The Accursed

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 22 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

A major historical novel from "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation) - an eerie, unforgettable story of possession, power, and loss in early-20th-century Princeton, a cultural crossroads of the powerful and the damned.

Princeton, New Jersey, at the turn of the 20th century: a tranquil place to raise a family, a genteel town for genteel souls. But something dark and dangerous lurks at the edges of the town, corrupting and infecting its residents. Vampires and ghosts haunt the dreams of the innocent. A powerful curse besets the elite families of Princeton; their daughters begin disappearing. A young bride on the verge of the altar is seduced and abducted by a dangerously compelling man - a shape-shifting, vaguely European prince who might just be the devil, and who spreads his curse upon a richly deserving community of white Anglo-Saxon privilege. And in the Pine Barrens that border the town, a lush and terrifying underworld opens up.

When the bride's brother sets out against all odds to find her, his path will cross those of Princeton's most formidable people, from Grover Cleveland, fresh out of his second term in the White House and retired to town for a quieter life, to soon-to-be commander in chief Woodrow Wilson, president of the university and a complex individual obsessed to the point of madness with his need to retain power; from the young Socialist idealist Upton Sinclair to his charismatic comrade Jack London, and the most famous writer of the era, Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain - all plagued by "accursed" visions.

An utterly fresh work from Oates, The Accursed marks new territory for the masterful writer. Narrated with her unmistakable psychological insight, it combines beautifully transporting historical detail with chilling supernatural elements to stunning effect.

©2013 The Ontario Review (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

slog

I usually enjoy JC Oates, who is undoubtedly an extremely talented and prolific author. Perhaps If there had been fewer characters? found this very tedious for most of the 22 hours. 10 would have forced a stricter editorial pen, or scissors??

disappointed

What would have made The Accursed better?

there were far too many "author commentaries" that detracted from the story. And, although I understand it was an historical novel, there we're too many present day references to women being the weaker gender.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Another historical piece.

Don't waste your time Oates has lost her touch

This was a tedeous book. Extraneous historical facts are interspersed with the story. These facts do not add to the book, but distract from the story. I used to enjoy Joyce Carol Oates, but will never read one of her books again.

Deus ex machina

What would have made The Accursed better?

A plot less dependent on deus ex machina.

What could Joyce Carol Oates have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Created a more coherent story.

Which character – as performed by Grover Gardner – was your favorite?

Upton Sinclair

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It is always nice to see the wicked get their due

Any additional comments?

Winslow Slade got the God he deserved. I realize that this is a lightly disguised political screed, but the cloak of Gothic was not sufficiently thick to make the gothic stand by itself.

Tedious in the Extreme

It's rare that I listen to a book and don't find something to redeem it. The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates is the most disappointing book I've listened to in a long time.

Despite the fact that she draws on historical and literary figures, there is not a single sympathetic or engaging character in the book. I don't care about any of the characters, and that's a rare thing.

The premise of the book had great promise. What would a vampire / demon novel look like set at the turn of /very early in the 20th century? As it turns out, not much.

The blatant racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism make me grateful that I live in the next century. The small petty politics of Princeton Univeristy and the local community are uninteresting and tedious.

This book might be better experienced in the written form. The story is largely told from the perspective of an "historian", and the book is replete with footnotes. The constant interruption of narration by the footnotes is jarring and doesn't make for a seamless reading experience. The epistolary extracts are better, but overall the entire work hangs oddly.

Grover Gardner does a passable job as narrator, but he doesn't have much range and most of the characters sound the same. He also has an annoying habit of mispronouncing words (ie. consummation).

This is a long and meandering journey which doesn't ultimately go anywhere. If you're interested in this particular time period in American history, you might find this mildly interesting. If you aren't, then there's not much to recommend it.

Overall, I'd say save your credits and find something else instead.

Wear a Seat Belt and Put Tooth Picks in Your Eyes

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I have read the bio of Wilson and William James and the beginning is very interesting. Then you will need tooth picks which the author tells you about puss or Puss. You will get sick of puss. Then wear the seat belt so you can finish the book.

What could Joyce Carol Oates have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Leave out the middle.

What about Grover Gardner’s performance did you like?

excellent

What character would you cut from The Accursed?

Puss

Any additional comments?

Too much puss and snuff and shouldn't the murder be more central than Wilson, Princeton and the Nassau Club?

Not what I expected...

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The narration was fine, but the story was slow and plodding. So much detail was put into these tangents that never came to much that I was exhausted with every hour. The reviews for the book were great, but it was not anything like what it was marketed as.

What was most disappointing about Joyce Carol Oates’s story?

It could do with some serious editing. I was expecting more mystery and darkness, as it was toted as a Gothic infused novel, but it was just snobbery and old money. There were aspects that definitely could have used more detail and focus, while hours could have been saved shaving off parts that were unimportant to the story.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Grover Gardner?

I had no issue with the narrator. His voice seemed quite appropriate for the job.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I will say that this book inspired me to delve into more Upton Sinclair and Jack London novels, and to explore some history of the time.

Any additional comments?

This was my first time reading Joyce Carol Oates, and I've seen that many people said that this is not the book to start with. I would agree. I will give another of her novels a try, and hope for better.

Tough going and I’m a Joyce Carol Oates fan!

I got through it, but there were many times I wanted to throw in the towel. Tangential, wordy, too much detail, too many footnotes, too many story lines. There were parts I liked: Upton Sinclair, Jack London, and the other historical characters who show up. The Bog Kingdom chapter was truly weird and unsettling. Overall, it just didn’t seem to hang together very well. The performance was good, however.