Helpful Score: 3
One of the most pretentious, tedious, and over-written books I have ever tried to slog through. About 400 pages too long. Undecipherable use of flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks. Wanton over-use of the parenthetical phrase to the detriment of the improbable storyline. Dreadful.
Rather than post this book, I threw it away. Save your credits.
Rather than post this book, I threw it away. Save your credits.
I thought this was a fantastic book - Oates's greatest.
Synopsis (from B&N)
A wealthy and notorious clan, the Bellefleurs live in a region not unlike the Adirondacks, in an enormous mansion on the shores of mythical Lake Noir. Written with a voluptuousness and immediacy unusual even for Oates, Bellefleur was hailed upon publication as the culmination of her work.
John Gardner
"An awesome construction...a work of a genius." -- New York Times Book Review
Synopsis (from B&N)
A wealthy and notorious clan, the Bellefleurs live in a region not unlike the Adirondacks, in an enormous mansion on the shores of mythical Lake Noir. Written with a voluptuousness and immediacy unusual even for Oates, Bellefleur was hailed upon publication as the culmination of her work.
John Gardner
"An awesome construction...a work of a genius." -- New York Times Book Review
Travel through a "dark, chaotic, unfathomable pool of time" with Joyce Carol Oates as she explores the Bellefleur curse.
The Bellefleur curse. {from the back cover] Your journey begins one dark and stormy night when Mahalaleel arrives at the 64-room castle and everything begins to happen to: Leah--tall, beautiful and possessed of "powers" Gideon--her husband, passionately enthralled by her Bramwell--her prodigy son Germaine--the daughter she is soon to bear--the child with a mysterious "awareness" of her own. Back and forth youpass through six generations of the Bellefleur family.
