Joyce Carol Oates is a yearly contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Oates, writing at a high level over 50 years, produced an impressive body of work (although Oates occasionally gets criticized for writing “too much”). Oates has written crime novels under her “Rosamond Smith” pseudonym and psychological suspense novels under her “Lauren Kelly” pseudonym. HARD CASE CRIME’s publication of The Triumph of the Spider Monkey is the first definitive edition of the book that was published 40 years ago.
The Triumph of the Spider Monkey enters the mind of mentally disturbed Bobbie Gotteson. Bobbie was found abandoned in a bus station locker and grew up moving from one foster home to another, from one detention center to the next. Bobbie loves music so as soon as he’s able, he makes the trip to Hollywood to try to find a place in the music business. But years of neglect and abuse produces a youth with rage, paranoid delusions, and a tendency towards violence. Joyce Carol Oates captures the tortured mental landscapes of her characters like few other writers.
The second half of The Triumph of the Spider Monkey is a novella called “Love, Careless Love” that shows Gotteson’s violent rampage from the viewpoint of a woman who survived the experience. If you’re a fan of psychological suspense novels, The Triumph of the Spider Monkey will leave you sleeping with the lights on for a few nights. And you’ll love the great Robert McGinnis cover, too! Once again HARD CASE CRIME has rescued a classic book from the Mists of Time! GRADE: B+
I have the same reaction to JCO as I have to Stephen King: love their non-fiction, have tried with limited success to get into their fiction.
Deb, I’m with you on Joyce Carol Oates’s non-fiction (and the same with Stephen King’s non-fiction). Their fiction can be problematic for me…and you.
What Deb said. I do love the McGinnis cover but this is a hard pass for me. The only Oates fiction I can read these days is the occasional short story, and even those are too dark,
Jeff, Joyce Carol Oates specializes in “Dark.” I’ve see Joyce Carol Oates speak at SUNY at Buffalo twice. She’s an excellent speaker and provides smart, witty answers to audience questions.
I read an early Oates novel (I think it was “Them”) in the late Sixties and thought it was pretty good. But the next time she attracted my attention she’d published about ten more novels and I just threw up my hands and moved on. My experience with King was just the opposite. I read (and loved) “Carrie” when it was published, and the next few novels, which included “Salem’s Lot” and “The Shining”, made me a fan for life. I’ve kept up over the years since, and have read everything except the Dark Tower books that came after the first three. Nobody could write as many books as King has without an occasional turkey, and there are a few. But the average is very, very high. There really is a reason why King is the most famous writer in the world.
I have no interest in The Gunslinger, but overall I agree. I have read ALL of King’s “shorter” fiction (that which has been collected, at least) and a fair proportion of his novels, as well as the non-fiction that Deb mentioned. THEM was the only Oates novel I’ve read too.
Jeff, I read THEM and maybe a dozen other Joyce Carol Oates works (mostly short story collections) over the years. Diane’s Book Club has read a couple JCO novels.
Michael, I took a break from Stephen King after I read CUJO. Actually, I prefer King’s short stories and novellas to his mammoth novels. My favorite Stephen King novel is SALEM’S LOT.
Too many of her novels seem to be about mentally disturbed or abused girls. If you want to write three books a year, find three different topics. I read her first dozen novels before giving up. But I have a friend who reads every one of them.
Patti, my reading experience with Joyce Carol Oates parallels yours. But, I do like JOC’s non-fiction.
Writing what impinged on her. Being almost gang-raped as a child makes an impression.
Pass.
Which is to say I’m not a fan of her writing, fiction or on-fiction.
Rick, Art Scott can’t wait to receive his copy of THE TRIUMP OF THE SPIDER MONKEY to add to his Robert McGinnis collection.
I am so far behind on reading Hard Case Crime books. I will get to this one (and the others) as soon as I can.
Jerry, you’ll love THE TRIUMPH OF THE SPIDER MONKEY with its wonderful Robert McGinnis cover!
As Rick said, Pass!