Mudwoman audiobook

This is an engrossing but unsettling psychological tale about an accomplished academic who begins to unravel after long-repressed memories from early childhood engulf her. Oates blends gothic horror with behind the scenes politics in the rarified world of an ivy league university. That she can so effectively convey this world, and a depiction of life in a sleepy city in upstate NY, is not surprising given her storytelling gifts. What makes this so compelling is that you aren't sure if what you are reading is actually happening in the story or is a product of the protagonist's increasingly deranged imagination. This gives Oates ample opportunity to terrorize in the manner of Edgar Allen Poe as she gruesomely concocts her character's increasingly bizarre dreams and hallucinations. It is a harrowing tale of a brilliant woman's collapse and the possibility for redemption after she embraces the many forces which have shaped her. By confronting both the horrifying as well as the edifying aspects of her childhood, she is finally able to envision a more balanced and satisfying life for herself. In another nod to Poe, the ending is ambiguous.(view spoiler)[. (hide spoiler)]

Una de sus novelas más perturbadoras e inquietantes, quizás incluso más que otras suyas. El personaje de M.R/Meredith (otro personaje dual, con dos caras) tiene unos traumas que afloran de vez en cuando y realmente no sabes, qué es real o imaginación dentro de su cabeza. Y también está lacondescendencia masculina que tan bien sabe describir JCO, y más teniendo en cuenta en el mundo universitario hipermasculino en el que se desenvuelve Meredith: una condescendencia con la que tiene enfrentarse "diplomáticamente" y a diario la protagonista. Una de mis novelas favoritas suyas.

“Credevi di poter scappare in eterno? Credevi di poter fuggire da tutto questo per sempre?” Meredith Ruth Neukirchen, detta M.R., è una filosofa molto apprezzata nell'ambiente accademico. Può vantarsi, inoltre, di essere anche la prima donna rettore di un’università della Ivy League. Una vita costruita attorno ad una carriera: ambizioni soddisfatte e ben retribuite.Un giorno, tuttavia, qualcosa inizia a scricchiolare.All'inizio non sono visibili ma cominciano a formarsi piccole crepe, destinate ad allargarsi, si fanno spazio nella sua esistenza. E' la bambina di fango che vuole riemergere ed inizia così un'estenuante battaglia per M.R.: la donna di fangoOates anche qui prende spunto dalla vasta cronaca nera nordamericana per costruire un thriller psicologico che gioca con delle metafore e spazia tra un erudito ambiente accademico e un segreto cassetto della mente dove si ripongono i ricordi più dolorosi.

I got a hold of a rare edition advanced release read. So time to dig in.***finished***This novel is darkly disturbing and I love it. As with many Oates novels, it begins slowly and creeps along until you feel as if you are experiencing M.R.'s life. I am in awe of the writer that can make me feel what the character is feeling. After I finished Mudwoman, I felt anxious and just thought 'whoa'. I know other people have said that it 'goes nowhere'. I suppose if one's goal in reading literature is to have clean endings and feel they've learned some moral lessons then I can certainly say this isn't your novel. For the reader's that embrace the chaos at the heart of most people, I believe this novel will make sense to them.Admittedly it was hard to stomach the 'mudgirl's' beginnings. Oates described every moment in such detail that I could taste the foul mud. There is no doubt that Oates is a gifted writer, always has been. Reading about M.R.'s climb to success and the descent into the madness when the past and present collide is a scary ride but one well worth taking. More than anything, I always enjoy her poetry of writing. Not your silly sweet rhyming poetry, but the sentences that stick like glue to your brain, the sentences that haunt you long after the novel is finished and on the bookcase. I would not recommend this to light readers, because it's heavy and dark. I will recommend it to the reader that wants to consume their literature.

There is almost nothing more exciting than finding a new Joyce Carol Oates book on the library shelves. Her newest, Mudwoman, shines with her usual brilliance on every page, captures a kind of personal and social essence that is rarely achieved in literature. I know the word ‘visceral’ is so overused but the actual sensation of reading this book can be described no other way. Mudgirl, Mudwoman, M.R. – an abandoned child, an adopted teenager, president of an elite university. Within her, we see the history of a woman, certainly, but we also see the history of women, the experience of being a woman so vividly on the page that, even if we are a woman, we feel as though we haven’t quite captured our own essence until Oates reveals it for us. Other reviewers have referred to this novel as a ‘ghost story.’ I find that almost insulting and certainly far from the point. Or, on second thought, such misunderstanding makes Oates’ point exactly. Who of us – women – are not ghosts of ourselves, our dreams and behaviors and experiences shadows of who others want and expect us to be? I may say this once or twice a year: this book is a masterpiece.

