Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Ecco (2007), Edition: First Edition, 592 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML: In 1936 the Schwarts, an immigrant family desperate to escape Nazi Germany, settle in a small town in upstate New York, where the father, a former high school teacher, is demeaned by the only job he can get: gravedigger and cemetery caretaker. After local prejudice and the family's own emotional frailty result in unspeakable tragedy, the gravedigger's daughter, Rebecca, begins her astonishing pilgrimage into America, an odyssey of erotic risk and imaginative daring, ingenious self-invention, and, in the end, a bittersweet—but very "American"—triumph. "You are born here, they will not hurt you"—so the gravedigger has predicted for his daughter, which will turn out to be true. In THE GRAVEDIGGER'S DAUGHTER, Oates has created a masterpiece of domestic yet mythic realism, at once emotionally engaging and intellectually provocative: an intimately observed testimony to the resilience of the individual..… (more)
Media reviews
Publishers Weekly
At the beginning of Oates's 36th novel, Rebecca Schwart is mistaken by a seemingly harmless man for another woman, Hazel Jones, on a footpath in 1959 Chatauqua Falls, N.Y. Five hundred pages later, Rebecca will find out that the man who accosted her is a serial killer, and Oates will have
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exercised, in a manner very difficult to forget, two of her recurring themes: the provisionality of identity and the awful suddenness of male violence. There's plenty of backstory, told in retrospect. Rebecca's parents escape from the Nazis with their two sons in 1936; Rebecca is born in the boat crossing over. When Rebecca is 13, her father, Jacob, a sexton in Milburn, N.Y., kills her mother, Anna, and nearly kills Rebecca, before blowing his own head off. At the time of the footpath crossing, Rebecca is just weeks away from being beaten, almost to death, by her husband, Niles Tignor (a shady traveling beer salesman). She and son Niley flee; she takes the name of the woman for whom she has been recently mistaken and becomes Hazel Jones. Niley, with a musical gift, becomes Zacharias, "a name from the bible," Rebecca tells people. Rebecca's Hazel navigates American norms as a waitress, salesperson and finally common-law wife of the heir of the Gallagher media fortune, a man in whom she never confides her past. Oates is a novelistic tracker, following the traces of some character's flight from or toward some ultimate violence with forensic precision. Many of the passages are a lot like a blown-up photo of a bruise—ugly without seeming to have a point. Yet the traumatic pattern of the hunter and the hunted, unfolded in Rebecca/Hazel's lifelong escape, never cripples Hazel: she is liberated, made crafty, deepened by her ultimately successful flight. Like Theodore Dreiser, Oates wears out objections with her characters, drawn in an explosive vernacular. Everything in this book depends on Oates' ability to bring a woman before the reader who is deeply veiled—whose real name is unknown even to herself—and she does it with epic panache. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member msbaba
The Gravedigger’s Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates is an epic saga about the life of Rebecca Schwart, the American born daughter of Jewish-German immigrants fleeing Hitler’s Holocaust. In Germany, Rebecca’s parents were highly educated and cultured members of the middle class, but in America,
This is a work about immigrant and survivor shame, and how it can destroy and damage lives. It is a story of emotional and physical abuse, resilience, and survival—the tale of a flawed heroine who reinvents herself over and over again merely to get by in a world that seems to conspire at every turn to do her harm. Rebecca turns into a woman running from herself—running from her past—reinventing herself at every turn of adversity. Rebecca is a woman who never has the luxury to know who she is underneath the mask of her composed and pleasant façade. Rebecca life is an open wound, a hideous secret she keeps hidden from everyone, including her husband and son.
The story spans the period from Rebecca’s birth in 1936 to her retirement years in 1999. Events do not unfold in chronological order. There are many flashbacks, often repeatedly to the same traumatic scenes as Rebecca relives them in her mind during different stages in her life.
The book has a number of ungainly segments that may leave some readers restless, rushing ahead to find where the threads of the story pick up again. In particular, I found the beginning overly long and tedious. But if readers persist, and love Joyce Carol Oates’ writing, they will be rewarded handsomely by the end of this almost-600-page novel.
Despite the dark and repeatedly violent themes, this is not a depressing story. It is a story brimming with courage—a story fascinating at almost every turn. The book provides a richly nuanced psychological study of a completely believable fictional human being. The secondary characters are vividly described and unforgettable, but most take on an almost fable-like dimension. It gives the book a strange Wizard-of-Oz feeling, like a real woman caught up in a horrific fable-like environment.
