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Give Me Your Heart
The need for love — obsessive, self-destructive, unpredictable — takes us to forbidden places, as in the chilling world of Give Me Your Heart, a new collection of stories by the inimitable Joyce Carol Oates.
In the suspenseful "Strip Poker," a reckless adolescent girl must find a way of turning the tables on a gathering of increasingly threatening young men. Can she outplay them? In the award-winning "Smother!" a young woman’s nightmare memory of childhood brings trouble on her professor-mother. Which of them will win? In "Split/Brain" a woman who has blundered into a lethal situation confronts the possibility of saving herself. Will she take it? In "The First Husband," a jealous man discovers that his wife seems to have lied about her first marriage, and exacts a cruel revenge, years after the fact. In these and other powerful tales, children veer beyond their parents’ control, wives and husbands wake up to find that they hardly know each other, haunted pasts intrude upon uncertain futures, and those who bring us the most harm may be the nearest at hand.
In ten razor-sharp stories, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates shows that the most deadly mysteries often begin at home.
In the suspenseful "Strip Poker," a reckless adolescent girl must find a way of turning the tables on a gathering of increasingly threatening young men. Can she outplay them? In the award-winning "Smother!" a young woman’s nightmare memory of childhood brings trouble on her professor-mother. Which of them will win? In "Split/Brain" a woman who has blundered into a lethal situation confronts the possibility of saving herself. Will she take it? In "The First Husband," a jealous man discovers that his wife seems to have lied about her first marriage, and exacts a cruel revenge, years after the fact. In these and other powerful tales, children veer beyond their parents’ control, wives and husbands wake up to find that they hardly know each other, haunted pasts intrude upon uncertain futures, and those who bring us the most harm may be the nearest at hand.
In ten razor-sharp stories, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates shows that the most deadly mysteries often begin at home.
260 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
812 books8,773 followersJoyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is also the recipient of the 2005 Prix Femina for The Falls. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and she has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 187 reviews
December 23, 2022
My introduction to Joyce Carol Oates. She writes with such grace, even here where the characters are often nefarious and the events range from disheartening to disturbing to downright gruesome. And yet, these are stories of love. Love spurned. Love hoarded. Love lost. Love contorted by jealousy, lust, rage, injury...
For me, this is the best kind of horror. Not monsters from outer space (though those are fun too!) but monsters from within. The ghastly beings that dwell here in Give Me Your Heart dwell in all of us and can be coaxed out by the stress of circumstance. I think the real genius of Oates is that she knows how to tap in to that. We're not so much horrified by the atrocities on the page, but by the repressed notion that, given the right circumstances, we too could dispatch an ex with a pitchfork.
For me, this is the best kind of horror. Not monsters from outer space (though those are fun too!) but monsters from within. The ghastly beings that dwell here in Give Me Your Heart dwell in all of us and can be coaxed out by the stress of circumstance. I think the real genius of Oates is that she knows how to tap in to that. We're not so much horrified by the atrocities on the page, but by the repressed notion that, given the right circumstances, we too could dispatch an ex with a pitchfork.
November 27, 2014
"Give Me Your Heart" is a collection of ten dark short stories about people looking for love and acceptance. They are often downtrodden people who are emotionally on the edge, or teenagers who have found themselves over their heads in dangerous situations. The title story is about an older man who promised a woman student that he would love her forever--and the rejected woman is stalking him and planning her revenge years later. "Strip Poker" involves an adolescent girl getting caught up in a card game with some older male teens in an isolated cottage--and trying to outsmart them. "Vena Cava" tells the story of a soldier returning from Iraq with PTSD and terrible injuries to his head which prevent him from emotionally connecting to the civilian world.
The stories were so intense that I found I only wanted to read a couple in one sitting. A few stories had endings that went a bit overboard. But the rest were frighteningly plausible, much like the activities of real deranged people we read about in our newspapers. Joyce Carol Oates is a good storyteller, building up tension higher and higher, then ending in a twist or horrific event.
The stories were so intense that I found I only wanted to read a couple in one sitting. A few stories had endings that went a bit overboard. But the rest were frighteningly plausible, much like the activities of real deranged people we read about in our newspapers. Joyce Carol Oates is a good storyteller, building up tension higher and higher, then ending in a twist or horrific event.
June 16, 2021
Mi primer libro de la autora y no ha defraudado lo que pensaba sobre su escritura...¿Que es impecable? Sí. ¿Que es expresiva? Sí ¿Que es magistral? También.
Pero también es pesimista, angustiosa, violenta, deprimente...
Y la verdad, no sé si en otro momento o con algún otro de sus libros, pero en este momento y con este de relatos, y a pesar de reconocer que son buenos, debo decir que no he disfrutado la lectura... probaré algún día con otra de sus historias, pero me temo que serán por el estilo.
Pero también es pesimista, angustiosa, violenta, deprimente...
Y la verdad, no sé si en otro momento o con algún otro de sus libros, pero en este momento y con este de relatos, y a pesar de reconocer que son buenos, debo decir que no he disfrutado la lectura... probaré algún día con otra de sus historias, pero me temo que serán por el estilo.
June 19, 2021
Cómo siempre Oates me fascina, en estos 10 relatos, no ha sido menos. Sabe llegar como nadie a las profundidades oscuras del alma humana y te lleva de la mano para que comprendas los sentimientos de los personajes que describe.
Magistral aunque violento y perturbador.
Magistral aunque violento y perturbador.
March 8, 2019
”Especially Jess could not have told his father about the blood. He had not seen any blood, that was a fact. That was the truth. Hadn’t seen any blood smeared on the girl’s body, the insides of her fleshy thighs and in her tightly-coiled pubic hairs lavish as a strange wiry growth. And on her young round breasts, olive-skinned, with nipples like purple stains. So much blood, on the girl’s legs, on the sheets, and on the mattress, on the guys’ penises and groins. A wild crazy scene made deafening by high-decibel music. You couldn’t have heard the girl screaming.”
