my new favorite Joyce Carol Oates novel (Blonde has finally been dethroned), and not only is this my favorite book I’ve read this year, there’s a serious consideration of it as my new all-time favorite book. Making such a claim mere hours after finishing reading isn’t smart, it’s hasty, I know. But. This is one of the JCO novels I was sorta saving for a “rainy day”. With its subject matter and length I figured I’d like it, maybe love it. But the fact that I finished off a nearly 800-page book in a mere couple days should say something. I’m not the fastest reader. In these days after the reversal of Roe v Wade this book has never been more potent, relevant. The dramas that unfold here are dramas we see every night on the news. The conversations had here are conversations I’ve had several times with friends and coworkers in the last few weeks. JCO has a special talent for getting in her characters’ heads, all of ‘em, and that talent is on full display here. Every character, every perspective is explored. It’s obvious JCO is pro-choice and has liberal politics, but she does an excellent job of putting that aside in order to tell what is simply a moving, gargantuan character-driven drama.

Joyce Carol Oates does not shy from controversy. A Book of American Martyrs is sure to become one of her most controversial since it centers on that most polarizing of American rifts–abortion. The martyrs in her book are Augustus Vorhees, a dedicated and idealist doctor who dares to offer women the totally legal medical services they need, and Luther Dunphy, the man who killed him for it. Of course, as is often the case, the martyrs merely die, it is their families who are crucified.While we come to understand what motivates the husbands and fathers, Vorhees and Dunphy, the real story is what happens to their families, fractured and broken on the altars of their belief. Vorhees and Dunphy’s wives both collapse and retreat from their children, leaving them doubly bereft. The parallels continue, both have an older son and daughter who are closer to each other than the younger sibling(s) and whose bond is embittered by their father’s death.The story focuses most on the daughters, Naomi Vorhees and Dawn Dunphy. Naomi begins to chronicle her father’s life, thinking of a possible documentary film, but really, trying to make sense of her life and her loss. Dawn seeks a career in professional boxing, a reaction to a vicious assault in high school, but also a way to find control and redemption and bind herself to her father. Naomi seeks Dawn out under the pretext of doing a documentary on female boxers, her actions profoundly predatory and compassionate at the same time, shameful and redemptive.I was angry with Oates several times reading this book, but the truly great books do not leave us comfortable. I did not like all her choices, but that is not the reason I give a book five stars. It’s reserved for books that are fresh and different, that challenge, and yes, even anger me. I think most readers will be angered a few times reading the book. They will feel provoked, angered, enraged. They will grieve, even sob with compassion for the survivors. It is a rare person who will not be emotional wracked by this book.I must confess that I cannot be dispassionate about this issue. I witness the suicide of a fourteen year old girl who threw herself from a parking garage after being terrorized by one of those fake crisis centers. I felt the rush of air displaced by her body, her blood and matter stained my clothes. Those anti-choice zealots drove her to despair, to suicide. I am sure they felt no remorse, only self-righteous satisfaction.Oates was very successful at portraying Dunphy as more than a caricature of a murderous religious fanatic, adding reasons to sympathize with him, to perhaps understand how he came to be, but I don’t think he needed to lose a child or get his hours reduced to kill someone. He was a thug when he was young, a rapist, a violent man who masqueraded as decent for a time, but was given permission by the perversion of his religion to become a thug again, a murderer for Christ. He seemed to possess that toxic masculine bullying violence all his life and lost his temporary and always unsteady facade of decency.Oates tries to throw a wrench in the works by having Vorhees’ mother confess to her granddaughter that she had tried to have an abortion when she was pregnant with Augustus. When she finally found someone willing to do the illegal surgery, the circumstances were such she was afraid she might die and she fled, having this child who grew up to be an abortion provider. She challenged her son, pointing out if abortions were legal when he was born, he never would have existed. It’s a fairly common anti-choice argument. I remember my former sister-in-law telling me a story when I was about ten or so about a woman who would have been saved from cancer by the cure discovered by her son, except she aborted him. It’s such a phony argument. After all, just as abortion ends the potential of one fetus, pregnancy ends the potential implantation of other eggs at a different moment. Yes, if aborted, Augustus Vorhees would not have existed, but his birth may have prevented the possible birth of some other child, someone who might have been as great or greater. It’s unknowable and a cheap argument, unworthy of Magdalena, the brilliant theorist.I was puzzled by Vorhees’ widow Jenna. Her reaction to the murder of her husband seemed incongruous to her character before his death. Abandoning her children might have made sense if she were an indifferent mother before, but she was not. It felt wrong, but it certainly contributed to the trauma suffered by the Vorhees children and made their trauma parallel more closely the trauma suffered by Dunphy’s children, being talked about, feeling as though they lost both parents, not just one, in-school persecution and estrangement. It was heartbreaking for both families.The two daughters, Naomi and Dawn, suffer the loss of their fathers, estrangement from their mothers, conflict with their siblings, and finding surprising help and support from unexpected quarters, Naomi from her grandmother and Dawn from her boxing coach and an elementary school teacher.As you can tell from my review, A Book of American Martyrs is thought-provoking, sometimes so very perceptive, sometimes infuriating, but always alight with humanity.A Book of American Martyrs will be released February 7th, 2017 by Harper Collins. I received an advance e-galley from the publisher through Edelweiss.https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...

