We Were The Mulvaneys

I've been known to do a book review or two on MySpace or Facebook, so I thought I might start doing them on my blog since it seems like a more appropriate place. I'm kind of surprised that I haven't written a review on here before now, but I guess that might be due to the fact that I am a slow reader and I also don't want to review every book I read. So don't expect this too often. Not that everyone out there is yearning for my book reviews anyway.

The book I finished most recently was We Were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oats. It is one of Oprah's book club books, which can sometimes be good, but also sometimes bad. Yeah, she does good things, but I also think she comes off as arrogant at times. But this post is not about Oprah, so lets get back to the book.

The book started off kind of slow with lots of description about the town where the Mulvaney family lives. I am all for description, but I think there is a point where you can have too much description and it doesn't add anything to the story. This book was almost at that point, but its saving grace is that it has moments of intense action where you are on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. The book also has some endearing characters that you can't help but fall in love with. My favorites were Marianne and Patrick. They are brother and sister, yet opposite in almost every way. I loved Marianne for her sensitivity, selflessness, and love of animals. I loved Patrick for his logic, sensibility, intellect, and directness.

The whole book is about how the rape of Marianne, at the age of 16, affects her, her parents, and her three brothers - the Mulvaney family. It basically destroys the whole family, especially the father. However there is some resolution in the end and what might be called "a happy ending". There was also a understated theme of science vs. religion in the book. That issue never reached a solid conclusion, at least not to me. I will be honest and say that I didn't understand the point of a lot of the book. Maybe if I was in a book club and I could hear what other people thought of it I could understand. Or maybe if the author explained it too me. But it just seemed like there were a lot of confusing parts that had nothing to do with the story. I guess it is one of those books where you are supposed to find the deeper meaning from seemingly meaningless writing. Well I didn't find it, and I don't recommend this book unless you feel like doing a lot of deep thinking. Overall, it was a decent book, but not one that I would read twice. It's not for people who like to get direct and to the point, which is me.