~ “Bleeed”
A couple days ago I was watching readings given by Joyce Carol Oates which had been posted to YouTube. At a reading from 2011 (in promoting this collection, actually), Oates is introduced as being a writer who scares the reader in “two paragraphs, hell, two sentences.” And that is true. That talent is on display in all ten of the stories found in Give Me Your Heart, a book which features what is perhaps an inaccurate subtitle: these are tales of horror and suspense. Not mystery and suspense. But I digress.
Who didn’t have to read Oates’s short “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” in high school English? I know I did; that was my introduction to this magnificent author. The menace found in that 1966 tale can be found in these stories; Oates has not lost her edge on bit. If anything, her writing is more precise, more on-target, more gripping.
Perhaps my favorite story here is “The Spill,” a longish tale about a big, country family in 1950s rural America that takes in a mentally challenged relative . . . or maybe my favorite is “Smother,” a haunting and unclear revelation of crimes committed (or not committed) in the distant past . . . or maybe the crowning achievement is the closer, “Vena Cava,” a frightening and honest look at PTSD. All the stories here worked for me, regardless, and I cannot give this collection anything less than a perfect score.
I’m often asked by my online bookish friends where to start with Joyce Carol Oates. Her bibliography is so large, intimidating — friends, this is an excellent place to begin. The short form is Oates’s wheelhouse; this is the work of a master.
~ “Bleeed”
A couple days ago I was watching readings given by Joyce Carol Oates which had been posted to YouTube. At a reading from 2011 (in promoting this collection, actually), Oates is introduced as being a writer who scares the reader in “two paragraphs, hell, two sentences.” And that is true. That talent is on display in all ten of the stories found in Give Me Your Heart, a book which features what is perhaps an inaccurate subtitle: these are tales of horror and suspense. Not mystery and suspense. But I digress.
Who didn’t have to read Oates’s short “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” in high school English? I know I did; that was my introduction to this magnificent author. The menace found in that 1966 tale can be found in these stories; Oates has not lost her edge on bit. If anything, her writing is more precise, more on-target, more gripping.
Perhaps my favorite story here is “The Spill,” a longish tale about a big, country family in 1950s rural America that takes in a mentally challenged relative . . . or maybe my favorite is “Smother,” a haunting and unclear revelation of crimes committed (or not committed) in the distant past . . . or maybe the crowning achievement is the closer, “Vena Cava,” a frightening and honest look at PTSD. All the stories here worked for me, regardless, and I cannot give this collection anything less than a perfect score.
I’m often asked by my online bookish friends where to start with Joyce Carol Oates. Her bibliography is so large, intimidating — friends, this is an excellent place to begin. The short form is Oates’s wheelhouse; this is the work of a master.
August 3, 2017
He quedado totalmente maravillada. Los relatos me encantan, y estos han conseguido evadirme por completo. Me han resultado casi góticos por ese trasfondo inquietante, recóndito y violento en el andamiaje mental de los personajes, que como una traslúcida cortina, deja entrever algo oscuro y obsesivo. Son introspectivos en gran parte, pero también físicos y manifiestos. A su manera me han recordado a los relatos de Katherine Anne Porter.
March 27, 2020
Hoy os dejo la reseña del segundo libro que elegí en Masa Crítica de Babelio. Había bastantes para elegir que me llamaron la atención, pero mi preferido de todos era este y tuve la suerte de que fuera el elegido, aunque imagino que los demás estaban más solicitados y la pobre Joyce Carol Oates no tuvo tantos pretendientes.
Sea como sea, ni siquiera vi que eran relatos hasta que lo tuve en casa, pero tampoco me importó pues me gusta leerlos y es la primera vez que he visto a la autora en un formato algo más corto. En esta antología encontramos diez cuentos, y el libro fue publicado en 2011.
Después de haber leído varios libros de la autora, lo primero que me sorprendió fue el título, por un lado me parece romántico pero por otro lado me recuerda esas imágenes emos, donde alguien se arranca el corazón para dárselo a otro. Aquí es la exigencia en sí la que me produce un cierto mal rollo. Ya sabéis que yo de romántica tengo poco y todo me lleva a cosas más gores y esa orden que implica algo muy perverso.
Todos los relatos giran entorno del amor y de la violencia que le rodea. Los hay mejores y peores pero en general no me han acabado de convencer, algunos me han parecido bueno pero sobretodo por la ambientación que la autora ha sabido crear, el hacer que el lector espere una cosa u otra, pero los finales me han dejado bastante indiferente.
Me gusta leer relatos, pero en el caso de esta autora prefiero sus novelas antes que las historias que he leído aquí. El estilo de Carol Oates es realista, con buenas descripciones de los escenarios y rico en detalles. Todas las historias te dejan con un regusto amargo, muchas veces con finales abiertos que puedes interpretar a tu manera pero viendo la evolución, nada termina de forma positiva para nadie.
No recomiendo leer todos los relatos seguidos, es mejor leer uno, pensar en él, pausar la antología, leer otra cosa y luego volver. No lo digo porque se parezcan ya que no es así, pero al tener como nexo común la violencia, os puede saturar un poco. Las diferentes narraciones son complejas en su desarrollo, su lectura puede resultar incluso algo difícil pues mezcla pasado y presente e incluso la misma trama no se desarrolla de forma lineal.
Recomendado sí, pero no todos los relatos me han convencido ni tienen la misma calidad. Los finales abiertos no me desagradan y la ambientación está muy bien lograda, en algunos relatos he sentido una cierta angustia por lo que les estaba ocurriendo a alguna de las chicas que aparecen.
Si queréis leer mi reseña completa, podéis entrar aquí: https://www.resibooks.com/2020/03/joy...
Sea como sea, ni siquiera vi que eran relatos hasta que lo tuve en casa, pero tampoco me importó pues me gusta leerlos y es la primera vez que he visto a la autora en un formato algo más corto. En esta antología encontramos diez cuentos, y el libro fue publicado en 2011.