As an academic and a (former) administrator, there was much that I truly loved about this book. Oates perfectly captures the interior life and exterior "performance" of academic administration; I saw in Meredith many recognizable qualities, and occasionally, I saw myself. The first third of the book is lovely as we come to know Meredith and her childhood counterpart, Merry. There were times I thought, this could be Marya all grown up (referencing an earlier Oates book that defined my college years).But the second half to final third of the book is exasperating. While I wanted to enjoy the gothic elements and the intrigue and the fugue passages, mostly they annoyed me. I wanted more out of Meredith. Sure, she is a survivor, but she's also hollow; her survival comes from some instinctual place, rather than a carefully thought-out and enacted feminist rationality. I wanted her to have more agency, be less passive or victim to her devastating circumstances. I wanted some sort of emotional resolution--which of course says far more about me as a reader than about Oates as a writer.But Oates' writing, as usual, is both florid and gorgeous, abundant and sentimental; I found myself nodding, chuckling, grimacing throughout the book. She is indeed a "masterful" (mistressful?) creator and has fine-tuned her craft, and she remains edgy and experimental. I continue to find it tragic that she hasn't won a Pulitzer or been nominated for a bigger prize (e.g., Nobel). Is there anyone more prolific, more attuned to the operations of gender and class and psychological discomfort (if not outright horror) over the last half century?

I wonder why everyone who commented on this page appears to be female. Don't men read JCO too (they should)

Every time I read a Jonathan Franzen novel I get pissed off on behalf of Anne Tyler. She covers many of the same themes that Franzen seems obsessed with. And while she is highly praised, she pales next to the rock star Franzen has become (this inequity is encapsulated by trade terms: Tyler's fiction is "domestic" while Franzen's is "literary.")Along those lines, I am now going to cry for Oates every time Jeffery Eugenides' name is mentioned. Both authors share a faux-jaded worldview and seem to enjoy deep dives into the minds of super neurotic people. But he got a Pulitzer and she didn't? Come on.Mudwoman is 100 times better than the (awful) Marriage Plot, Virgin Suicides or even the more compelling Middlesex. (By the way, I know my argument is based on a straw man that I have created, but...whatever.)Plot: M.R. is the first ever female president of Princeton. Her job is to raise money from rich alum. Work is life and as it becomes more demanding, she buckles under pressure. M.R.'s thoughts frequently turn to her origin as a child abandoned by a mentally ill mother and her subsequent foster and adoptive families.Oates constructs beautiful sentences in which it's fun to get lost. There is also a lot of well-done magical realism. At a thematic level, Oates has a lot of smart stuff to say, especially about women and power. And the actual structure of her writing is cleverly used to reinforce her points.That said, Oates seems reluctant to pass any judgement on M.R., and by the end Oates' silence on the essential nature of her character leaves you wondering what, if anything, has changed in M.R.'s life. Similarly, it's a little hard to figure out how M.R. ended up on the path she is on in the first place.

Sometimes with JCO you can get in over your head. I experience this book as an audible performance and it was excellent. It begins as a story of mud girl and then about mud woman. As a switch back-and-forth it took me a while to realize that this was the same person. Eventually we have the story of a woman from the age of about five until about 45. There is serious intensity and insanity. There is much description of events and thoughts.

