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Book Overview
Joyce Carol Oates's Wonderland Quartet comprises four remarkable novels that explore social class in America and the inner lives of young Americans. Spanning from the Great Depression to the turbulent Vietnam War era, Wonderland is the epic account of Jesse Vogel, a boy who emerged from a family tragedy with his life spared but his world torn apart. Orphaned after watching his father murder his entire family, Jesse embarks on a personal odyssey that takes him from a Dickensian foster home to college and graduate school to the pinnacle of the medical profession. As an adult, Jesse must summon the strength to reach across the "generation gap" and rescue his endangered teenaged daughter, who has fallen into the drug-infused 1960s counterculture. Hailed by Library Journal as "the greatest of Oates's novels," Wonderland is the capstone of a magnificent literary excursion that plunges beneath the glossy surface of American life. Wonderland is the final novel in Joyce Carol Oates's Wonderland Quartet. The books that complete this acclaimed series, A Garden of Earthly Delights , Expensive People , and them, are also available from the Modern Library. J
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:081297655X
ISBN13:9780812976557
Release Date:September 2006
Publisher:Modern Library
Length:528 Pages
Weight:0.98 lbs.
Dimensions:1.2" x 5.2" x 7.9"
Customer Reviews
4 ratings
Classic Oates
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
I love Joyce Carol Oates novels, and this is one of her masterpieces imho. The characters are most fascinating and strange, and the plot is complex and hard to foresee. Highly recommended!
the great american novel
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
the great american novel. right up there with grapes of wrath, an american tragedy and catcher in the rye.
Oates' Best - A World of Constant Battles
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
I originally read Wonderland when I was a teenager and remembered only a little of it, so it was a revelation when I read it again a few weeks ago. This is a study of one human being and the torments he endures at the hands of others as he grows up, and how it damages his personality. However, Jesse seemingly prevails, and by the novel's end shows us that the human spirit is never completely extinguished. Jesse is such a real character I expect to see him as a flesh and blood person one day. No doubt, this is JCO's best work.
Oates's Best
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
Of the seven or eight books by Joyce Carol Oates that I've read, this one is far and away the best -- which is saying a lot, because I think she is supremely talented. I read her work only once every few years, because it's SO grim, but I always look forward (in a macabre sort of way) to going back to her. WONDERLAND just seems to have more depth and complexity than the others -- and so much of the writing is intensely vivid. Wonderful character study, as well, with a fascinating psychological framework AND commentary on writing and the art of fiction (truth? fabrication?) deftly blended into the narrative.Read it.
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