Who is more prolific: Stephen King or Joyce Carol Oates?
I decided to read Rape: A Love Story to see how Oates handled the subject of rape. As with every Oates book, I was riveted and unsettled by the disturbing emotions and the ensemble of victims and dark characters.
As the title suggests, there is a rape—not just a rape, but the gang rape of Teena Maguire by a pack of drugged-out, raging young men. Oates is a master of what she leaves out:
After she was gang-raped, kicked and beaten and left to die on the floor of the filthy boathouse at Rocky Point Park. After she was dragged into the boathouse by the five drunken guys—unless there were six, or seven—and her twelve-year-old daughter with her screaming, “Let us go! Don’t hurt us! Please don’t hurt us!”
Teena’s humiliating journey can be summed up in a few words: suffering and darkness. She is physically and emotionally wrecked and retreats to the isolation of her bedroom for most of the novella.
The rape occurs on the Fourth of July, a symbol of American independence. This book shows that independence can be abused both legally and illegally.
What happens after the rape is a scenario familiar to Americans from the O.J. Simpson and William Kennedy Smith cases. The sham trial begins with the rapists appearing in court as clean-cut, boy-next-door types. Then a brilliant defense attorney destroys the prosecution with a little help from the judge. Teena Maguire is raped a second time, this time by the judicial system.
A few people in the community, outraged by what has happened, respond to the dark forces that have conspired against Teena. Leading this effort is a cop named Dromoor. He is not interested in the law, but he is interested in justice.
This is not a comfortable novel. It will make you cringe. It is told from different points of view, which can be both illuminating and confusing. The use of the second-person voice is effective.
Oates is at her chilling best in this book. I could not put it down.
Find Joyce Carol Oates on Audiobooks, Amazon/Audible, and Bookstores who are not Amazon.
You will enjoy reading Brilliant Women Writers.
Articles include affiliate links, which may provide a small compensation to Noovella.
