Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2017. I had no interest in reading the author's tedious (to me) and repetitive descriptions of her daily life as a widow. Oates’ husband, Ray, died suddenly and this is her account of his death and the six months after it. A Widow's Story' illuminates one woman's struggle to comprehend a life absent of the partnership that had sustained and defined her for nearly half a century. Grief. A Widow’s Story is very sad and touching. I thank the author for writing this brave look at widowhood and surviving. Publication Year. Oates’ husband, Ray, died suddenly and this is her account of his death and the six months after it. In the week’s following Ray’s death JCO seems to exist on auto-pilot. rank among the very finest in contemporary American fiction, offers an achingly personal story of love and loss. United States. Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, and has been several times nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In less than a week, Ray died from a hospital-acquired virulent infection—and Joyce was suddenly faced with the stunning reality of widowhood. There was a problem loading your book clubs. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publisher. The account of their marriage was very touching, and its aftermath most eloquently described - I love her characteristic and adventurous style of writing. Brilliant and helpful memoir of widowhood, Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2017. Thank you Joyce Carol Oates. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Here is a frank acknowledgment of the widow's desperation—only gradually yielding to the recognition that "this is my life now.". She didn’t have any children with Ray to comfort her. (Feb.), *Starred Review* Brutal violence and catastrophic loss are often the subjects of Oates’ powerful novels and stories. There are various tasks she needs to do so doesn’t have time to accept her own grief. 0062015532. A widow's story : a memoir. (I would not have minded reading about this fear of hers if she had addressed it as an unrealistic fear that never the less scared her while she was vulnerable, but no such explanation was given.) A Widow's Story illuminates one woman's struggle to comprehend a life without the partnership that had sustained and defined her for nearly half a century. Hardcover. It is raw in every way, including structurally and stylistically, and it feels churlish to say that it lacks the beauty and lyricism of Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking as a study of grief. She didn’t have any children with Ray to comfort her. She recounts this horrific “siege” of grief with her signature perception, specificity, and intensity, from epic insomnia and terrifying hallucinations to the torment of “death-duties,” painful recognitions of confidences unshared and secrets harbored, and a chilling evaporation of meaning. We mourn not only for the person we lost but for our hopes, dreams and the life and the future we lost for ourselves and our lost youth and history which somehow still was part of our life while we were US. A Widow's Story: A Memoir (Large Print / Hardcover) By Joyce Carol Oates. So many thoughts you daren't share with anybody for fear they would think you mad and worse yet, self-indulgent and full of self-pity. At times overly self-conscious, Oates nevertheless shines a bright light in every corner in her soul-searing memoir of widowhood. I found it very sad – and odd – that JCO never knew this even though she was married to Ray for 47 years. It is the best book on grieving I have read and has done the most to help clarify what I am thinking and feeling since my husband died under circumstances not that different from that of her husband. Unlike anything Joyce Carol Oates has written before, A Widow’s Story is the universally acclaimed author's poignant, intimate memoir about the unexpected death of Raymond Smith, her husband of forty-six years, and its wrenching, surprising aftermath. If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. But you don't give a damn about such trite remarks. JCO’s portrayal of grief, sorrow and confusion following her husband’s sudden and unexpected death is very real and very harrowing. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2016. This is not a self-help book. So many thoughts you daren't share with anybody for fear they would think you mad and worse yet, self-indulgent and full of self-pity. When Ray collapsed she drove him to the hospital, and later she would think that she unwittingly drove him to his death, since he died of an infection he caught in that hospital, “a teeming petri dish of lethal bacteria”. She is also very insightful about the grieving process and how other people respond to 'the bereaved', the good connections and the bad. I suspect many of us have wandered lost and devastated wanting only the one thing we can't ever have again. A Widow’s Story is a literary memoir on a par with The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and Calvin Trillin’s About Alice. For some of us grieving is the purest feeling we've ever experienced. You may have already requested this item. Please try again. detailed and insightful account of bereavement, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 13, 2013. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. It is raw in every way, including structurally and stylistically, and it feels churlish to say that it lacks the beauty and lyricism of Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking as a study of grief. It tells what happens to Mrs Raymond Smith when her husband dies, the extremes of deep grief, the effects of alienation from her professional alter ego, the writer Joyce Carol Oates. But I'm alive. "A Widow's Story" is a chronicle of that marriage, and a tribute to the steadfast man whom Oates recalls as "the gardener of our household." $14.99 978-0-06-212150-5 In A Widow’s Story: A Memoir, Joyce Carol Oates depicts the solemn story of her husband’s death and how she coped with her loss. I was also struck by the self-hatred and self-contempt with which she treated herself during this terrible time, as though bereavement was a 'punishment' and subsequent trials 'what she deserved'. But is there really a choice to give up your life of grieving? A WIDOW’S STORY feels so immediate and yet so sure of its sadness and confusion that it literally will take your breath away as you read it. There, he developed a virulent opportunistic infection and died just one week later. A Widow’s Story is a literary memoir on a par with The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and Calvin Trillin’s About Alice. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2016. Almost five years on from the loss of Kevin , survival is about as much as I can boast about. ISBN-13. Please try again. Even if we should love again it will be different and the loss remains. Was there no place for mutual support and comfort in an otherwise devoted marriage? We all die and we all will lose people we love. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. And life is for the living. Joyce's physical and emotional responses in the days immediately following the unexpected death of her husband and soul-mate are minutely examined but not self-consciously or melodramatically. Similar Items. The second half of the book is perhaps less compelling than the first, but overall, I thorougly recommend this story to anyone who wishes to explore the emotive questions surrounding death, loss and the process of grieving.