publicado en http://lecturaylocura.com/mujer-de-ba...Los que seguimos la cuenta de Twitter de Joyce Carol Oates somos muy conscientes no solo de lo activa que es, sino de sus denuncias sociales que revelan sus ganas de ser comprometida con la sociedad que le rodea.De ahí que en “Mujer de barro”, la última novela suya publicada en España, veamos de una manera explícita su crítica ante unos hechos que han causado vergüenza a nivel mundial.En este libro se presentan dos narraciones paralelas de la protagonista principal, Meredith Ruth Neukirchen (M.R en adelante y en el libro): en una de ellas (Niña de barro) asistimos a la evolución desde su niñez:“Y qué belleza en esos lugares olvidados. Niña de Barro se acordaría toda su vida. Porque los sitios a los que más afecto guardamos son aquellos a los que nos han llevado a morir pero en los que no hemos muerto. Ningún olor es más acre que el agudo olor a estiércol de las marismas en los puntos donde rezuma el agua salobre el río y queda atrapada y estancada, con algas de un verde brillante como el de un lápiz de colorear. Vastas hectáreas insondables entre hierbas de enea y estramonio y restos dispersos de viejos neumáticos, botas, trozos de ropa, neveras con las puertas abiertas de par en par como brazos vacíos.”Se trata, por tanto, de un relato de formación hasta convertirse en la Mujer de Barro. Pero muy al contrario de lo que puede parecer aprovecha la circunstancia para que todo se vuelva muy introspectivo, primitivo, crudo, muy visceral; a medio camino de lo onírico mezclado con la realidad. Consigue quizá los momentos más líricamente bellos del libro.Por otro lado, tenemos la narración de la mujer adulta (mujer de barro) donde se desvelan las críticas de las que hablaba anteriormente; la intención de poner de manifiesto el error que supuso la guerra de Irak como consecuencia de la indefensión como nación ante el 11-S y por extensión, “la amenaza terrorista”:“En el asiento trasero de la limusina, M.R. escuchó. Qué crédulos se habían vuelto los medios de comunicación desde los atentados terroristas del 11-S, qué poco crítica se había vuelto la información; le daba náuseas, le daba ganas de llorar de frustración y rabia, la voz inexperta del secretario de defensa de Estados Unidos que advertía sobre las armas de destrucción masiva que se cree que el dictador iraquí Sadam Hussein tiene almacenadas y dispuestas para utilizarlas en un ataque… Guerra biológica, guerra nuclear, amenaza contra la democracia estadounidense, catástrofe mundial.”Vuelve luego a uno de sus temas habituales, el papel de la mujer en la sociedad, sus necesidades y la lucha contra una sociedad dominada por hombres:“En cualquier caso había aceptado la oferta del Consejo de Administración de la universidad. Leonard Lockhardt había redactado su contrato. El claustro de la universidad había aprobado por una mayoría abrumadora designar a Neukirchen para el rectorado; eso había sido crucial para que M.R. Aceptase. Nunca se había sentido tan reinvidicada.Casi se podría decir, querida.Porque esa era la culminación de la vida de Mujer de Barro: ser admirada, querida.”O precisamente la influencia de dicha sociedad en nuestro juicio, que elimina toda posibilidad de desarrollo individual si quieres mantener el status que has ganado en ella:“Hablar a las claras, con franqueza –hablar con sinceridad- sólo es posible cuando se es un particular, no el representante de una institución. De modo que su indignación, su alarma, su desesperación ante la idiotez belicosa del Gobierno ardían bajo sus palabras en público, animadas y optimistas. Y su furia por la cínica explotación que hacía el Gobierno de Bush del miedo a los “atentados terroristas” después del 11-S, todo lo que sus padres cuáqueros le habían enseñado a aborrecer y rechazar.”La soledad de la protagonista, quizá la extensión de la propia soledad que siente la escritora en su vida (no olvidemos que es viuda desde hace poco tiempo), le sirve para esconderse, para no demostrar lo que se está sufriendo:“Señalaría una ventaja de vivir solos: nadie sabe lo débiles y ridículos que somos, cuando estamos solos.Nadie conoce nuestra desesperación. Cuando estamos solos.De lejos, todos parecemos serenos. Nuestra apariencia interviene para tapar nuestro ser.”En estas condiciones el único consuelo que le queda es el disfrute de la lectura: alienación y puerta hacia otras vivencias.“Lo que le parecía más fascinante a Meredith eran los libros: las páginas impresas, las palabras. No eran meros libros de texto ni pasatiempos, sino que podrían haber sido puertas hacia regiones desconocidas.”En estas condiciones, no resulta incomprensible que la protagonista, impotente ante la figura de su compañero que manipula, le hace la vida imposible e intenta desacreditarla como rectora, como figura de autoridad; decida en un momento en su subconsciente que es Dexter y que esa sería la única manera de solucionarlo:“Se puso los guantes de látex que ya estaban manchados. Como una cirujana –mejor dicho, como una patóloga-, agarró el serrucho, al principio con un temblor, pero poco a poco con más fuerza, y cortó las gruesas muñecas del hombre, los tobillos. ¡Qué sorprendente era tocar hueso! Tenía que abrirse camino por huesos y articulaciones. Ese era el secreto de la desarticulación.”Sí, hacerle trocitos.En momentos como estos te das cuenta de lo que nuestra Joyce Carol Oates quiere hacer, buscar nuevos medios de expresión, salirse del guión establecido; al fin y al cabo, hacer literatura. Libro difícil para iniciarse con ella, pero una buena lectura al fin y al cabo.Los textos provienen de la traducción del inglés de María Luisa Rodríguez Tapia de esta edición de “Mujer de Barro” de Joyce Carol Oates en Alfaguara.

Mudwoman follows two time lines, that of 'Mudgirl' a young child abandoned in a swap by here manic religious mother and what happens after she is rescued. And also 'mudwoman', M.R a successful university professor whose life is gradually falling apart, her memory taking her back to her childhood.This book took me about 50 pages to get into but then I thoroughly enjoyed it, Oates plays with times and in many places in the 'Mudwoman' section you'd be wondering what was suddenly happening only to realise it was a dream, and in some places I still wasn't sure at the end of the events had happened. The character of M.R has so many relationships in which she is done wrong - not abusive, except the first incident - you do begin to wonder if any happiness will occur for her.

I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone....only to people who want to read something different or are die-hard Joyce Carol Oates fans. I loved it and that's the bottom line for me because of the personal connection each person has to a particular book. Mudgirl is left as a very small child to die and we watch as she rises to become a Cornell and Harvard graduate and eventually president of an Ivy League university, after being adopted by a caring couple. You know that her psychological scars have severely broken her although she goes through life excelling and working hard at normalcy. Identity, or lack of it, is a major theme here. Oates is amazing once again. There is much more here and in her inimitable style, Oates never spells it out, but we get the point from her writing and character development. Although choppy in some parts, I don't lose patience....after all, this is Joyce Carol Oates, one of the most prolific modern American writers of our time.