Joyce Carol Oates

I've only recently discovered Joyce Carol Oates, even though I've known of her for decades. Can't tell what prompted me to read her work now. She is probably the most prolific writer alive with, I believe, forty novels to her credit, plus short story anthologies, essays, and plays. She's a Gemini, for those interested in the astrological sign of the authors they read. I didn't know that until after I started reading her stuff. Seems I gravitate to Gemini writers.
The book that I found particularly intriguing is The Falls. Oates has a way of drawing the reader in with unusual characters in unusual situations. In The Falls a young man commits suicide by jumping into Niagara Falls on his wedding night, while his wife is asleep. Didn't he ever hear of annulment or divorce? Seriously, it wouldn't have made a difference given the time he lived and who he was. The novel never strays from being engaging, intriguing. Oates takes risks with the plot that worked for me. There is one scene, however, that I'd love to discuss with someone else who's read this work. This book is perfect for a book club, if I belonged to one, which I don't. In Florida, the book clubs I find meet too early in the day for me.
The mood of The Falls is dark, brooding. Yet it surprises constantly and satisfies at the end. I won't go into plot beyond telling the opening scene.
I just finished Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates, a small novella with more characters behaving strangely, but so believably. Oates has complete confidence that the reader will "buy" the people she creates. I have absolutely no trouble suspending any disbelief when reading her work. For me there isn't much disbelief to suspend. After all, I've conquered One Dimensional living.

One Dimensional Living

Yes, I achieved entrance into one dimensional living on Cape Cod recently. I am the first to accomplish this denial of the other dimensions. I am a nihilist at heart. Compression into one dimension is not what the body favors, trust me. All our organs, cells, tissues are used to the cozy arrangement of height, width, and depth. There is a price to pay for squeezing oneself into just one dimension: Pain, compression fractures, the bends (when you decompress), and all the other stuff that flesh is heir to. Shakespeare knew about this long ago, and that is the esoteric meaning of that quote. Nevertheless, I have experienced something that would make me do it all again in a flash: the unbearable lightness of being. I do not recommend one dimensional being for weight loss, by the way. No, there are easier ways to accomplish that: Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet, Jenny Craig, and starvation come to mind. No, ULB, the Unbearable Lightness of Being is a spiritual state and must be approached with all the caution, training, and dedication that one might give to playing a Chopin Etude, or preparing for initiation into the Masons. In another Blog entry, I will attempt to describe the Nirvana-like state of existing in one dimension and one dimension only. You would think, after all, that I wouldn't be able to recall the experience, since my brain was flattened into a virtual pancake. But, what my grey and white matter lacked in the other two dimensions, it gained in the "splat" of one dimensional existence. All one's intelligence is spread out in one gigantic splotch. Oh, the beauty and the truth and the joy! Do not attempt to do what I did! The training process is grueling. Contact the proper associations before you even dream of diminishing yourself. I am truly honored to even be here reporting to you my experience with The One. Be patient. Await more information. I forsee us all there One day soon. They also serve who only sit and wait. Ah, that is what Milton was talking about, after all!
Blessed be, you all.