Title: Oates uses her powers for evil!
Review: I haven't read any of her other work. I'm sure the writing is just as beautiful and sensitive as it was in this one (and it was), but how could anyone take such gifts and use them to do things like describe first love as a disease? I felt utterly horrible the whole time I was reading this. It was depressing, without any sort of emotional reward.The character names sounded fake.I'm not saying the book was bad (the star ratings, I noticed, have to do with how much I enjoyed the book), but it takes a certain type of reader to deal with protracted melancholy. There's a certain tension that comes from a character seeing herself in a situation which she finds uncomfortable from day one, and then just staying in it until it ends horribly. This is just fair warning to people who like to actively solve problems.
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