Joyce Carol Oates’ writing displays her usual exceptional mastery and literary acumen. Her writing sweeps the reader away on a torrent of emotion. In the end, everything about this book seems right, including its ungainliness and the near-otherworldly humans that populate Rebecca’s life—the overall effect is to transmit all that much more added realism to the whole. It is as if there were alchemy and synergy at work within this prose.
This book leaves the reader with a searing psychological portrait of a unique Jewish-American woman—a second-generation survivor of immigrant shame. You learn to understand Rebecca’s path from a wide-eyed innocent child, to a victim of violent physical abuse, to a guarded woman no longer capable of love, and finally to a lonely pleasant retired lady still hiding her past, but finally moderately content within herself for the person she has become, and the path it took her to get there.
I fell in love with the book’s epilogue! Perhaps, it is worth reading this entire work purely for the opportunity to read and understand this incredible ending. The epilogue brings the story around full circle—as only great literature can—and provides one of the most enjoyable, fascinating, and heartbreaking exchanges of letters that you may every find in a work of literary fiction. It is an exchange of letters between 62-year-old Rebecca, a retired lady living in a wealthy WASP retirement enclave in Florida, and her long lost cousin Freyda, now a world-renown Holocaust survivor and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Well-situated in comfortable luxury, Rebecca despairs because she continues to feel that she does not belong—that she is living a lie. Only to Freyda does she admit who she really is.
Another good reason to read this book is that it is an unusual example of Joyce Carol Oates’ writing. The author obviously has a real affinity and love for this work. Typically Oates finishes about one novel per year. She is famous for her literary fecundity. But The Gravedigger’s Daughteris a work that Oates worked on, in bits-and-pieces, for over a dozen years. It is a highly personal tale—one based loosely on the life of her maternal grandmother, who like Rebecca’s mother, was a Jewish immigrant forced by circumstances to deny her heritage. Oates’ grandfather was a gravedigger, like Rebecca’s father. He did not kill his wife, but he did threaten her, and his daughter, and eventually committed suicide with a shotgun. So there are many parallels here, but this is a work of fiction and Oates does not consider it to be a fictional biography. Perhaps, Oates might confess that the works developed into something more akin to a forensic psychological profile—an effort to bring the personality of her late grandmother alive on the page, rather than to convey the exact details of the woman’s life.
I have always enjoyed Joyce Carol Oates’ dark tales, and this one did not disappoint. I recommend it highly for its psychological depth, vivid storytelling, and eye-opening insights into the darker realms of the human condition.
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they become the lowest of the low. Rebecca becomes the gravedigger’s daughter, a child raised in abject poverty and abuse with no knowledge whatsoever about her Jewish heritage. This is a work about immigrant and survivor shame, and how it can destroy and damage lives. It is a story of emotional and physical abuse, resilience, and survival—the tale of a flawed heroine who reinvents herself over and over again merely to get by in a world that seems to conspire at every turn to do her harm. Rebecca turns into a woman running from herself—running from her past—reinventing herself at every turn of adversity. Rebecca is a woman who never has the luxury to know who she is underneath the mask of her composed and pleasant façade. Rebecca life is an open wound, a hideous secret she keeps hidden from everyone, including her husband and son.
The story spans the period from Rebecca’s birth in 1936 to her retirement years in 1999. Events do not unfold in chronological order. There are many flashbacks, often repeatedly to the same traumatic scenes as Rebecca relives them in her mind during different stages in her life.
The book has a number of ungainly segments that may leave some readers restless, rushing ahead to find where the threads of the story pick up again. In particular, I found the beginning overly long and tedious. But if readers persist, and love Joyce Carol Oates’ writing, they will be rewarded handsomely by the end of this almost-600-page novel.
Despite the dark and repeatedly violent themes, this is not a depressing story. It is a story brimming with courage—a story fascinating at almost every turn. The book provides a richly nuanced psychological study of a completely believable fictional human being. The secondary characters are vividly described and unforgettable, but most take on an almost fable-like dimension. It gives the book a strange Wizard-of-Oz feeling, like a real woman caught up in a horrific fable-like environment.
Joyce Carol Oates’ writing displays her usual exceptional mastery and literary acumen. Her writing sweeps the reader away on a torrent of emotion. In the end, everything about this book seems right, including its ungainliness and the near-otherworldly humans that populate Rebecca’s life—the overall effect is to transmit all that much more added realism to the whole. It is as if there were alchemy and synergy at work within this prose.
This book leaves the reader with a searing psychological portrait of a unique Jewish-American woman—a second-generation survivor of immigrant shame. You learn to understand Rebecca’s path from a wide-eyed innocent child, to a victim of violent physical abuse, to a guarded woman no longer capable of love, and finally to a lonely pleasant retired lady still hiding her past, but finally moderately content within herself for the person she has become, and the path it took her to get there.
