Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (Plume) (Paperback)
From Publishers Weekly
Murder galvanizes an industrial town in upstate New York when a husky red-haired corpse is fished from a polluted river in 1956. With sure strokes, Oates ( American Appetites ) delineates the racial hatreds leading to the crime that then entangles black basketball hero Verlyn (“Jinx”) Fairchild and blonde Iris Courtney. Their coming of age from the mid-’50s to the mid-’60s–in the shadow of the civil rights struggle and John F. Kennedy’s assassination–their love and their unpremeditated complicity in the town’s violence are brilliantly portrayed. Jinx, appealing in his “innocence and impotence,” can’t help himself or his brother, Sugar Baby, wrecked by drug dealing. Iris, alert, locked into icy detachment, watches Jinx suffer, while her own alcoholic mother and gambling father drift apart. Blotting out her problems, Iris sleepwalks into the household of the exotic Savages, art historians who prize her beauty. Oates is a master at realizing the social forces that twist the fates of her characters. BOMC dual main selection. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
The ever-prolific Oates is on familiar ground in her newest novel, which treats the seedy side of a working-class city in upstate New York in the 1950s. Her heroine will be familiar to Oates fans, too: Iris Courtney is the only child of a broken home, gambling father, and alcoholic mother; she’s waif-like, intelligent, and sensitive and carries with her the air of a victim. When a black classmate–handsome, academic, athletic Jinx Fairchild–murders mean “white trash” Little Red Garlock to protect Iris from Red’s lewd advances, Iris carries the secret through her adolescence. The Courtney, Garlock, and Fairchild families are here used to explore racism at a time of awakening social consciousness, but Iris alone seems fully imagined. A large, significant work that will please Oates fans. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/89.- Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Like All of Oates’ Books, This One is Incredibly Haunting
This is an incredibly haunting book. It examines the complex
interactions and experiences that go into creating our core
selves.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boring
This book gets one star for the development of certain characters in the story (Iris’s mother, Jinx Fairchild).
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still Waters…
The time is the decade between the mid-1950′s and the mid-1960′s, and the place is Oates’s familiar setting, her native upstate New York.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The title wasn’t stolen
JCO was on a radio talk show promoting this book and I heard her read from the poem she got the title from. So there.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not so great…..and no reference to Stephen Crane
I couldn’t finish the book. Bad. And like the reviewer below I was disturbed that the title was taken from the Stephen Crane poem with no mention of him.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Why no mention of Stephen Crane on jacket or in book anywher
This book was ok. I bought it because the title was a direct quote from a stephen crane poem. Why no attribution anywhere to crane?
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of Oates’ Best
This is a serious novel that peers into the cerebral workings of people in a time long gone by. If you’re looking for loud, brash, or goofy-acting characters (as so many seem to…
5.0 out of 5 stars
It’s a Crime That She Hasn’t Yet Been Awarded the Nobel!!!
I haven’t read every Joyce Carol Oates novel, only a few of the 30 odd ones she has written. Based on what I have read, and especially this book, I feel it is a crime that Oates…
1.0 out of 5 stars
Bitter Hearted Book
As a former subject of racism and violence in my life I can relate to all of the characters in this book.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bitter and Boring
I started reading this book hoping for the best. In turn, I found that my hopes weren’t fulfilled. The beginning half was intriguing and kept me wanting more.