Book Review- Cardiff, by the Sea: Four Novellas by Joyce Carol Oats

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for providing me with a copy of Joyce Carol Oates’ collection, Cardiff, by the Sea: Four Novellas, in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a huge Joyce Carol Oates fan and I was thrilled for the opportunity to read her new novella collection, Cardiff, by the Sea. All four novellas focus on young women navigating isolating and unsettling situations. The collection is labeled a suspense, which is apt, as the pacing of each story feels like a ticking bomb and the edginess never fades.

In the first story and title of the collection, Cardiff by the Sea, a mid-twenties university researcher discovers that she has inherited an abandoned farm house in rural Maine. The woman had been adopted as a child and the inheritance leads her to blood relatives and a shocking revelation of her parent’s death. I was gripped by this story and it felt quite personal. I also had a similar family tragedy that happened to me at four years old, the same as the main character ( although I was not adopted) and I have quite a bit of mystery surrounding my blood relatives. I found myself deeply connecting to the point where I felt almost in a trance reading this story. It was an out-of-body experience that I have never had while reading. It has been a week and I feel haunted by Cardiff by the Sea.

The second story, Miao Dao follows a preteen girl struggling to survive absentee parents, a handsy new stepfather, and boys at school who both tease and touch her developing body. She escapes to a nearby abandoned lot that is filled with feral cats. Her favorite cat, “Miao Dao” becomes larger than life in her imagination and takes on a protector role, helping the girl fight back against those who harm her.

In Phantomwise:1972, a college student has two secretive relationships. The first is with a young professor who only uses her for sex when he is in the mood. She becomes pregnant and decides to keep the pregnancy a secret. In the early stages of her pregnancy, a much older visiting professor takes an interest in her and she becomes his assistant. She is flattered to have attracted the attention of a man that she admires, yet she knows that the situation is not right. He wants more. She struggles with the harmful and inappropriate attention of two men, while trying to figure out what to do with the secret growing in her uterus.

The final story is The Surviving Child. A new wife marries a wealthy older man and becomes stepmother to his young son, Stefan. Going into the marriage, she knew that her husband and stepson had suffered a terrible and highly publicized tragedy. Stefan’s mother had killed herself and his baby sister. The mother had tried to kill Stefan, but he survived. Stefan’s mother was a famous poet, who through her death achieved a feminist cult-like status akin to Sylvia Plath. Stefan is a strange child marked by tragedy and his stepmother arrives unprepared for this new role. She spends a lot of time wandering around the mansion, looking for clues left behind by her husband’s first wife.

Oates has written an exceptional collection. I highly recommend all four novellas. in particular, Cardiff, by the Sea was a profoundly affecting reading experience that has left me feeling rattled.

Book Review: Sayaka Murata's Earthlings

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for providing me with a copy of Sayaka Murata’s latest novel, Earthings, in exchange for an honest review.

Natsuki has always felt different from other people. She is an outsider in her family with her parents favoring her older sister. She discovers the reason for her outsider status when she meets Piyyut, a stuffed hedgehog that is actually an alien from the planet Popinpobopia. Piyyut informs Natsuki that she is also from their planet, which is why she doesn’t fit-in as an earthling.

The knowledge, along with guidance from Piyyut, emboldens Natsuki to stay strong against conforming to societal pressures. But rather than simply not conforming, Natsuki uses her Popinpobopia status as an excuse to engage in taboo human behavior, such as a preteen sexual encounter with her cousin Yuu.

When Natsuki and Yuu are discovered naked in the woods, their family separates them and keeps a close eye on both of them. In efforts to keep her parent’s suspicions at bay, Natsuki eventually marries, but unknown to her family, Natsuki’s husband is also a non-conformist and has an interest in Popinpobopia. They have a sham marriage, yet are mutually committed to pushing against societies taboos. They reunite with Yuu, who is someone who likes to be a follower and has been feeling very lost in his life. The trio may be stuck on earth, but they attempt to live as much of an authentic Popinpobopia life as possible.

I’m left absolutely stunned by Earthlings and I’m struggling to unpack the experience. I’ve never read anything quite like it.

Earthlings plays with ideas of what it is to conform to society, especially interesting as from what I understand, Japanese society places a high value on conforming. However, what happens when you simply can’t conform?

Natsuki has been traumatized. She is both physically and verbally abused by her family, as her sister is shown overt favoritism. When Natsuki meets Piyyut, she is already primed to believe the Popinpobopia fantasy. It is a coping mechanism for her. This goes deeper, when she is molested by her cram school teacher. She has no one to turn to, not even her close friend, who has a crush on the handsome teacher. Natsuki is constantly receiving a message that she is bad and damaged. The only person she can trust is Yuu and when they are forced apart, her mental state crumbles further.

