The Tattooed Girl: A Novel (P.S.)
by Joyce Carol Oates
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Book Summary Information
Author: Joyce Carol OatesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-29
ISBN: 0061136042
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of The Tattooed Girl: A Novel (P.S.)
Book Review: really good
Summary: 5 Stars
The themes in this novel are certainly controversial and most of the characters are unappealing, but I very much enjoyed it because it was well-written and interesting and it made me think. Actually, "enjoyed" isn't really the right word for a book with such a drab, cold tone - I was really engrossed in it and fascinated by it, I couldn't put it down.
This book it being marketed as if its main point was dealing with anti-Semitism and I think that was a mistake - this novel's main point seemed to me to be that the world can be a cold, cruel, detached place and that people can be very ignorant and harshly judgmental of one another. It also seemed to me that the main reason why Alma hated Seigl wasn't that he was Jewish - it was more because he's wealthy and takes everything for granted in order to avoid his guilt feelings about his mostly inherited, unearned wealth, and because he's male and Alma both adores and hates men. His Jewishness was mostly just something Alma could latch onto because that's what she does, she latches onto things and clings for dear life, and hating Seigl for his heritage was a way for her to bond with Dmitri and cling to him. I have no way of knowing whether or not Oates intended it this way or not, but anti-Semitism in this novel seemed almost incidental instead of being the primary theme. If it was supposed to be a novel primarily about anti-Semitism then Oates didn't quite accomplish her goal.
Also, if the book was intended to be about the redemption of Alma then the ending is a failure and makes the book pointless, but it fits in well with the novel being about the general random cruelty of life. I will agree with other reviewers though that the ending was a bit of a cop-out, like Oates just wanted to end the novel and couldn't think of another way to do it.
As I said before, I found this book to be fascinating and an engrossing read, and the characters, as odd as they were, seemed believable. It's probably not the novel for you if you want likable characters and a happy ending, but I don't regret reading it. Perhaps I'm more inclined to give Oates or authors in general a break, I don't know. This is all just my opinion, take it how you will.
Summary of The Tattooed Girl: A Novel (P.S.)
Celebrated author Joshua Seigl, an idiosyncratic bachelor and confirmed recluse?young but in failing health?reluctantly admits to himself that he must hire a live-in assistant to help him with his increasingly complicated professional and personal affairs. Then one day at the bookstore he encounters Alma, a young woman covered with bizarre tattoos, who stirs something inside him. Unaware of her torturous past?the abuses she's suffered, the wrongs she's committed, the virulent hatred that seethes within her?Seigl decides that she is the one, and he has no idea that he is bringing an enemy into his home.
With her unique, masterful balance of dark suspense and surprising tenderness, Joyce Carol Oates probes the tragedy of ethnic hatred and challenges the accepted limits of desire.
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