Prior to "The Mulvaney's" I had not been able to become an avid reader of Joyce Carol Oates. I often had difficulty with the subject matter and frequently found myself responding in a negative , unrewarding way and that is not why I read novels. Ms. Oates is a consummate artist, a writer of very great skill, and a wonderful story-teller. "The Mulvaneys" is moving, warm, real, troubling and a pleasure to read. You can not read this book or any of her work if all you want to know is "what happens next". Her prose is flawless and chock full of those things which make great prose. It is not realistic to expect every reader to like her work, she IS a challenge, but well worth the effort(if that's what it takes.) This would be a great first Oates to read, if you need an introduction. I am baffled, though, that Oprah took so many years to find this book. It was published 5 years ago. That is when I read it, and have been reading others by Ms Oates since. I do not like everything she writes, but you very well might. A whole lot of people do!

This book centers on the rape of a pure "Jesus freak" cheerleader from an upstanding family in a small town. I finished half of it , but it is depressing , so I didn't finish it. The author is wonderfully skillful in her writing , but the subject matter deterred me.

"We were the Mulvaneys" was a decent book about a prominent family with everything in the world to look forward to and how they fell from grace. It was well written but a bit too drawn out at times. Definitely a very sad story from beginning to end.

The writing was too embellished for me and hard to follow at times. Good story, but I felt like I had to plow through to finish.

From Publishers Weekly
"Elegiac and urgent in tone, Oates's wrenching 26th novel (after Zombie) is a profound and darkly realistic chronicle of one family's hubristic heyday and its fall from grace. The wealthy, socially elite Mulvaneys live on historic High Point Farm, near the small upstate town of Mt. Ephraim, N.Y. Before the act of violence that forever destroys it, an idyllic incandescence bathes life on the farm. Hard-working and proud, Michael Mulvaney owns a successful roofing company. His wife, Corinne, who makes a halfhearted attempt at running an antique business, adores her husband and four children, feeling "privileged by God." Narrator Judd looks up to his older brothers, athletic Mike Jr. ("Mule") and intellectual Patrick ("Pinch"), and his sister, radiant Marianne, a popular cheerleader who is 17 in 1976 when she is raped by a classmate after a prom. Though the incident is hushed up, everyone in the family becomes a casualty. Guilty and shamed by his reaction to his daughter's defilement, Mike Sr. can't bear to look at Marianne, and she is banished from her home, sent to live with a distant relative. The family begins to disintegrate. Mike loses his business and, later, the homestead. The boys and Corinne register their frustration and sadness in different, destructive ways. Valiant, tainted Marianne runs from love and commitment. More than a decade later, there is a surprising denouement, in which Oates accommodates a guardedly optimistic vision of the future. Each family member is complexly rendered and seen against the background of social and cultural conditioning. As with much of Oates's work, the prose is sometimes prolix, but the very rush of narrative, in which flashbacks capture the same urgency of tone as the present, gives this moving tale its emotional power.

A thoroughly enjoyable novel - a MUST READ!!

What a heart wrenching family drama! I believe it was also a TV movie. A typical happy Irish family until tragedy strikes one of its members. You'll read with dread as the family slowly falls apart. In spite of all the drama, it has a rather fitting but happy ending. Joyce Carol Oates has a real talent for capturing true family interaction.

This book had a good story, but I couldn't completely buy into it. Maybe I just didn't want to think that the central event in this book could have the repercussions that it did. Of course, I think it's hard to hear any story about a family that falls apart.

I was so frustrated by this book! I felt like yelling at the characters and telling them to just say it already! I couldn;t finish it because I was too frustrated. Alot of people liked it but.... I didn't really!

There were huge chunks of this book that could have been removed and the book would have been better. A good story got lost in an over-abundance of minor details.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a favor and read it!

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super depressing most of the time . . .

My list of Oates books grows and grows, and this is one of the really good ones! This family's story kept me engrossed right to the end, and always wondering what they would do next and why!

I listened to this book on CD. In the beginning of the book I was quite frustrated by the behavior and extreme reactions to the "tragic event" by pretty much everyone in the family. I can not imagine a family really acting like the Mulvaneys did. So, I tried to frame it in my head in the setting to justify their actions; still no. The last 1/3 of the book was much better though and the family began to resemble people that were at least somewhat relatable. Over all, I did like this book and if you can get through the first part and deal with wanting to smack every character until they redeem themselves, then you may like it too.

good book

A heart-tugging book about a family struggling to hold it together. I've never looked @ a peach-colored dress the same ever again. There is also a fairly decent made-for-TV movie. I would suggest dwl'ing it, if you can find it.

Loved this book- could not put it down!

I actually couldn't finish this book. It went on too long without getting to any point at all.

The tightknit Mulvaneys start to fall apart when something happens to their daughter. Follows them through the years and shows how their lives go on.

Intense read about the fracture and repair of an American family. An Oprah selection.

"We Were the Mulvaneys celebrates the miracle that allowed a family to bridge the chasms that had opened up between them, and to reuinite in the spirit of love and healing. Pfofoundy cathartic, this novel unfolds as if Oates, in plumbing the darkness of the human spirit, has come upon a source of light at its core." Truly a statement about the value of hope and compassion,

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