I fell in love with the book’s epilogue! Perhaps, it is worth reading this entire work purely for the opportunity to read and understand this incredible ending. The epilogue brings the story around full circle—as only great literature can—and provides one of the most enjoyable, fascinating, and heartbreaking exchanges of letters that you may every find in a work of literary fiction. It is an exchange of letters between 62-year-old Rebecca, a retired lady living in a wealthy WASP retirement enclave in Florida, and her long lost cousin Freyda, now a world-renown Holocaust survivor and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Well-situated in comfortable luxury, Rebecca despairs because she continues to feel that she does not belong—that she is living a lie. Only to Freyda does she admit who she really is.
Another good reason to read this book is that it is an unusual example of Joyce Carol Oates’ writing. The author obviously has a real affinity and love for this work. Typically Oates finishes about one novel per year. She is famous for her literary fecundity. But The Gravedigger’s Daughteris a work that Oates worked on, in bits-and-pieces, for over a dozen years. It is a highly personal tale—one based loosely on the life of her maternal grandmother, who like Rebecca’s mother, was a Jewish immigrant forced by circumstances to deny her heritage. Oates’ grandfather was a gravedigger, like Rebecca’s father. He did not kill his wife, but he did threaten her, and his daughter, and eventually committed suicide with a shotgun. So there are many parallels here, but this is a work of fiction and Oates does not consider it to be a fictional biography. Perhaps, Oates might confess that the works developed into something more akin to a forensic psychological profile—an effort to bring the personality of her late grandmother alive on the page, rather than to convey the exact details of the woman’s life.
I have always enjoyed Joyce Carol Oates’ dark tales, and this one did not disappoint. I recommend it highly for its psychological depth, vivid storytelling, and eye-opening insights into the darker realms of the human condition.
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LibraryThing member elmoelle
I am an ardent fan of Joyce Carol Oates, her novel Blonde is among my favorites, so I have to warn that my opinion of this book must be considered with that fandom in mind.
The first thing in this book that really engaged me was a kind of character that I had never encountered in fiction before. I
I found it quite interesting that in the first section of the book, when Rebecca is a girl and then through the trauma of her first marriage, the story is told from her point of view and the reader is always aware of her thoughts. However, once Rebecca sheds her birth identity and Americanizes even further, to become Hazel Jones, the reader no longer knows what is going on in her head so often and there are multiple points of view brought into the narrative. This technique is an interesting way to highlight the manner in which Rebecca/Hazel has so completely changed herself.
Anyone who is familiar with Oates' work knows that the brief plot outline I have offered doesn't even begin to include all of the threads of this story. There is a brief encounter with a serial killer, examinations of what happens to men who define themselves through a certain kinds of brute manhood when they lose power, the too cozy closeness of living in a small town where everyone knows everyone, and a million other bits an pieces.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thinking about the idea of identity in the United States and to anyone who just wants a really good old fashioned novel that is filled with interesting characters and realistic details.
The first thing in this book that really engaged me was a kind of character that I had never encountered in fiction before. I
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have read a great many novels set during the Holocaust but I have never, until now, met characters who are Jewish, and must live with the burden that brings, but who at the same time derive no comfort from their faith. The parents of Rebecca, the main character of this novel, are ethnically Jewish Germans who flee the country to emigrate to America during Hitler's rise to power. However, prior to the stigma that was forced on them by the Nazis, Rebecca's parents had identified primarily as Germans and had taken their values and worldview from German philosophers. Once in America, the family is marginalized as the other and her parents turn inward to such a dramatic extent that there occurs an explosive event which destroys the family completely. After leaving her family, Rebecca lives for a bit in a kind but suffocating foster home and then lives on her own, working as a chamber maid. She quickly falls into marriage with a man she doesn't really know and has a son. Soon she must leave this husband, and her identity, and strikes out on her own with her son, becoming a gypsy around New York State, until she determines what the proper new identity is and finds a new husband who is kinder, but too happy to live with the artifice Rebecca has made of her life. I found it quite interesting that in the first section of the book, when Rebecca is a girl and then through the trauma of her first marriage, the story is told from her point of view and the reader is always aware of her thoughts. However, once Rebecca sheds her birth identity and Americanizes even further, to become Hazel Jones, the reader no longer knows what is going on in her head so often and there are multiple points of view brought into the narrative. This technique is an interesting way to highlight the manner in which Rebecca/Hazel has so completely changed herself.
