Falling in Love

[commonpeople1]

Joyce Carol Oates, The Falls, 2004
Niagara Falls attracts tourists every year to its famous, awe-inspiring waterfalls. Some of them, like the newly-weds Ariah and Gilbert, go there on their honeymoon and hope that God will set right the discomfort they feel in each other's presence. Others just want a quick death by jumping into the Falls. From this starting point, Oates weaves a family saga into the history of the city, spanning the later half of the 20th century. There's some historical fact mixed into the fiction, mostly about the legal battle (known as the Love Canal case) surrounding the burial of chemical waste in one of the city's poorer neighbourhoods. The novel is a real page-turner in the tradition of airport classics by Sidney Sheldon and Danielle Steel, but with a lot more content, consistency and chutzpah.

Comments

[despina.livejournal.com]

one of my favourite books

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It's the first one by her that I read and I was very happily surprised. Can you recommend any other ones by her?

[meemeedarling.livejournal.com]

Sounds like I need to put that one on my wish list!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Are you visiting Niagara Falls anytime soon? ;-)

[amanda-mary.livejournal.com]

I read this a couple years ago and thought it was a lot of fun. Like you said, it can be appreciated for its adroit execution or just as a captivating, multi-generational saga. I ♥ Joyce Carol Oates. She's so prolific, though, I can't ever keep up!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I'd always heard so much about her so it was a little overdue for me to read a novel of hers. I've read some of her short stories before and really enjoyed them. This one was a great pleasure to read. Which ones should I read next?

[amanda-mary.livejournal.com]

Black Water is a really quick read, loosely based on another American (the time political) scandal. I enjoyed Blonde (a fictionalized biography of Marilyn Monroe); but it's pretty expansive -- although The Falls is long, too, if I remember correctly. JCO also has at least two pen names, both of which I can't recall, and has released a number of titles with those pseudonyms.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

The friend who egged me on to read Oates originally recommended Black Water. And I know someone else who read Blonde and really loved it (then again, she's a big Monroe fan.) I'll check them out sometime soon. I'm particularly keen to read her non-fiction book on the art of writing, which I've heard is really good.