This is probably one of the more effective Joyce Carol Oates books in the last few years in part because it’s very very low on conceit and premise and high on tone, style, and execution. We begin right in the middle of things as a young wife, newly married as in the previous day, steps out of a bus, off of the curb, and in front of the same bus. It’s unclear what was going through her mind, whether or not she was attempting to […]