Después de haber leído varios libros de la autora, lo primero que me sorprendió fue el título, por un lado me parece romántico pero por otro lado me recuerda esas imágenes emos, donde alguien se arranca el corazón para dárselo a otro. Aquí es la exigencia en sí la que me produce un cierto mal rollo. Ya sabéis que yo de romántica tengo poco y todo me lleva a cosas más gores y esa orden que implica algo muy perverso.
Todos los relatos giran entorno del amor y de la violencia que le rodea. Los hay mejores y peores pero en general no me han acabado de convencer, algunos me han parecido bueno pero sobretodo por la ambientación que la autora ha sabido crear, el hacer que el lector espere una cosa u otra, pero los finales me han dejado bastante indiferente.
Me gusta leer relatos, pero en el caso de esta autora prefiero sus novelas antes que las historias que he leído aquí. El estilo de Carol Oates es realista, con buenas descripciones de los escenarios y rico en detalles. Todas las historias te dejan con un regusto amargo, muchas veces con finales abiertos que puedes interpretar a tu manera pero viendo la evolución, nada termina de forma positiva para nadie.
No recomiendo leer todos los relatos seguidos, es mejor leer uno, pensar en él, pausar la antología, leer otra cosa y luego volver. No lo digo porque se parezcan ya que no es así, pero al tener como nexo común la violencia, os puede saturar un poco. Las diferentes narraciones son complejas en su desarrollo, su lectura puede resultar incluso algo difícil pues mezcla pasado y presente e incluso la misma trama no se desarrolla de forma lineal.
Recomendado sí, pero no todos los relatos me han convencido ni tienen la misma calidad. Los finales abiertos no me desagradan y la ambientación está muy bien lograda, en algunos relatos he sentido una cierta angustia por lo que les estaba ocurriendo a alguna de las chicas que aparecen.
Si queréis leer mi reseña completa, podéis entrar aquí: https://www.resibooks.com/2020/03/joy...
September 19, 2019
Give Me Your Heart - Joyce Carol Oates
3,5/5
عشر قصص قصيرة وقاتمة .. تركز على النفس البشرية ولحظات ضعفها .
تنقسم إلى قصص أبطالها بالغين وقصص أبطالها في مرحلة المراهقة/ أغلبهن مراهثات .
القصص التي أبطالها بالغين، تتحدث في مجملها عن لحظات فارقة في حياة أبطالها البالغين، لحظات سوء الفهم وتعقد الحياة أو هم على وشك انهيار عاطفي وأما القصص التي أبطالها مراهقين فهي تركز على لحظات تقع فيها بطلاتها بـ"ورطات" تسوء الأمور وتتعقد لدرجة لا يمكن الخروج منها أحيانًا . تنتهي أغلب القصص بشكل ذكي ومحكم وبعضها تنتهي بنهاية صادمة .
مناسبة للأيام الكئيبة، الصيف مثلا. مكتوبة بشكل مكثف وتستنزفك بقوّة. لا تعرض القصص اللحظة الراهنة وحسب، بل ترصد التغيرات ونرى الماضي وكيف وصل الأمر بأبطال القصص إلى هذه اللحظة، لذا لم أتمكن من قراءة أكثر من قصة واحدة في المرة الواحدة . أعصابي لا تتحمل كل هذا الضغط .
علقت بالقصص الثلاث الأخيرة .
أرجو أن يكون لقائي القادم بـ جويس كارول أوتيس أقل قتامة .
3,5/5
عشر قصص قصيرة وقاتمة .. تركز على النفس البشرية ولحظات ضعفها .
تنقسم إلى قصص أبطالها بالغين وقصص أبطالها في مرحلة المراهقة/ أغلبهن مراهثات .
القصص التي أبطالها بالغين، تتحدث في مجملها عن لحظات فارقة في حياة أبطالها البالغين، لحظات سوء الفهم وتعقد الحياة أو هم على وشك انهيار عاطفي وأما القصص التي أبطالها مراهقين فهي تركز على لحظات تقع فيها بطلاتها بـ"ورطات" تسوء الأمور وتتعقد لدرجة لا يمكن الخروج منها أحيانًا . تنتهي أغلب القصص بشكل ذكي ومحكم وبعضها تنتهي بنهاية صادمة .
مناسبة للأيام الكئيبة، الصيف مثلا. مكتوبة بشكل مكثف وتستنزفك بقوّة. لا تعرض القصص اللحظة الراهنة وحسب، بل ترصد التغيرات ونرى الماضي وكيف وصل الأمر بأبطال القصص إلى هذه اللحظة، لذا لم أتمكن من قراءة أكثر من قصة واحدة في المرة الواحدة . أعصابي لا تتحمل كل هذا الضغط .
علقت بالقصص الثلاث الأخيرة .
أرجو أن يكون لقائي القادم بـ جويس كارول أوتيس أقل قتامة .
August 29, 2010
In this short story collection by Joyce Carol Oates, themes of love connect the stories. Obsessive, self-destructive, unpredictable love. We visit forbidden and chilling places with the characters.
Most notable stories include the titled selection "Give Me Your Heart," in which a woman pursues an obsessive love...someone who shunned her years ago. Her relentless quest takes us to dark and disturbing places.
In "Smother," an unstable young artist relives bits and pieces of nightmare memories until one day, everything clicks into place. When her mother, a professor and apparently upright individual, is brought into the mix, we see her perspective on events. Who will we believe?
"The First Husband" carries us along on a second husband's journey to exact revenge after he discovers that his wife has lied about the relationship. Will the consequences be too overwhelming?
Haunted pasts intrude on the present in these ten razor sharp stories that reveal that deadly mysteries often begin at home.
As usual, I found these journeys fascinating and compelling. I would definitely rate this collection, "Give Me Your Heart: Tales of Mystery and Suspense," with five stars.
Most notable stories include the titled selection "Give Me Your Heart," in which a woman pursues an obsessive love...someone who shunned her years ago. Her relentless quest takes us to dark and disturbing places.
