Bellefleur, Joyce Carol Oates, Dutton Books, 1980, 724 pp
Back when the libraries were still closed, I went browsing through my own stacks of unread books and pulled out three Joyce Carol Oates novels I have owned for decades. One of those was Angel of Light, but from the dust cover flap I learned that it was preceded by Bellefleur, the first of JCO's foray into the Gothic genre.
I located the book in my library's eBook catalogue and dived in. The novel takes place in a fictional rendition of the Adirondack Mountain region of upstate New York. The Bellefleurs are a large clan who first became wealthy landowners shortly after the Revolutionary War.
The main characters, descendants of the most successful Bellefleurs, live in an enormous Gothic mansion on the shores of Lake Noir. Three generations currently live there but earlier generations continually spill out of attics, armoires, graves and legends. The family is down on its luck when the novel opens. The birth of Germaine, daughter of Gideon and Leah, sets the family on a ruthless plan to recover both their wealth and prestige. Germaine remains a small child through the rest of the book with special powers that drive the plot.
In the course of numerous unsettling tales of passion, violence, feuds, and reckless adventure we learn the family's history. It takes being able to hold a plethora of characters in one's mind. Since they all, dead or alive, reappear regularly I was somewhat able to keep track. A family tree helped as well.
If you like long novels as much as I do, Bellefleur is wonderfully immersive. Every character looms larger than life and a history of American economic greed in the name of progress is presented in all its horror. From reading world history I know there are such families in every era of civilization. JCO created for us one of our very own American families and I found an allegory for what we have been exposed to politically and socially in the 21st century so far. She wrote the book in the late 1970s so once again played her role as prophetess.
"greed in the name of progress": great line! and, "lake noir": pretty funny! and the biblical names... i've never read any Oates but i might some time...
ReplyDeleteHappy it makes me that you picked up on all that!
DeleteI’ve never read any JCO but the setting of this appeals to me.
ReplyDeleteAt least once you should give her a try! Who are your favorite authors?
DeleteI think I've only read one book by this author but, always wanted to try more. I like the sound of this a lot even though chunksters really need to pull me in or I lose interest.
ReplyDeleteIt does open with one of the longest sentences I have ever read, but once I got through that I found it pretty engrossing.
DeleteI've never read any of her books, but these multi-generational sagas are so engrossing.
ReplyDeleteOh my, they sure are!
DeleteI'm not sure why I am so drawn to them, maybe it is seeing how the family grows and changes over the years? How different things end from where they began. Plus, you really get to know them so intimately, especially characters who are born during the book and reach adulthood.
DeleteYes, all of that. For me it works as social history.
DeleteI'll admit I am very nervous about the 724pp part but your review of it makes me want to read it. I love reading about many characters especially if they are well fleshed out as well and everything I'm reading about this makes me want to try it.
ReplyDeleteYou could try it and see how it goes...
DeleteI have heard of this novel before. I'll have to check it out. Nice review!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa. I replied to your comment on Night Sleep Death The Stars. What books have you read by JCO?
DeleteLong novels can be rewarding. For example, I just finished a 915 page book that I was lost in for a few days. The premise of this one sounds really interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved long novels. Over the past several years I have avoided them because I set myself high goals on numbers of books read. This year I decided to tackle many of the long novels I had been avoiding. It has paid off in great reading experiences. I will be awaiting the news of the 915 page book you read!
DeleteSad to say I've never even heard of this author but this book sounds really good. Gonna have to see if my library has it!
ReplyDeleteGlad to say you have heard of her now!
DeleteDoes JCO remember all her many books?! Probably. This one sounds formidable to her if she wrote 724. I wanted to read her Cardiff by the Sea book for Halloween this year -- but other things came up. I'll have to try it later. Glad you liked this one.
ReplyDeleteI like to watch interviews with her and yes, she talks about many of her books, both recent and long ago. I have heard good things about Cardiff by the Sea.
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