El libro tiene bastantes páginas, pesa, abulta y da mucho respeto, pero una vez que te adentras en sus páginas es como volver a encontrarte con una vieja amiga. Poco a poco, como si recorrieses una senda ya conocida, vas sumergiéndote en la historia, vives cada momento y comprendes cada postura e idea que la autora magistralmente nos presenta. Con esta novela ha conseguido que me pare a reflexionar sobre temas muy controvertidos como el aborto, la pena de muerte, la religión y cómo afrontar la pérdida de un ser querido, y me ha enseñado que ninguno de estos temas tienen un único e irrefutable planteamiento o solución correcta, sino que cada persona tiene un punto de vista y una forma distinta de afrontar estas situaciones. A través de la historia de dos familias con posturas contrapuestas principalmente con respecto al tema del aborto, conocemos dos versiones distintas de afrontar y considerar este y otros temas, y vemos cómo el fanatismo y el punto de vista radical consiguen que posiciones a priori muy distantes acaben pareciendose entre sí. Por un lado tenemos a Luther Amos Dunphy, padre de familia, de profesión carpintero techador y persona muy religiosa, que está totalmente en contra del aborto y se siente llamado a ser un soldado de Dios, mártir y vergudo. Con este fin asesina a tiros a un médico abortista a las puertas de una clínica para mujeres. Augustus "Gus" Voorhees, nuestro segundo protagonista, es también padre de familia, un médico que defiende el derecho a decidir de las mujeres y les ayuda a poder verlo hecho realidad. Una persona con una gran personalidad y muy comprometida con su trabajo, hasta el punto de ponerlo por delante hasta de su propia familia. El asesinato desencadena el desastre en ambas familias y marcará a los miembros de las mismas para el resto de sus días. En este punto toman protagonismo otros dos personajes. Por un lado Naomi, la hija mediana de Gus, que se verá perdida y abandonada tras el asesinato de su padre, y que arrastrará a lo largo de los años la tristeza, el rencor y el odio. Por otro lado tenemos a Dawn, segunda hija de Luther, una muchacha retraída, tímida, poco agraciada y obsesionada con la religión y con llevar una vida acorde a sus creencias. Con el paso de los años, ambas irán evolucionando y seremos testigos de cómo intentan sobreponerse a sus problemas y traumas, cada una a su manera y de la forma en que la vida se lo va permitiendo. Ambas son mujeres luchadoras, que han tenido que enfrentarse solas al mundo. Cada una va encontrando su camino hasta que hacia el final éstos se encuentran, llegando a poner un punto de entendimiento y esperanza donde sólo se preveía que iba a haber rechazo y odio.Tengo que destacar un pasaje de la novela, en concreto la escena de la ejecución, que consiguió conmoverme y agobiarme de tal manera, que las lágrimas acabaron rodando por mis mejillas. Aunque no es difícil que yo llore con una historia, sí es difícil que me agobie y me quede dándole vueltas a la misma, y este libro lo ha conseguido con creces, por lo que para mí significa que es una gran historia, con pensamientos y sentimientos profundos que se quedan contigo durante mucho tiempo. Por eso y aunque yo haya puntuado con un diez a esta magnífica obra, no puedo recomendarla a cualquier lector. Si tienes ganas de leer una historia de sentimientos, pensamientos e ideas, y no te dan miedo los tochos, aprovecha que es verano y hay más tiempo para leer y hazlo, seguro que lo disfrutas y te deja poso. https://misgrandespasiones-rosa.blogs...

(4.5) "This white girl can hit, man!"