In "Smother," an unstable young artist relives bits and pieces of nightmare memories until one day, everything clicks into place. When her mother, a professor and apparently upright individual, is brought into the mix, we see her perspective on events. Who will we believe?
"The First Husband" carries us along on a second husband's journey to exact revenge after he discovers that his wife has lied about the relationship. Will the consequences be too overwhelming?
Haunted pasts intrude on the present in these ten razor sharp stories that reveal that deadly mysteries often begin at home.
As usual, I found these journeys fascinating and compelling. I would definitely rate this collection, "Give Me Your Heart: Tales of Mystery and Suspense," with five stars.
October 15, 2024
Uff JCO me lo ha hecho pasar mal. Creo que tiene un don para llevarte al estado psicológico y todas sus contradicciones internas. Muy muy interesante y violento. Habrá que ir a por más. Ya ves.
December 16, 2023
ok miss Joyce carol Oates… I understand why you are considered one of the greats
a collection of interesting suspenseful, thrilling short stories connected by the theme of crime, but often not the crimes you think (like murder, stalking - the “big crimes” so to speak); a lot of them are centred around crimes like “my dad went to prison and this is how it affected me”, “delinquent child in the making”, and “honourably discharged soldier returns from duty what will happen next?”
I could read her writing forever, it’s so unique and poetic, it captures your mind and runs away with it, holding you in a cage of suspense until you’ve hit the last sentence, which always wraps up the story beautifully because, if there’s one thing about me, I HATE an unsatisfying ending. her flow is incredible - how often can you read paragraphs that span entire pages? and paragraphs that are composed of modify clauses, no period in sight, just comma after comma after comma, a technique that usually drags on, creating run-ons that makes your focus drift halfway through. my girl JCO does it effortlessly, and i am inspired
my favourite stories were:
1) strip poker (possibly my favourite short story i have ever read)
2) tetanus
3) the spill
4) nowhere
5) vena cava
a collection of interesting suspenseful, thrilling short stories connected by the theme of crime, but often not the crimes you think (like murder, stalking - the “big crimes” so to speak); a lot of them are centred around crimes like “my dad went to prison and this is how it affected me”, “delinquent child in the making”, and “honourably discharged soldier returns from duty what will happen next?”
I could read her writing forever, it’s so unique and poetic, it captures your mind and runs away with it, holding you in a cage of suspense until you’ve hit the last sentence, which always wraps up the story beautifully because, if there’s one thing about me, I HATE an unsatisfying ending. her flow is incredible - how often can you read paragraphs that span entire pages? and paragraphs that are composed of modify clauses, no period in sight, just comma after comma after comma, a technique that usually drags on, creating run-ons that makes your focus drift halfway through. my girl JCO does it effortlessly, and i am inspired
my favourite stories were:
1) strip poker (possibly my favourite short story i have ever read)
2) tetanus
3) the spill
4) nowhere
5) vena cava
September 24, 2023
You usually can’t do better as far as I am concerned, than with a book of short stories by JCO! Sure, nothing is ever or hardly ever going to turn out as it should, or as you think it might. Or if you are familiar with JCO maybe you are always thinking that there is about to be some major twist.
This author has been writing this kind of story for so long that she almost seems like she could do it in her sleep. This book is from around 2010, so is among the more recent of her continuing and continuous production.
This author has been writing this kind of story for so long that she almost seems like she could do it in her sleep. This book is from around 2010, so is among the more recent of her continuing and continuous production.
August 23, 2019
This is my favorite of JCO's collections (that I've read). She's a master of suspense and that's on full display here, alongside quality prose, depth of characters, and palpable atmosphere. Fantastic.
February 28, 2012
Give Me Your Heart, the newest collection of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates, shimmers with violence, actual or imagined. Reading these stories is like hearing footsteps in your home when you know you're the only one there. They're like seeing something impossible out of the corner of your eye and being sure that you've seen it no matter what your rational self tells you. The stories make your heart race and your eyes open wide in horror. They do not come to us gently. Joyce Carol Oates grabs the reader and pulls him into her unique vision where fear, panic, tension, death, love and murder prevail, often simultaneously. These are horror stories without any element of the super-natural. She's the real McCoy of this genre.
This collection contains ten stories, many of them about the dark side of needing love. In `Give Me Your Heart', we hear an ex-lover rant about wanting her lover's heart - actually and metaphorically. We listen to her as she goes more and more around the bend. In `Split/Brain', Trudy Gould has been caretaker for her ill husband day and night, spending all her time at the hospital. One day, he demands that she return home to get a journal that he forgot. When she arrives at her home, she recognizes her sister's car parked there and imagines her troubled, drug-addled and violent nephew in her house. She plays out this scenario in head: she either enters the house and is killed by her nephew or she turns and leaves. What will her choice be?
Some of these stories deal with the obsessive character of love or the feeling that you don't really know the person you love. In `The First Husband', a married man stumbles across photos of his wife with her first husband. He can't get over his jealousy and believes that his wife is hiding something from him. He becomes obsessed with her first husband and this leads to tragic consequences.
The theme that love is dangerous is apparent in almost every story. In `Strip Poker', a group of older men in their twenties get a fourteen year-old girl to go with them to their lake cabin. They get her drunk and play strip poker with her. The game is tense and on the verge of becoming dangerous. How the girl turns events to her favor is a joy to behold in all its poignancy. In `Smothered', a troubled woman with a history of drug addiction and rootlessness has recovered memories of her parents smothering and killing a baby girl. This memory is part of a sensational murder case that occurred in 1974. The smothered child was never identified and the murderer was never found. When the police come to question the woman's mother, she is shocked. The memory appears to be part of a drug-addled incident in the daughter's teen-aged years. However, the mother feels torn and betrayed as this is just another way her estranged daughter has turned against her.
