The Frenzy
Stories
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
A gripping collection of propulsive, psychologically suspenseful stories about characters on the brink by the legendary Joyce Carol Oates “who is surely on any shortlist of America’s greatest living writers” (The New York Times Magazine)
“A genius in the truest sense of the word.”—Rebecca Makkai
“One of the greatest writers among us today.”—Gillian Flynn
“Haunting . . . masterfully orchestrated . . . Oates’s best work is simmering and remorseless.”—Vogue (A Best Book of the Year)
“Astounding . . . Oates imbues this entire book with psychological suspense and high stakes.”—Harper's Bazaar
“Exceptional . . . perhaps Oates’s finest short fiction since ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.’”—Literary Hub
“Oates continues her spectacular winning streak after Butcher and Fox with a collection of stories that stand with her greatest work.”—Publishers Weekly (A Best Book of the Year)
Frenzy (noun): a temporary madness; a violent mental or emotional agitation; intense usually wild and often disorderly compulsive or agitated activity
Joyce Carol Oates is a master of the short story and one of the legends of the form. Her collections of short fiction have twice been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and have won numerous awards, including the O. Henry Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Art of the Short Story. In The Frenzy: Stories, Oates plunges us into the lives of her characters at moments of crisis and confusion, when much of what they understand about themselves and those they love comes undone.
A young woman on a supposedly romantic weekend trip to Cape May, New Jersey, turns the tables on her older, married lover. A freak bicycle accident on a bridge haunts one family for decades. A girl jealous of her popular cousin discovers she is the lucky one. A widow waits at her riverside house for her dead husband's return. A young man hiking in the woods comes upon a couple in a heated, possibly violent argument—should he intervene?
Suspenseful and psychologically astute, Oates's short stories enthrall and captivate as they dissect her character's deepest fears—revealing our own in turn. "Literature is a texture of words," says Oates of her short fiction, "evoking life in the most vivid ways—psychologically, physically." These new stories blazingly evoke life at its most vivid and perilous, when fate and free will intersect, and one ominous encounter or bad choice can be the difference between an ordinary day and the point of no return.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Ordinary people are pushed to—and over—the edge in this collection of short stories exploring time, loss, and memory. In one, a middle-aged adulterer takes his much younger lover on a trip, feeling dominant and powerful, only to be left embarrassed and vulnerable. In another, a family dynamic is permanently changed by a freak bicycle accident. Elsewhere, a widow believes her dead husband will return, and a hiker meets an unsettling couple in the woods. Joyce Carol Oates focuses less on dramatic action and more on the single moment where everything a character knows about themselves falters. Power dynamics flip, control is lost, identities are fractured, and we’re left pondering what will come next. Beautifully written, with a strong sense of foreboding, each story leaves a lasting impression.
