A Widow’s Story: A Memoirby Joyce Carol Oates, Fourth Estate, $35.
Joyce Carol Oates is one of America’s most prolific novelists, best known forBlonde, an extraordinary fictional biography which offers a window into the soul of Marilyn Monroe.
InA Widow’s Storywe catch a glimpse of Oates’ soul seen in sharp, detailed, jarring focus through her own eyes.
In February 2008, the author drove her husband to the ER of her local hospital where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted, expecting to return home in a few days.
His sudden and unexpected death threw Joyce Carol Oates’ world completely off-kilter and this book is a no-holds barred account of the year that follows as she tries to contemplate life as a widow.
It’s a journey that will chime with anyone who has suffered a close family loss as we battle through the denial, the pain, the loneliness and the suicidal thoughts that crowd Oates’ tortured mind.
But beneath the torment, it is also a wonderful portrait of a kismet marriage that makes your heart sing.
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