Sometimes, the most dangerous person is the one that is closest to you. In `The Spill', John Henry is what we'd now call developmentally disabled or chronically mentally ill. When he is an adolescent, he is brought to live at his uncle's home as his mother can no longer handle him. It is 1951 and there is no such thing as special education in the rural Adirondacks where this story takes place. John Henry, after repeating fourth grade, is told he can't return to school. His uncle has him doing difficult farm chores all day. His aunt Lizabeta has a special connection with John Henry while also being very leery of him with her own children. Her emotions start to get twisted up inside her.
`Bleed' is my favorite story in the collection. A boy evolves from closeness with his parents to distance. He leaves his childhood behind him. This is due to two distinct incidents, both involving child abductions and rapes. His parents question him about these incidents, of which he has no knowledge. However, these images continue to haunt him and, as a young man, he finds himself caught up in a nightmare situation consisting of rape and abduction.
These are not stories for the fragile or weak-hearted among us. They are all scary and they all play on our visceral fears and nightmares. Joyce Carol Oates is a master of this. She understands those things we all fear, the nightmares that are common to us all. That these stories do not contain elements of the super-natural is not comforting. It makes them all the more frightening.
This collection contains ten stories, many of them about the dark side of needing love. In `Give Me Your Heart', we hear an ex-lover rant about wanting her lover's heart - actually and metaphorically. We listen to her as she goes more and more around the bend. In `Split/Brain', Trudy Gould has been caretaker for her ill husband day and night, spending all her time at the hospital. One day, he demands that she return home to get a journal that he forgot. When she arrives at her home, she recognizes her sister's car parked there and imagines her troubled, drug-addled and violent nephew in her house. She plays out this scenario in head: she either enters the house and is killed by her nephew or she turns and leaves. What will her choice be?
Some of these stories deal with the obsessive character of love or the feeling that you don't really know the person you love. In `The First Husband', a married man stumbles across photos of his wife with her first husband. He can't get over his jealousy and believes that his wife is hiding something from him. He becomes obsessed with her first husband and this leads to tragic consequences.
The theme that love is dangerous is apparent in almost every story. In `Strip Poker', a group of older men in their twenties get a fourteen year-old girl to go with them to their lake cabin. They get her drunk and play strip poker with her. The game is tense and on the verge of becoming dangerous. How the girl turns events to her favor is a joy to behold in all its poignancy. In `Smothered', a troubled woman with a history of drug addiction and rootlessness has recovered memories of her parents smothering and killing a baby girl. This memory is part of a sensational murder case that occurred in 1974. The smothered child was never identified and the murderer was never found. When the police come to question the woman's mother, she is shocked. The memory appears to be part of a drug-addled incident in the daughter's teen-aged years. However, the mother feels torn and betrayed as this is just another way her estranged daughter has turned against her.
Sometimes, the most dangerous person is the one that is closest to you. In `The Spill', John Henry is what we'd now call developmentally disabled or chronically mentally ill. When he is an adolescent, he is brought to live at his uncle's home as his mother can no longer handle him. It is 1951 and there is no such thing as special education in the rural Adirondacks where this story takes place. John Henry, after repeating fourth grade, is told he can't return to school. His uncle has him doing difficult farm chores all day. His aunt Lizabeta has a special connection with John Henry while also being very leery of him with her own children. Her emotions start to get twisted up inside her.
`Bleed' is my favorite story in the collection. A boy evolves from closeness with his parents to distance. He leaves his childhood behind him. This is due to two distinct incidents, both involving child abductions and rapes. His parents question him about these incidents, of which he has no knowledge. However, these images continue to haunt him and, as a young man, he finds himself caught up in a nightmare situation consisting of rape and abduction.
These are not stories for the fragile or weak-hearted among us. They are all scary and they all play on our visceral fears and nightmares. Joyce Carol Oates is a master of this. She understands those things we all fear, the nightmares that are common to us all. That these stories do not contain elements of the super-natural is not comforting. It makes them all the more frightening.
June 2, 2011
Wow! I thought I liked depressing stories. They are short stories but I was bored throughout. I kept catching myself counting the pages. It feels like she really REALLY wants you to understand, these perpetrators are just normal people. They aren't Disney'ish bad guys. They are just like you and me. It takes her about 20-30 pages to assure herself that you, the stupid reader gets it. Then finally, the character does something bad and the story is over.
The abrupt ending felt contrived after the first story. Once or twice is an interesting choice. Every single time (except one so not every) to end in the same style, oy vey!
The abrupt ending felt contrived after the first story. Once or twice is an interesting choice. Every single time (except one so not every) to end in the same style, oy vey!
January 2, 2015
Joyce Carol Oates, fiction's high priestess of rape culture narratives, gives us here an uneven collection full of fractured narratives that swerve with lack of determinacy and structure. These stories rarely end, instead they push you to a point and then stop, leaving a certain amount of drama off the page. It seeks to mimic real life, or seems to, with its misremembered details and subjective interpretations, and in its best stories - Strip Poker, Bleeed - Oates acheives a gross uneasiness ripe with paranoia and the threat of violence. When it misses though, it feels like stream of conscious nonsense; totally unedited swill.
July 18, 2011
The first two stories failed miserably and the rest never improved enough to make up for that. Most were ok but still felt too much like the output from a creative writing class where angst young adults attempt to write about the dark side of human nature. When Oates hits the right cord she really nails it but that only happened for me on two of the stories. Not very many authors can pull off the macabre well and this is a prime example of an attempt can bad.
February 8, 2018
Impresionante como en estos 10 cuentos de suspenso, Carol Oates puede conjurar el terror a relaciones vacías, hijas desquiciadas, mujeres en busca de venganza y celos patológicos que terminan en tragedia. Todos son cuentos recursivos sobre amores posesivos, dementes, que arrasan con todo, incluyendo las mujeres que lo sienten (o ya no). La mayoría de los cuentos son muy buenos, aunque me gustó mucho: "Asfixia". Dénle el Nobel de una buena vez, por favor.
October 4, 2023
Is Joyce Carol Oates our greatest living American writer?
These stories were gripping and striking in their narrative voice; sophisticated and smart, yet naturalistic; and, in the case of "Vena Cava" and "Bleeed", absolutely chilling. A postmodern Poe.
