The Falls

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Anna Fields

A man climbs over the railings and plunges into Niagara Falls. A newlywed, he has left behind his wife, Ariah Erskine, in the honeymoon suite the morning after their wedding. "The Widow Bride of The Falls", as Ariah comes to be known, begins a relentless, seven-day vigil in the mist, waiting for his body to be found. At her side throughout, confirmed bachelor and pillar of the community Dirk Burnaby is unexpectedly transfixed by the strange, otherworldly gaze of this plain, strange woman, falling in love with her though they barely exchange a word. What follows is their passionate love affair, marriage, and children, a seemingly perfect existence.

But the tragedy by which their life together began shadows them, damaging their idyll with distrust, greed, and even murder. What unfurls is a drama of parents and their children; of secrets and sins; of lawsuits, murder, and eventually redemption.

Set against the mythic historic backdrop of Niagara Falls, Joyce Carol Oates explores the American family in crisis, but also America itself in the mid-20th century. The Falls is a love story gone wrong and righted, and it alone places Joyce Carol Oates definitively in the company of the great American novelists.

©2004 Joyce Carol Oates and HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. (P)2004 BBC Audiobooks America Inc.

Critic reviews

"Powerful, compassionate, and ruefully humorous. The Falls is another example of Oates' inexhaustible brilliance." (BookPage
"Oates spins a haunting story in which nature and humans are equally rapacious and self-destructive." (Publishers Weekly)
"This passionate, compulsively readable novel displays the full range of Oates' singular obsessions: the destructiveness of secrets; eccentric female characters given to rapacious appetites and volatile emotions; and the mysterious way that human emotion is mirrored in the natural world. Vivid and memorable reading from the madly prolific Oates." (Booklist)

Immerse in another world

I listened to this book almost a year ago and the images and atmosphere created by Oates return to me time and time again. I loved this book and strongly recommend it.

excellent drama with historic references

Niagara Falls and Buffalo, NY post war history based on ecological calamity of Love Canal

Masterpiece

A book about an iconic American superfund site,
a lawyer who ranks up there with Atticus Finch, and a story every American should know. Deserves a Pulitzer.

Worth the read

This story started off with a bang and kept me interested throughout the end, it seemed believable and they are managing to thrive in spite of the secrets they had to keep, mostly Chandler. The narrator is one of the best! She had me totally hanging on until the last word. I’m still processing and thinking and going through my grieving of letting this family go.

A little unsure!

Ok, I went in with an open mind because the reviews were so mixed and I am easily pleased with books. I honestly am having a hard time putting my review into words. Yes it was way too long - I purchased this book because I like the narrator so much. It just seemed to go on and on and then just end. If you have nothing else to read then go for it but if there are other stories you want to hear then pass on this one.

Way too long!

This book is making me re-evaluate the benefits of listening to abridged vs. unabridged books. It seemed to take forever to get through this! The story was good, but I thought it could be told in a more concise way.

So LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

This was a pretty good audio book, however a bit long. There were some loose ends in the story line that were left hanging, but all in all a good book. The woman that reads the book did her very best I an sure with so many characters, but there could have been some improvement in that area. Some interesting facts about the Falls as well.

Just ok

Long story for a short narrative. I held on hoping it would pop but it never did.

Clean Out Your Ears

I must take exception with several reviewers who complained about the narration of this remarkable book: it is equal to the task in every respect. In fact, I ended up searching for other titles read by the same narrator. The book, itself, is worth every moment of the time spent listening and now, two weeks after finishing it, the story continues to haunt me. Those simply looking for a good story will not be disappointed - you get twenty years of plot with intricate twists and turns. Dig a little deeper and you get such remarkable descriptions of characters and situations you actually watch while they materialize in front of you. I occasionally laughed, frequently got angry, and more times than I would like to admit felt a lump form in the back of my throat. Ultimately, you hope for justice for the many injustices thrust upon the characters, and while there is a satisfying conclusion, it feels real rather than contrived. Except for "We We the Mulvaneys" which I read a few years ago, I had not read any other Joyce Carol Oates since attending college in the 1970s. "The Falls" reminded me of what I have been missing. Ms. Oates is a prolific writer and am looking forward to reading everything I've missed over the last 30 years.

SOOTHING

This was a very soothing and comfortable story to listen to. The narrator spoke slowly and smoothly and it flowed with the slowness of the author. You never came back to the story wondering if you missed something. It was clear and relaxing. I looked forward to listening each night. The only problem is that when the end of the book came, everything was just wrapped up quickly and that was disappointing.