We Were the Mulvaneys (Oprah's Book Club) | 
 enlarge | Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Publisher: Plume
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
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Rating:  477 reviews
Sales Rank: 95076
Media: Paperback
Pages: 464
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.4
ISBN: 0452277205
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780452282827
Publication Date: September 1996
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Amazon.com Review
Oprah Book Club Selection, January 2001: A happy family, the Mulvaneys. After decades of marriage, Mom and Dad are still in love--and the proud parents of a brood of youngsters that includes a star athlete, a class valedictorian, and a popular cheerleader. Home is an idyllic place called High Point Farm. And the bonds of attachment within this all-American clan do seem both deep and unconditional: "Mom paused again, drawing in her breath sharply, her eyes suffused with a special lustre, gazing upon her family one by one, with what crazy unbounded love she gazed upon us, and at such a moment my heart would contract as if this woman who was my mother had slipped her fingers inside my rib cage to contain it, as you might hold a wild, thrashing bird to comfort it." But as we all know, Eden can't last forever. And in the hands of Joyce Carol Oates, who's chronicled just about every variety of familial dysfunction, you know the fall from grace is going to be a doozy. By the time all is said and done, a rape occurs, a daughter is exiled, much alcohol is consumed, and the farm is lost. Even to recount these events in retrospect is a trial for the Mulvaney offspring, one of whom declares: "When I say this is a hard reckoning I mean it's been like squeezing thick drops of blood from my veins." In the hands of a lesser writer, this could be the stuff of a bad television movie. But this is Oates's 26th novel, and by now she knows her material and her craft to perfection. We Were the Mulvaneys is populated with such richly observed and complex characters that we can't help but care about them, even as we wait for disaster to strike them down. --Anita Urquhart
Product Description
The Mulvaneys, at first a close and very lucky family, drift apart over the years, until the youngest son, Judd, discovers the secret of their downfall and sets out to help reunite the family. 75,000 first printing.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 472 more reviews...
 Gripping & distressing but ultimately a pearl of great price February 8, 2001
Steven Charnick (Wayne, NJ United States)
151 out of 176 found this review helpful
The Oprah book club selections are certainly getting more complex!
This book will strike an immediate chord to a family 'putting on airs' yet within the house having its problems. It hithome for me and will most likely hit home for many others because we know of families that seem perfect.... and often we find out much later what was truly happening.
I do not believe that the choice of Mt. Ephraim as the hometown of the Mulvaneys was by accident. Ephraim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph - and while the latter committed heinous crimes against all moral authority, Ephraim was a redeemer. A striking metaphor against which much hurt is set - and one missed by the editorial reviewers.
This family functions quite well - all that we'd say is 'too good to be true' *is* actually true until Marianne, the girl so beautifully described that we actually *feel* she's the 'girl next door' to *us* is sexually assaulted. Actually, we are never told whether it was rape or consensual. And the beauty of this is that for the purposes of this story it doesn't matter.
It is the *effect* of the assault on the family that begins their descent. I will not spoil the book by telling you the details as to how each of the brothers and the parents fall off their respective wagons. But the cumulative effect is devasting, as told by the narrator, a now adult youngest brother Judd.
How can such a complete destruction of a classic nuclear family be a book I'd want to read? Because as someone once said, it is when a man stares into the abyss that he finds his character.
Suffice it to say that when you are done with this book you will feel as though you knew the Mulvaneys, suffered with them, and wonder how you would have reacted.
I believe everyone can relate to one or more of the characters in this book.
I also believe that this book is a *must* read.
If you want a book that will make you think realistically about life's challenges - and not give you answers, but rather present situations that make you think about how you would respond, this is the book for you.
The cliche that we learn more from our mistakes than our successes never applied more.
And all of us can probably stand to look at this side of life. As with 'The Dark Side of the Light Chasers', it is by looking at our human frailties and faults, shining the light on ourselves, warts and all, that we can come to true self-awareness.
Mulvaneys January 25, 2001
20 out of 25 found this review helpful
"We Were the Mulvaneys" is a touching book about the trials of family life that can be understood by almost everyone who is part of a family. No families are perfect, and Oates does a great job of telling a story about the unraveling of the Mulvaneys. However, the author doesn't leave a sour taste in the mouth of her readers because throughout the book there is a message of persevering through the tough times. Overall, a great read!
We Were the Mulvaneys February 26, 2001
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
I have read several of Joyce Carol Oates' Books and consider her one of my favorite authors. This is my favorite of her books because by the end of reading it I had come to truly love each character. I cared about what happened to them, and I was sad when the book ended. Oates did an amazing job of creating very real-life people with real experiences, and I think the true test of her writing skills is how she impacts the reader. I felt a true connection with her characters. And while she presented a tragedy in the book, she dealt with it tastefully, showing realistically how a family might fall apart and then come together again. I felt her story was one of hope, and I was very uplifted by reading this book. It remains one of my all-time favorite books.
Excellence in Writing March 17, 2001
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Seldom have I felt so much a part of the story as I did with the Mulvaney family. Despite the lengthy prose throughout I felt Joyce Carol Oates wrote from her heart to make the reader feel a part of the story.This book takes us on one family's journey through life and shows the reader how one decision made by Corrine and Mike Mulvaney changed the whole course of their family history. Throughout the story I felt a part of each family member's sadness and joy. I found myself rooting for Marianne and wanting to throw something at big Mike. A book that evoked so much emotion in my mind is a sign of a truly gifted writer.
Great literature! May 5, 2001
Stephanie I (Cedar Falls, IA United States)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Sure people don't like this book...it's long, depressing, full of rich detail and is a challenging read. But that's not a good enough excuse to call this a poor book. Most of the Oprah books are easy reads. Look a little further into Mulvaney and you'll see symbolism and irony like no other. Did you not see the foreshadowing when Judd awakens in the middle of the night to see the dogs kill the deer? I wanted to smack the Mulvaney parents over the head with a spade. How dare Corinne give up on her daughter like that!
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