![]() ![]() An outstanding novel from a true modern master who jumps across genres with unrivaled dexterity.” “Carefully constructed sentences, pitch-perfect dialogue, and a central character who is simultaneously sympathetic and repellent. #THE BABYSITTER BOOK SERIAL#Everything crackles: the characters, the plot, she even pumps some new life into the serial killer trope.” is a master at pretty much everything, including domestic suspense. “I can’t remember the last time I read a book with the excitement and tension of Babysitter. I can see a book club discussion of this coming to blows. “Oates’s unflinching compulsion to go there taps into something powerful and disturbing. As stares unflinchingly down the barrel of America’s race and gender wars, her absolute moral clarity shines through.” “ proves once again her unerring grasp on America’s worst fears and desires in Babysitter, an extraordinary slice of suburban noir that centers on a white, wealthy, outlying enclave of Detroit terrorized by a child murderer in the 1970s. Despite the horror of the story, Oates’ skill with narrative and her mastery of prose create a compelling study in the most ugly aspects of human desire.” “Oates contorts language in her descriptions of characters, creating unease as you second-guess who these people truly are, and who to trust. “ noirish new novel is particularly dark-and gripping.” Margaret Atwood, author of The Testaments, via Twitter “Unsettling, mysterious, deft, sinister, eerily plausible.” Oates gives us a cast of jagged, interesting characters. “ Babysitter is poetry, yes, but hung on a sturdy framework that supports it. Definitely one of Oates’s finest achievements to date, Babysitter is an unforgettable portrait.” As ever, Oates’s prose-almost insolently alive-would seem to break all the rules. To be able to write with such tearing astuteness about such fiercely contemporary issues would be a feat for any author of any age. “ is a wild and panoramic piece of work, the serial killer’s activities a mere backdrop to a pinpoint vision of a society with rottenness at its core. Oates’s righteous anger, her ability to invest her story with mythological resonance, and her talent at creating eerie scenes all make Babysitter a worthwhile read.” Oates’s ability to create a sickening sense of horror is as keen as ever. pages are lit up by Oates’s searing rage about patriarchy’s toxic stain, the church’s enabling of and eager participation in the sexual predation of children, racism’s pernicious taint. ![]() “Violent and vile, timely and terrifying. Oyinkan Braithwaite, The New York Times Book Review Babysitter is a ghost story without the ghosts, but with tension thick enough to inspire several heart attacks. She is in no hurry to trigger the action, dropping tiny morsels of foreshadowing to keep us on our toes. Oates masterfully manipulates the narrative timeline, without losing the reader in the process. Hannah’s unreliable, elliptical narrative is seductive and compelling, like following someone into a fever dream. In its scathing indictment of corrupt politics, unexamined racism, and the enabling of sexual predation in America, Babysitter is a thrilling work of contemporary fiction. Suspenseful, brilliantly orchestrated, and engrossing, Babysitter is a starkly narrated exploration of the riskiness of pursuing alternate lives, calling into question how far we are willing to go to protect those whom we cherish most. As Babysitter continues his rampage of abductions and killings, these individuals intersect with one another in startling and unexpected ways. There is Hannah, wife of a prominent local businessman, who has begun an affair with a darkly charismatic stranger whose identity remains elusive Mikey, a canny street hustler who finds himself on a chilling mission to rectify injustice and the serial killer known as Babysitter, an enigmatic and terrifying figure at the periphery of elite Detroit. In the waning days of the turbulent 1970s, in the wake of unsolved child-killings that have shocked Detroit, the lives of several residents are drawn together with tragic consequences. “Unsettling, mysterious, deft, sinister, eerily plausible.” -Margaret Atwood, best-selling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments, via Twitter “Hannah’s unreliable, elliptical narrative is seductive and compelling, like following someone into a fever dream … is in no hurry to trigger the action, dropping tiny morsels of foreshadowing to keep us on our toes.” - The New York Times Book Review From one of America’s most renowned storytellers-the best-selling author of Blonde-comes a novel about love and deceit, and lust and redemption, against a backdrop of shocking murders in the affluent suburbs of Detroit. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |