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Title: pointless tearing at the heartstrings
Review: This book is like a bad soap opera. Supposedly "good" people make completely incomprehensible choices in service of a poorly thought out plot.The character of Marianne was especially laughable - all the author's effort went into trying to make us feel bad for her sob story instead of painting a believable character. Marianne is the idealized martyr: never angry at the family that inexplicably turns against her. What planet was this girl from? What planet was the father from? It is hard to believe natural selection did not do away long ago with a gene pool without any noticable coping or reality-testing skills.The sad part is that Oates is actually a good writer. I'm not sure what possessed her to write and publish this pathetic tear-jerker.
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