Anyone who is familiar with Oates' work knows that the brief plot outline I have offered doesn't even begin to include all of the threads of this story. There is a brief encounter with a serial killer, examinations of what happens to men who define themselves through a certain kinds of brute manhood when they lose power, the too cozy closeness of living in a small town where everyone knows everyone, and a million other bits an pieces.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thinking about the idea of identity in the United States and to anyone who just wants a really good old fashioned novel that is filled with interesting characters and realistic details.
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LibraryThing member lilel17
It was the first book I read by the author and I was hooked by her writing immediately.
LibraryThing member lauriebrown54
This was a very hard book to read. It’s not that it is poorly written; it’s that the protagonist’s situation struck a raw note and was so painful for me to read about.
Rebecca Schwart’s life is all about fear. From the time she is a small child, fear rules her life. Daughter of immigrants
Sadly, although Rebecca (now living under the name of Hazel Jones- even that name is a case of her becoming what someone else wants her to be) manages to make her way to a good life, she loses herself. She’s incredibly perceptive as to what people want, and very adept at giving them that. While she certainly has standards- she is firm as to what lines she will not cross- she does not present her real self to a single person. She is more mirror than human.
It’s what most every person in an abusive relationship learns to do; Rebecca just takes it much further than most do. After getting involved with her first husband, she has not pursued a single thing she really wanted to do other than raise her beloved and musically gifted son. In this novel of 580 pages, we never do find out what Rebecca wanted out of life other than to raise her son safely.
It’s a powerful book. I found it painfully long and slow, but could not stop reading, wondering if Rebecca could keep up the act and not make a misstep that would cause her house of cards to tumble down. If you want to see some of the psychological effects of being in an abusive, manipulative, relationship are, read this book. If you have been in that kind of relationship, you might find this book to be very triggering.
Rebecca Schwart’s life is all about fear. From the time she is a small child, fear rules her life. Daughter of immigrants
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who fled the Nazis, she lives in horrible poverty, her father being reduced from a high school math teacher in Germany to a cemetery caretaker in America. Understandably bitter by their reduced circumstances and the way they are treated by Americans, her father is authoritarian and abusive, taking his anger and defeat out on his family. Rebecca learns to be what her father wants her to be to keep things running smoothly. After tragedy turns her out on her own, she uses this talent of being what others want her to be to her advantage. It keeps her alive through brutal marriage; it enables her to run and start a new life. Sadly, although Rebecca (now living under the name of Hazel Jones- even that name is a case of her becoming what someone else wants her to be) manages to make her way to a good life, she loses herself. She’s incredibly perceptive as to what people want, and very adept at giving them that. While she certainly has standards- she is firm as to what lines she will not cross- she does not present her real self to a single person. She is more mirror than human.
It’s what most every person in an abusive relationship learns to do; Rebecca just takes it much further than most do. After getting involved with her first husband, she has not pursued a single thing she really wanted to do other than raise her beloved and musically gifted son. In this novel of 580 pages, we never do find out what Rebecca wanted out of life other than to raise her son safely.
It’s a powerful book. I found it painfully long and slow, but could not stop reading, wondering if Rebecca could keep up the act and not make a misstep that would cause her house of cards to tumble down. If you want to see some of the psychological effects of being in an abusive, manipulative, relationship are, read this book. If you have been in that kind of relationship, you might find this book to be very triggering.
Show Less
LibraryThing member cemming
I quite dislike this book. I even flailed through the stupid thing twice, the second time thinking it sounded so familiar. At the same time, the story is so dull that it apparently flew from my mind until I reached a midway point where a shooting occurs that I remembered quite clearly.
"The
I'm generally forgiving with Oates, but not here. Save your time and read "Mulvaneys" instead.
"The
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Gravedigger's Daughter" is very character-driven, and Rebecca is a dull, slow-minded person to follow. Though many riveting events have happened to her, she works slowly through each story in a painstaking way that's hard for an impatient girl like myself to stand. I'm generally forgiving with Oates, but not here. Save your time and read "Mulvaneys" instead.
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LibraryThing member bhowell
This is a brilliant book by one of my most favorite authors. Every new book by Ms Oates is a treasure but still Gravediggers is an extraordinary effort. The only reason that I still have a few unread books by Ms Oates is that they are to be savoured and set aside for special occasions.
LibraryThing member OneMorePage
Escaped from Nazi Germany in 1936, the Schwartz family find themselves living in a cemetary in a small town in Western, NY. A former math teacher, he is now the town gravedigger. His wife is withdrawn, unable to speak English. His sons are rebellious, eventually leaving to escape the law and the
Rebecca marries a man twice her age when she is 17, anxious to get on with her life, desperate for love. He is a grifter. When she is 21 and their child 3, he beats her and the child, nearly killing them both. When he passes into an alcohol-incuded sleep, she takes the child and leaves. She becomes Hazel Jones, with her son, Zack. When he is four, she sets him in front of a piano in a roadside bar -- and he finds what he is meant for.
For the next 20 years, Hazel lives for Zack. She moves and moves, afraid to settle for fear "HE" will find them. She manages to get birth certificates for them both. She meets a man who plays Jazz piano. He guys Zack his own piano and gets Hazel a job in a piano store. There, Jack gets professional training. He wins scholarships in Syracuse, then Buffalo. He is a prodigy. She first lives with the man who is their benefactor, then, eventually, after learning of her first husband's death in Attica, marries him. Her son, Zack, competes, matures, falls in lvoe, becomes a world-famous pianist.
Now in her 60's, Hazel lives in Florida retirement community with her husband. She finds a memoir of a woman who is her age who was turned away in the NY Harbor in the early '50's, another Jewish refugee. This woman survived the camps. Eventually, she became a famous geneological researcher. And Hazel remembers back so many years ago, when she was Rebecca, the Gravedigger's Daughter. A Jew. A German. Waiting for her cousin to come to stay, but who is turned away in NY Harbor and is sent back. Whose family is sent to the Camps. And how this made her father insane, her mother stop speaking.
Now at the end of her life, Hazel writes to this woman and tells her of Rebecca.
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torment of their peers. Their daughter, Rebecca, born in the NY Harbor, iis orphaned at 13 when he shoots his wife, then himself.Rebecca marries a man twice her age when she is 17, anxious to get on with her life, desperate for love. He is a grifter. When she is 21 and their child 3, he beats her and the child, nearly killing them both. When he passes into an alcohol-incuded sleep, she takes the child and leaves. She becomes Hazel Jones, with her son, Zack. When he is four, she sets him in front of a piano in a roadside bar -- and he finds what he is meant for.
For the next 20 years, Hazel lives for Zack. She moves and moves, afraid to settle for fear "HE" will find them. She manages to get birth certificates for them both. She meets a man who plays Jazz piano. He guys Zack his own piano and gets Hazel a job in a piano store. There, Jack gets professional training. He wins scholarships in Syracuse, then Buffalo. He is a prodigy. She first lives with the man who is their benefactor, then, eventually, after learning of her first husband's death in Attica, marries him. Her son, Zack, competes, matures, falls in lvoe, becomes a world-famous pianist.
Now in her 60's, Hazel lives in Florida retirement community with her husband. She finds a memoir of a woman who is her age who was turned away in the NY Harbor in the early '50's, another Jewish refugee. This woman survived the camps. Eventually, she became a famous geneological researcher. And Hazel remembers back so many years ago, when she was Rebecca, the Gravedigger's Daughter. A Jew. A German. Waiting for her cousin to come to stay, but who is turned away in NY Harbor and is sent back. Whose family is sent to the Camps. And how this made her father insane, her mother stop speaking.
Now at the end of her life, Hazel writes to this woman and tells her of Rebecca.
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LibraryThing member Bookish59
Agony to read: descriptions of the hovel that is the Schwarts’ home, the tainted water they are forced to drink, the hard labor of digging and maintaining graves, the parents’ terror of what they left behind mixed with fear of American anti-Semitism, and the humiliation of their unfulfilled
How Rebecca lives on and the choices she makes, and her extraordinary and often irrational behavior is understandable only in context of her tormented early life. There is no doubt that her strength saved her many times.
By now everyone knows Oates is a master of manipulating words but I wasn’t prepared for my thoughts to be so deeply moved.
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lives of deprivation and separateness in Milburn (upstate New York) is disturbing and visceral. Oates’ story of this disintegrating Jewish family compelled me to read on though I wanted to drop this horror and flee. I knew that Jacob’s possessive anger and manic cruelty, and Anna’s emotional collapse and dysfunction and the effects on Rebecca and her two brothers could only lead to a terrifying climax. I had to read on to learn exactly what happens and quickly pass it by without totally absorbing it all… until later. How Rebecca lives on and the choices she makes, and her extraordinary and often irrational behavior is understandable only in context of her tormented early life. There is no doubt that her strength saved her many times.
By now everyone knows Oates is a master of manipulating words but I wasn’t prepared for my thoughts to be so deeply moved.
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LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
The Gravedigger's Daughter is exactly that, a story about Rebecca, a gravedigger's daughter. Her story is wrought with tragedy. Her family (father, two brothers and pregnant-with-Rebecca mother) fled Nazi Germany in 1936. After Rebecca's birth on U.S. soil the family finds themselves in a small
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town in upstate New York. Rebecca's father in his former life was a high school teacher, but in America is reduced to sole cemetery caretaker and gravedigger. With his place in society diminished he grows more and more discontent with his family and way of life. After a horrible tragedy Rebecca is left to escape; to reinvent herself; to renew her place in the world. Her story is one of terrible beauty and bittersweet courage. My only "complaint" is it took a long time (over 500 pages) for Rebecca to get where she's going. Show Less
LibraryThing member neverlistless
I really enjoyed this one at the beginning and through the middle, but towards the end I really started losing interest. It took me almost a week and a half to read the last 150 pages! It's hard for me to say anything else about the book. I liked reading about the evolution of Rebecca, the main
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character. Her life was definitely interesting! My favorite parts of the book, though, were at the beginning. She is the daughter of immigrants and her father is the town gravedigger. I liked reading about the tiny stone cottage on the edge of the graveyard. Show Less
LibraryThing member mrstreme
The Gravedigger’s Daughter was an intense story of one woman, Rebecca, whose destiny might have been to fail, but through her tenacity and courage, she became a strong, independent and resourceful woman.
Rebecca’s family emigrated to the U.S. after the Nazi take-over in Germany. They settled in
Eventually, tragedy struck the family and Rebecca had to make her way into the world. At 17, she met Niles Tignor, who swept Rebecca off her feet and married her. Niles was trouble, probably a hired killer, and Rebecca often felt Niles’s anger through his fists and words. Once again, Rebecca was in a loveless situation – this time with a son to consider – and she must decide to leave or die.
Without giving away any spoilers, I felt that Rebecca learned from her mother’s mistakes – she encouraged her son’s musical talent, she protected him from the abuses of his father and remained there for him emotionally. For Rebecca, nothing was more important than her son’s safety and well-being – priorities at which Rebecca’s mother failed miserably.
Additionally, this story held the dark undertones of anti-Semitic behavior in post-World War II New York and the devastation of the Holocaust. Rebecca grew up not realizing she was Jewish but knew that she lost many of her relatives back home. Townspeople sprayed swastikas on her home or left them inscribed in the dirt of her driveway. She was often called “Gypsy” or “Jew” and denied both claims vehemently. It was an interesting aspect to this story.
At 582 pages, The Gravedigger’s Daughter was longer than I am usually comfortable with. I remember at the half-way point thinking, in my normal impatient way, that perhaps I would skim the last 250 pages. But Rebecca’s story entranced me, and I had to read every word to make sure she and her son were okay.
This is my second Joyce Carol Oates’ fictional book, but it certainly won’t be my last. She truly is one of America’s greatest storytellers.
Rebecca’s family emigrated to the U.S. after the Nazi take-over in Germany. They settled in
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upstate New York, where Rebecca’s father accepted a position as the town’s gravedigger. They lived in a hovel, and Rebecca’s childhood was a hard one. Her father was abusive; her mother, emotionally empty; and her older brothers teased or ignored her. She grew up in a household without love and was picked on for being the gravedigger’s daughter.Eventually, tragedy struck the family and Rebecca had to make her way into the world. At 17, she met Niles Tignor, who swept Rebecca off her feet and married her. Niles was trouble, probably a hired killer, and Rebecca often felt Niles’s anger through his fists and words. Once again, Rebecca was in a loveless situation – this time with a son to consider – and she must decide to leave or die.
Without giving away any spoilers, I felt that Rebecca learned from her mother’s mistakes – she encouraged her son’s musical talent, she protected him from the abuses of his father and remained there for him emotionally. For Rebecca, nothing was more important than her son’s safety and well-being – priorities at which Rebecca’s mother failed miserably.
Additionally, this story held the dark undertones of anti-Semitic behavior in post-World War II New York and the devastation of the Holocaust. Rebecca grew up not realizing she was Jewish but knew that she lost many of her relatives back home. Townspeople sprayed swastikas on her home or left them inscribed in the dirt of her driveway. She was often called “Gypsy” or “Jew” and denied both claims vehemently. It was an interesting aspect to this story.
At 582 pages, The Gravedigger’s Daughter was longer than I am usually comfortable with. I remember at the half-way point thinking, in my normal impatient way, that perhaps I would skim the last 250 pages. But Rebecca’s story entranced me, and I had to read every word to make sure she and her son were okay.
This is my second Joyce Carol Oates’ fictional book, but it certainly won’t be my last. She truly is one of America’s greatest storytellers.
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LibraryThing member C.Vick
I'm not going to be so forward as to "review" a book I didn't actually finish, but I think it is worth mentioning that I could not finish this book.
It had all the hallmarks of something I ought to have liked, and indeed, I could not put it down during those first few tense chapters where we
She just kept talking and talking and talking without the story going much of anywhere. I skimmed a great deal and then finally had to accept that this was one of the few books I would simply never finish.
So, maybe I am more forward than I thought, sorry! I'd love to be convinced to finish this one, but the payoff would have to be huge.
It had all the hallmarks of something I ought to have liked, and indeed, I could not put it down during those first few tense chapters where we
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alternate between Rebecca's present and her past, but once her safety was assured (for the moment, I'm sure) the book just dragged.She just kept talking and talking and talking without the story going much of anywhere. I skimmed a great deal and then finally had to accept that this was one of the few books I would simply never finish.
So, maybe I am more forward than I thought, sorry! I'd love to be convinced to finish this one, but the payoff would have to be huge.
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LibraryThing member CarolynSchroeder
This is overall a very interesting, rarely done story of German Jewish immigrants (to upstate NY) who, at the tail end of the war and in the subsequent years, still fear for their lives and interpretations of who they are. Many parts of Rebecca's life end or begin unexpectedly and I believe, very
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"real." It truly made me think how life was not suddenly rosy upon immigration and escape from the Nazis. I felt the novel could have used a bit more editing as Rebecca's time with Tignor dragged on and on and on and seemed patently unplausible in many areas. I also never saw anything remotely appealing about Tignor, so while I realize Rebecca needed him to escape and carry on, I had a hard time swallowing her love for him. He was always so cruel and stopped at nothing to insult and demean her and their child. After she leaves him, the story unfolds with unexpected delights and realities. The last chapter, with the letters between Rebecca and Fryda are some of the most beautiful, haunting, real pieces of fiction I have read this year. Overall, highly recommended. It is, however, a story that sticks with you for a while after completion. Show Less
LibraryThing member lyzadanger
This is the fourth Oates novel I've read that deals directly with themes of domestic violence, battered or slighted women, and bigotry (the others being "The Falls", "Blonde" and "The Tattooed Girl"). Oates' dark currency is in these bleak subjects, and through inherent talent and simple
"The Gravedigger's Daughter" isn't a perfect work. It has its self-indulgences and its dead ends. But it is several things: complete, readable, and moving. Oates' mastery of rhythmic cadence pushes her works into semi-poetic dirges, and this is no exception. The grim (though ultimately uplifting) plot pushes you through the mid-20th-century life of Rebecca, an abused, tragic daughter of immigrants (her father the eponymous digger of graves). Through a series of flashbacks and longer, chronological segments, Rebecca's life is framed by world wars, shame, bigotry, violence and Oates' well-crafted settings throughout New York state. At times hard to watch, Rebecca's life is difficult to put down, and the 600 pages slide by mostly with ease.
What is so rewarding about this, like other Oates novels, is that it's both entertaining and meaningful. I've found her works to be good escape or vacation reads (if one doesn't mind the dark subject matter--generally her endings soften the impact, anyway). "The Gravedigger's Daughter" swerves strangely in its final stretches, but leaves me, overall, satisfied.
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prolificness she has become adroit at weaving them into the corners of page-turners."The Gravedigger's Daughter" isn't a perfect work. It has its self-indulgences and its dead ends. But it is several things: complete, readable, and moving. Oates' mastery of rhythmic cadence pushes her works into semi-poetic dirges, and this is no exception. The grim (though ultimately uplifting) plot pushes you through the mid-20th-century life of Rebecca, an abused, tragic daughter of immigrants (her father the eponymous digger of graves). Through a series of flashbacks and longer, chronological segments, Rebecca's life is framed by world wars, shame, bigotry, violence and Oates' well-crafted settings throughout New York state. At times hard to watch, Rebecca's life is difficult to put down, and the 600 pages slide by mostly with ease.
What is so rewarding about this, like other Oates novels, is that it's both entertaining and meaningful. I've found her works to be good escape or vacation reads (if one doesn't mind the dark subject matter--generally her endings soften the impact, anyway). "The Gravedigger's Daughter" swerves strangely in its final stretches, but leaves me, overall, satisfied.
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LibraryThing member kshaffar
I enjoyed this story of a woman trying to make her way and recover from unspeakable abuse. I usually like Joyce Carol Oates, but it's such a slog through. Her voice and the world that she is able to paint is vivid and the characters are painted with an artists brush.