Is Natsuki a victim or an unreliable narrator? I’m choosing to believe that she is a victim of severe trauma and this informs her Popinpobopia fantasy. Victim, however, does not mean innocent. Often Natsuki acts in a predatory manner, including her interactions with the weak willed Yuu. There are points in Earthings where I think Natsuki has clarity that Popinpobopia is not real, yet she uses it to justify her behavior. I think she must force herself to believe it, because the reality of her situation is too horrific.

Earthlings is not for the squeamish or the prude. It is one of the most surprising, graphic, and shocking stories that I have ever read. The ending is a jaw dropper. That said, I’m left feeling that nothing was gratuitous. Ultimately, the story is about how society treats outsiders, including those who have been victimized. Natsuki transforms into something quite monstrous, however, the true monsters are both her abusers and society as a whole, who have turned a blind-eye to her pain.

Book Review: Ada Calhoun's Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for providing me with a copy of Ada Calhoun’s Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis, in exchange for an honest review.

In Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis, Ada Calhoun explores the unique challenges facing Generation X women, who are now middle-age.

Spanning from the early 60’s to the early 80’s (there is some disagreement on the dates), Calhoun explains that many women born during this time had a challenging childhood. We ( I am a Gen-X woman) were raised by mother’s who fought for equality and told us that we could do anything. This created an immense pressure to “have it all,” even when “having it all” is an impossible goal and reaching for the brass ring has made us deeply dissatisfied. The caustic divorces that we experienced with our parents, created a drive to maintain the semblance of a perfect life for our children, to hide any cracks in the co-parenting relationship. Growing up latch-key kids and experiencing a free-roaming childhood, has turned Gen-xers into overprotective, helicopter parents. We are drowning as we fail to keep up with our self-imposed expectations.

Calhoun argues that previous generations did not put such a big emphasis on perfection. Our mothers didn’t have social media to constantly compare themselves to their friends and celebrities. They didn’t post pictures of their gluten-free cupcakes or their latest beach vacation. They didn’t feel a constant pressure to keep looking youthful. Societal pressure to go vegan or to believe in a certain movement didn’t plague them every time they looked at their phone, because cell phones didn’t exist. Social media didn’t exist.

Interestingly, Calhoun explains that the pressure to compare and to be perfect seems to be felt more strongly with Gen X. Younger generations don’t seem as worried about what people think. Perhaps it is because Gen Xer’s were older when social media became common place. I was born at the end of Gen X and Facebook wasn’t popular until I was in my 30’s. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have my teen years and 20’s recorded on social media. Calhoun notes that younger generations seem to post on social media with less worry of how it will be perceived, where as Gen X is more careful regarding what they post. We are a generation that has quickly adapted to technology, yet we have not had it in our lives the same way that the generations after us have experienced.

Why We Can’t Sleep made me feel stressed. I can attest to the feelings of perfectionism and failure. I’ve entered my 40’s happy with my life. I don’t have children ( two wonderful step-children, but they are only with us for holidays), so perhaps that lessens the intensity of needing to prove something or create a certain life. I think it gives me freedom. Still, I had a mom who drove home the idea that “anything is possible,” which, as I reflect, doesn't feel true. I entered the work force and experienced inequality. My mom gave me a clear message that men should not be fully trusted, yet she also pushed a traditional marriage. I was told to be both independent and dependent. It was confusing.

Additionally, Calhoun pointed out something that I didn’t realize I was resentful over, until I read it. She mentions that there is now a backlash for the freedom that we experienced in childhood. I was a latchkey child starting in third grade and although there were adult neighbors, I was basically left home summers/holidays/after school, from the age of eight. That would be unheard of now, but my mom was a working, single-mom and we had no choice. Besides that, I don’t really remember my mom being engaged with me. When we were home together, I was told to play outside or in my room. Maybe it’s because my mom had me later in life, but she continued the, “children should be seen and not heard” motto from her generation. There were times that my mom did things with me, like take me to museums or to the movies, but on a whole, I was on my own. Calhoun says that this was common for Gen X childhoods and this has prompted many Gen X parents to become uber engaged with their children. I see this in my friends with their parenting styles. I realize that my mom had to work and things were hard, but I do feel that I was disconnected with her as a child and did not become close to her until I became an adult.

Calhoun tackles perimenopause and the options that women have to ease this transition. She states that this is an important life change that is simply not discussed. I agree, I’ve never discussed this with anyone, including my doctors. I’m 42 and I haven’t noticed much of a change yet, but I appreciate that Calhoun speaks to this topic.

With everything going on in the world with corona virus, I’m not sure that it was good timing to read Why We Can’t Sleep. I made me feel more anxiety. That said, I think Calhoun has written an important book that is worth a read. I will definitely recommend it to friends of my generation.