If I'm not mistaken, this book was part of a series that used art as the inspiration for novellas. Anything by Joyce Carol Oates is awesome!
This was a short novella by Oates telling the story of an eccentric woman named Calla by her mother but whose given name is Edith. The story is told by Calla's granddaughter who gathered her grandmother's story in bits and pieces from those who knew her. Calla grew up in the early part of the twentieth century near the Chautauqua River in western New York State. She had flaming red hair and was an attractive woman but tended to keep to herself and was married at a young age to a local farmer name George Freilicht. Although she didn't really relate well to George, she had three children by him and then thought her life was over. But then she meets and falls for a black water diviner named Tyrell Thompson. And of course the talk of the area was the taboo "love affair" between Calla and Tyrell. The couple felt themselves doomed and decided to end it all by going over a local waterfall in a rowboat. But Calla survives and then shuts herself away from the world in her room at the Freilicht farm for her remaining 55 years. But she was at peace with herself and felt her life was complete.
This was another of JCO's looks into family life and how families are affected by their members and social interaction (or lack thereof). I first heard about this novella from an interesting YouTube video which discusses the essential books of JCO and since I am a fan of her work, I decided to get this used copy from a book trading site. I thought overall it was a moving and honest story about a woman who lived outside the norms.
This was another of JCO's looks into family life and how families are affected by their members and social interaction (or lack thereof). I first heard about this novella from an interesting YouTube video which discusses the essential books of JCO and since I am a fan of her work, I decided to get this used copy from a book trading site. I thought overall it was a moving and honest story about a woman who lived outside the norms.
