“Oates delivers a dark, moody collection permeated by themes of obsession, remorse, and violence. . . . Oates’s mastery of the form remains fierce and formidable in this unsettling collection of lamentations and missed opportunities.”

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

Just finished The (Other) You by Joyce Carol Oates. Short Story collection.
This collection of very dark, what might have been and alternate universe stories are well written and hit their mark almost every time. The story of the retired Professor and his wife on a trip to a city in Italy where many years before the Professor studied and fell in love with the young daughter of his mentor though he never even spoke to her. Now, the city is nothing like it was or what he remembers, and dementia begins to rear its ugly head.
A rich upscale town begins to lose its older citizens to unknown ailments, almost indicative of the COVID crises.

The retired writer returns to her hometown and gets a very chilling welcome from her old friends
Then there are a few stories, connected by a small, outside cafe where either a young terrorist exploded a bomb, or there is only a legend of a bomb that never really happened.
These stories will hold your interest. Oates is a truly prolific writer who never seems to run out of ideas.

 

Reviewed by:

Richard Franco

Added 7th April 2021

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Richard Franco