Often the stories open in a somewhat obscure way, thrusting the reader into an airtight narrative voice, before quickly becoming a page turner. They're stories of imbalances of power mixed with unhealthy love: obsession, transfixion, fetishization, revenge, relationship resentment, and raw desire. All have naturalist settings in everyday (often rural) America. Many feature strong, yet seriously flawed, female protagonists. Nearly all have a feminist bent. Some even forefront conflicts related to class ("Nowhere"). Yet how does Joyce Carol Oates seem to understand and empathize with her characters' settings and situations in a way that makes the entire reading experience come alive? Even as a somewhat cosmopolitan writer, how does she seem to understand the anthropology of place, often the rural, economically disadvantaged landscape? In just a page I feel like the characters (many times 1st person narrators) could be standing in front of me. Almost like I know these people and where they live. Do I?
Standouts for me:
"Strip Poker" in which a teenage girl, seeking to demonstrate independence from her mother, is goaded into hopping aboard a motorboat with a group of 20-30-something-year-old men, none of whom she knows. They break into an abandoned, remote house across the lake and begin playing manipulative games.
"Bleeed" in which a star-student, college-bound male is exposed for a series of grisly crimes – one of which is happening in real time as the story progresses.
Notable:
"Vena Cava" for its striking, intimate, and claustrophobic portrait of the affects of war and PTSD in flyover-country America. Quite the disturbing ending that is foreshadowed throughout.
"The Spill" for its homage to American literary greats, notably Steinbeck. At least half of the story quite resembles the opening of East of Eden , while the ending is more reminiscent of Of Mice and Men .
Trigger warnings abound (I won't list them here), but this entire set was perfect for the season.
These stories were gripping and striking in their narrative voice; sophisticated and smart, yet naturalistic; and, in the case of "Vena Cava" and "Bleeed", absolutely chilling. A postmodern Poe.
Often the stories open in a somewhat obscure way, thrusting the reader into an airtight narrative voice, before quickly becoming a page turner. They're stories of imbalances of power mixed with unhealthy love: obsession, transfixion, fetishization, revenge, relationship resentment, and raw desire. All have naturalist settings in everyday (often rural) America. Many feature strong, yet seriously flawed, female protagonists. Nearly all have a feminist bent. Some even forefront conflicts related to class ("Nowhere"). Yet how does Joyce Carol Oates seem to understand and empathize with her characters' settings and situations in a way that makes the entire reading experience come alive? Even as a somewhat cosmopolitan writer, how does she seem to understand the anthropology of place, often the rural, economically disadvantaged landscape? In just a page I feel like the characters (many times 1st person narrators) could be standing in front of me. Almost like I know these people and where they live. Do I?
Standouts for me:
"Strip Poker" in which a teenage girl, seeking to demonstrate independence from her mother, is goaded into hopping aboard a motorboat with a group of 20-30-something-year-old men, none of whom she knows. They break into an abandoned, remote house across the lake and begin playing manipulative games.
"Bleeed" in which a star-student, college-bound male is exposed for a series of grisly crimes – one of which is happening in real time as the story progresses.
Notable:
"Vena Cava" for its striking, intimate, and claustrophobic portrait of the affects of war and PTSD in flyover-country America. Quite the disturbing ending that is foreshadowed throughout.
"The Spill" for its homage to American literary greats, notably Steinbeck. At least half of the story quite resembles the opening of East of Eden , while the ending is more reminiscent of Of Mice and Men .
Trigger warnings abound (I won't list them here), but this entire set was perfect for the season.
January 2, 2024
I actively had to remind myself not to read these before bed.
I usually don't flinch when reading horror before bed. But some of these stories, rather than lulling me gently into sleep, made my heart legitimately pound and kept me wide awake in the wee hours of the morning. This was my first JCO (I'd DNFd Expensive People in the past, but hope to pick it up again) and it was a great sampler. Her writing forces me to look head on at the car crash, hold my breath even when I know what's coming, and be unable to look away from the carnage. And then, right as the story is getting extra-good, the ending is so abrupt and teasing that the words settle in to live rent-free in my head.
All those positives said, the collection was a mixed bag for me. While there were 2-3 stories I loved and were 5-star worthy (Strip Poker specifically stands out as the gem of this collection), others dragged on and had me put down the book for days at a time. Possibly a necessary respite.
Recommended if you enjoy feeling unsettled by short stories and narratives of covert dread. 3.5 stars rounded down.
I usually don't flinch when reading horror before bed. But some of these stories, rather than lulling me gently into sleep, made my heart legitimately pound and kept me wide awake in the wee hours of the morning. This was my first JCO (I'd DNFd Expensive People in the past, but hope to pick it up again) and it was a great sampler. Her writing forces me to look head on at the car crash, hold my breath even when I know what's coming, and be unable to look away from the carnage. And then, right as the story is getting extra-good, the ending is so abrupt and teasing that the words settle in to live rent-free in my head.
All those positives said, the collection was a mixed bag for me. While there were 2-3 stories I loved and were 5-star worthy (Strip Poker specifically stands out as the gem of this collection), others dragged on and had me put down the book for days at a time. Possibly a necessary respite.
Recommended if you enjoy feeling unsettled by short stories and narratives of covert dread. 3.5 stars rounded down.
May 12, 2023
insane unsettling women <3
June 24, 2021
Dame tu corazón es un libro formado por diez relatos: Dame tu corazón, Cerebro/escindido, Primer marido, Strip Poker, Asfixia, Tétanos, El torrente, En ninguna parte, Sangría y Vena cava.
Con esta autora tengo sentimientos encontrados:
Por un lado reconozco que escribe de maravilla, que tiene una forma espectacular de describir los sentimientos y las situaciones, de crear tensión, de hacer que te pongas en el lugar de los protagonistas…
Por otro lado, y esto es “defecto” mío, no me siento cómoda leyendo libros con ese grado de maldad, esa forma retorcida de contar las historias, ese rencor, la angustia que me creó....
El libro lleva el nombre del primer relato, y para mí, el que menos me gustó, no sé si porque no le tenía cogido la forma de escribir a la autora o porque realmente ese amor obsesivo me produce escalofríos. Si no fuera para una lectura conjunta igual lo hubiese abandonado. Después de ese relato debo reconocer que el libro va mejorando considerablemente.
El que más me gustó fue Strip Poker, por lo bien escrito que está, por cómo me mantuvo en tensión esperando el desenlace previsto, por lo bien que supo reaccionar uno de los protagonistas….
Con esta autora tengo sentimientos encontrados:
Por un lado reconozco que escribe de maravilla, que tiene una forma espectacular de describir los sentimientos y las situaciones, de crear tensión, de hacer que te pongas en el lugar de los protagonistas…
Por otro lado, y esto es “defecto” mío, no me siento cómoda leyendo libros con ese grado de maldad, esa forma retorcida de contar las historias, ese rencor, la angustia que me creó....
El libro lleva el nombre del primer relato, y para mí, el que menos me gustó, no sé si porque no le tenía cogido la forma de escribir a la autora o porque realmente ese amor obsesivo me produce escalofríos. Si no fuera para una lectura conjunta igual lo hubiese abandonado. Después de ese relato debo reconocer que el libro va mejorando considerablemente.
El que más me gustó fue Strip Poker, por lo bien escrito que está, por cómo me mantuvo en tensión esperando el desenlace previsto, por lo bien que supo reaccionar uno de los protagonistas….
July 13, 2011
Usually a fan of what others consider to be depressing, dark, or macabre, I have to say that I really only enjoyed a few of these short stories. Maybe enjoyed is even a bit of a stretch honestly. Many of the stories had no real flow or cohesiveness to them at all. By the end of the collection I felt as if I had read a collection of short stories submitted by a rather dark version of a high school creative writing class.
I found often that by the time I began to come to grips with what the some of authors were trying to convey, that story abruptly ended in a sometimes nonsensical, and oftentimes too abrupt way. The nervous and disjointed way the book flowed left me feeling less than satisfied. That's not to say all the stories are without talent (I'm not a writer myself, so who am I to say that any are lacking talent really). Of the few stories that I did enjoy I feel they would have been better read apart from the rest of the content in the book.
Overall, everyone has their differing opinions and I'm sure some potential readers would enjoy this collection, but I could not recommend this based on my experience with it.
I found often that by the time I began to come to grips with what the some of authors were trying to convey, that story abruptly ended in a sometimes nonsensical, and oftentimes too abrupt way. The nervous and disjointed way the book flowed left me feeling less than satisfied. That's not to say all the stories are without talent (I'm not a writer myself, so who am I to say that any are lacking talent really). Of the few stories that I did enjoy I feel they would have been better read apart from the rest of the content in the book.
Overall, everyone has their differing opinions and I'm sure some potential readers would enjoy this collection, but I could not recommend this based on my experience with it.
March 24, 2013
Well, I'll start out by saying that I didn't think any of these stories were either mysterious or suspenseful so I'm not sure why that's in the title. I personally didn't like any of the stories except for "Smother," but I only liked half of it and that was the half written from the mother's POV. I will say that Joyce Carol Oates has a knack for getting the register right but I just didn't care about any of the stories enough to recommend them.
September 21, 2015
The cover text on this one led me to believe that JCO had strayed into some unexplored realm of ghost stories and haunted places or something. But, more true to form, it is a collection of stories of haunted and desperate people. She writes beautifully, as always, but the dark and depressing stories are actually a bit too alike for me to whole-heartedly recommend the book. I felt that I could really use a glimmer of light or hope... I would suggest reading one or a couple of stories at at time.
January 2, 2016
Probably not my best choice for a holiday read/listen. Viscerally dark collection of short stories of people on the precipice of emotional collapse. The actual bloody endings are left to the reader to interpret. Perhaps I am penalizing Joyce Carol Oates a star for the depressing nature of the tales. They are well written. Gotta search out some lighter reading material heading into the New Year. Fluff.
September 17, 2022
Mi segundo libro de la autora y ya voy captando su esencia, esta vez me decanté por leer sus relatos (10) y me ha gustado ver cómo logra transmitir el lado más oscuro de la psique humana. Encontraremos temas recurrentes como el abuso s3xual, las dr0gas, las enfermedades mentales, p3d3rastia, violencia explícita, maltrat0 infantil y el su1cidi0. El ser humano es el ser más cruel y vil que habita en la tierra.
Voy a meterme un poquito en materia sobre cada uno de los relatos y contarles mi impresión con ellos.
🫀DAME TU CORAZÓN: Relato epistolar sobre una mujer que sufre una decepción amorosa que aún no logra superar. Me transmitió mucha toxicidad.
🧠 CEREBRO/ESCINDIDO: Va de una esposa entregada a la recuperación de su marido. Un día llega a casa después del hospital y encuentra que ha sido allanada por su propio sobrino. La narración me pareció muy confusa y no llegué a entender la decisión que toma la señora.
📸 EL PRIMER MARIDO: Los celos enfermizos e injustificados sacuden la vida del protagonista cuando encuentra fotos de su mujer con su ex marido, guardadas hace años en un cajón. Con este flipé un poco porque me resultaron bastante absurdas y desproporcionadas las reacciones.
🃏 STRIP-POKER: Una niña de 14 años termina en una cabaña bebiendo y jugando a las cartas con un grupo de hombres. La situación se vuelve incómoda y se descontrola. Este me sorprendió porque tiene un desenlace inesperado.
🐰 ASFIXIA: Una joven adicta cree haber presenciado cuando era pequeña el asesinato de una menor a manos de sus padres. Cuando el caso se reabre, ella los acusa en la policía. Este me ha mantenido intrigada, pero considero que tiene el peor final de todos, básicamente porque no tiene. Te deja muchas dudas.