Still, this book didn't become
Still, this book didn't become
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really good until page 300, and then it was really good. I'm just not sure it was worth the slog through. Show Less
LibraryThing member Natalie220
I was skeptical about this novel but I'm glad I stuck with it. We hear Rebecca Swharts life story which is based on Oates own grandmother. She has to hide the fact she is Jewish and even changes her name she has no relatives but only a son who becomes a great pianist. Great story don't want to say
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too much. Show Less
LibraryThing member ladydzura
I had a hard time getting past the first 75 pages or so of this book. Once I did, I was glad that I had trudged through the less enjoyable bits. The rest of the book is captivating, and I became enthralled with Rebecca and her story. The ending isn't one that I expected at all, but I enjoyed it
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thoroughly. Show Less
LibraryThing member dannalora
I listened to this book on disc and it took me FOREVER (I was so disinterested, I listened to something else during it, putting this one aside). I should have just stopped after a few discs, however, I like to finish the books I start in case they get better. Every single character in the book you
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meet is crazy! Not one single sane person. I know there's crazy peoplen out there, but everyone? Oates repeats herself so much the book could have been cut in half. This is the first Oates book I've read, and unless someone I know and trust recommends one, I won't try another! Show Less
LibraryThing member whinylibrarian
Despite the usual Oates charm, this one was fairly... bland. I kept waiting for some punch like the ones you constantly got from "My sister, my love" with its urgent narrative and rather furious voice. I like Oates best when she's writing like slaps in the face.
But overall it's a good book. Not
But overall it's a good book. Not
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special, but good. Show Less
LibraryThing member elsyd
The first 188 pages of this book were almost impossible to endure. I reverted to speed-reading, something I really don't approve of. The 2nd 2/3 of the book was good although the ending was somewhat dissapointing. I will not be reading any more of Oates in the near future.
LibraryThing member aliciamalia
I've always considered Oates an "Oprah" writer, melodramatic and girly, slightly lowbrow, without ever reading any of her works. I totally take it back - The Gravedigger's Daughter is strange, dense, filled with fascinating characters, and beautifully written. Considering how prolific she is (a
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book a year on average), I have nothing but awe for the talent of this writer. I'll definitely read more of her books. Show Less
LibraryThing member KimberlyCooks
Joyce Carol Oates tells terrible tales, stories of human misery and despair. I formed this impression while reading The Gravedigger's Daughter (my introduction to her work) and have found it to hold true for her other works that I have encountered. However, her work is also characterized a deep
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sense of hope. The Gravediggers Daughter left with me with a greater understanding of and sense of compassion for the difficulties faced by those who emigrated from Germany to the USA prior to World War II in order to escape the very likely danger they faced. Show Less
LibraryThing member bibliophileofalls
This book was way too long but did have some redeeming values. I found the characters portrayals muddied. I never got to a point where I felt I "knew" any of them, even the main character, Rebecca/Hazel. Their personalities never really jelled. The son, Jake, almost seemed to have some
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mental/emotional issues growing up, but then mysteriously turns out fairly normal. Hazel, portrayed as a very protective almost smothering mother to Jake, at one point leaves him alone and sets out on a long, dangerous hike with her man friend. Confusing character portrayals. I did, on the other hand, like the ending; I felt it was fitting. Don't think I'll be looking for any J.C.O. books for quite a while. Show Less
LibraryThing member judithrs
The Gravedigger’s Daughter. Joyce Carol Oates. 2007. My Tai Chi teacher lent this to me. I am sorry it took me so long to read Oates. She is a great writer! The life of Rebecca, daughter of German immigrates fleeing from Nazi Germany is slowly revealed.
When her distraught father murders her
When her distraught father murders her
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mother and kills himself, Rebecca is taken in by a school teacher but leaves to work as a chamber maid where she meets the man who marries her. When his abuse threatens her son, Rebecca takes the son and runs and slowly and carefully makes a new life for herself and her son. This is a fascinating story of a woman’s determination to save her son and herself Show Less
LibraryThing member starlet
I read as many of Joyce Carol Oates books that I can (and if they are on audio) -- some better than others -- but all of them are thought provoking and so multi-layered that one must stick with it and when you do, it's worth it -- there's just so much going on for one book. I really liked this
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story -- she's not for everyone, but I always recommend her as one of my favorite authors--I'm rarely disappointed. Although I was taken aback by the ending, after about 30 minutes of reading the final chapter, I came around to realize that the conclusion is one that you can write yourself and I did. I listened to this on audio and it was captivating throughout. Show Less
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2009)
National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2007)
Macavity Award (Nominee — Historical Mystery — 2008)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Fiction — 2007)
Language
Original language
English