🔒 TÉTANOS: En Servicios Sociales interrogan a un menor que ha esnifado pegamento y ha amenazado a su familia. Aquí perdí mi tiempo, la historia no me gustó nada.
⛈️ EL TORRENTE: Una joven esposa con dos niñas pequeñas y otro en camino, se ve abrumada y teme por la vida de sus hijos, cuando ve actitudes sospechosas en el sobrino de su marido, que es discapacitado intelectual. De los que más me gustó y con un final inesperado.
🥀 EN NINGUNA PARTE: La protagonista es una adolescente que sufre por los problemas de sus padres y anda un poco perdida después de una tragedia reciente.
🩸 SANGRÍA: Nos metemos en la cabeza del protagonista, que nos narra, como mata a una menor de una manera atropelladamente confusa. El más duro para mí. Se percibe todo el rato que está desconectado de la realidad y que sufre alguna enfermedad mental.
💀 VENA CAVA: Un veterano de guerra con síndrome de estrés post-traumático y secuelas físicas, vuelve a su casa donde un sentimiento de profundo desarraigo le hace cometer una locura.
Voy a meterme un poquito en materia sobre cada uno de los relatos y contarles mi impresión con ellos.
🫀DAME TU CORAZÓN: Relato epistolar sobre una mujer que sufre una decepción amorosa que aún no logra superar. Me transmitió mucha toxicidad.
🧠 CEREBRO/ESCINDIDO: Va de una esposa entregada a la recuperación de su marido. Un día llega a casa después del hospital y encuentra que ha sido allanada por su propio sobrino. La narración me pareció muy confusa y no llegué a entender la decisión que toma la señora.
📸 EL PRIMER MARIDO: Los celos enfermizos e injustificados sacuden la vida del protagonista cuando encuentra fotos de su mujer con su ex marido, guardadas hace años en un cajón. Con este flipé un poco porque me resultaron bastante absurdas y desproporcionadas las reacciones.
🃏 STRIP-POKER: Una niña de 14 años termina en una cabaña bebiendo y jugando a las cartas con un grupo de hombres. La situación se vuelve incómoda y se descontrola. Este me sorprendió porque tiene un desenlace inesperado.
🐰 ASFIXIA: Una joven adicta cree haber presenciado cuando era pequeña el asesinato de una menor a manos de sus padres. Cuando el caso se reabre, ella los acusa en la policía. Este me ha mantenido intrigada, pero considero que tiene el peor final de todos, básicamente porque no tiene. Te deja muchas dudas.
🔒 TÉTANOS: En Servicios Sociales interrogan a un menor que ha esnifado pegamento y ha amenazado a su familia. Aquí perdí mi tiempo, la historia no me gustó nada.
⛈️ EL TORRENTE: Una joven esposa con dos niñas pequeñas y otro en camino, se ve abrumada y teme por la vida de sus hijos, cuando ve actitudes sospechosas en el sobrino de su marido, que es discapacitado intelectual. De los que más me gustó y con un final inesperado.
🥀 EN NINGUNA PARTE: La protagonista es una adolescente que sufre por los problemas de sus padres y anda un poco perdida después de una tragedia reciente.
🩸 SANGRÍA: Nos metemos en la cabeza del protagonista, que nos narra, como mata a una menor de una manera atropelladamente confusa. El más duro para mí. Se percibe todo el rato que está desconectado de la realidad y que sufre alguna enfermedad mental.
💀 VENA CAVA: Un veterano de guerra con síndrome de estrés post-traumático y secuelas físicas, vuelve a su casa donde un sentimiento de profundo desarraigo le hace cometer una locura.
April 1, 2019
Mi primera incursión en la obra de Joyce Carol Oates, este libro de relatos es soberbio. Por un lado, he admirado su estilo, expresivo, descriptivo, maduro, muy acertado, así como su forma de presentar a los personajes y la coherencia de cada uno de los relatos. Se nota que Oates es una autora experimentada, que maneja la técnica narrativa del cuento con pericia.
Por otro lado, me ha disgustado su sordidez y pesimismo. Habla de temas muy interesantes, y su estilo hace que merezca la pena, pero cada una de las historias muestra un vacío desalentador. Entiendo que es lo que pretende la autora (y lo consigue con creces), y que en parte por ser tan explícitos y desgarradores son efectivos, pero he acabado con una sensación desagradable. Se trata de una visión a lo más turbio del ser humano, desde ángulos muy distintos. Me ha recordado a Mi verdadera historia, de Juan José Millás.
La traducción también me ha parecido buena.
Por otro lado, me ha disgustado su sordidez y pesimismo. Habla de temas muy interesantes, y su estilo hace que merezca la pena, pero cada una de las historias muestra un vacío desalentador. Entiendo que es lo que pretende la autora (y lo consigue con creces), y que en parte por ser tan explícitos y desgarradores son efectivos, pero he acabado con una sensación desagradable. Se trata de una visión a lo más turbio del ser humano, desde ángulos muy distintos. Me ha recordado a Mi verdadera historia, de Juan José Millás.
La traducción también me ha parecido buena.
November 27, 2017
They're not all winners, but when Joyce Carol Oates gets it right, it's spellbinding.
My favorites from this collection:
Split/Brain
The First Husband
Strip Poker
Vena Cava
However, the highlight is "The Spill". This story was so well-crafted, dark, and genuinely shocking that I can't believe that it hasn't taken the place of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" as Oates' most famous work.
My favorites from this collection:
Split/Brain
The First Husband
Strip Poker
Vena Cava
However, the highlight is "The Spill". This story was so well-crafted, dark, and genuinely shocking that I can't believe that it hasn't taken the place of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" as Oates' most famous work.
March 13, 2019
I always heard about her, I never realized she wrote horror? Not hardcore horror, mind you, but I wouldn't be surprised if stephen king had her in his bookshelf for reference/inspiration (some of her stories reminded me of a couple of his short stories, it can't be a coincidence. He must read her on occasion)
I loved most of the stories, some of them were meh.
I loved most of the stories, some of them were meh.
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