The Falls
by Oates, Joyce Carol
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- Fine Condition
- ISBN 10
- 0060722282
- ISBN 13
- 9780060722289
- Seller
-
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
A stunning, major achievement from Joyce Carol Oates, "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation). A haunting story of the powerful spell Niagara Falls casts upon two generations of a family, leading to tragedy, love, loss, and, ultimately, redemption.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. As Ariah's children learn that their past is enmeshed with a hushed-up scandal involving radioactive waste, they must confront not only their personal history but America's murky past: the despoiling of the landscape, and the corruption and greed of the massive industrial expansion of the 1950s and 1960s.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-twentieth century. As in We Were the Mulvaneys, a "darkly engrossing novel" (Washington Post Book World), she examines what happens when the richly interwoven relationships of parents and their children are challenged by circumstances outside the family.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.
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Details
- Bookseller
- James & Mary Laurie Booksellers (A.B.A.A.) (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 9013570
- Title
- The Falls
- Author
- Oates, Joyce Carol
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine Condition
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Advanced Reading Copy
- ISBN 10
- 0060722282
- ISBN 13
- 9780060722289
- Publisher
- Ecco
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2004
Terms of Sale
James & Mary Laurie Booksellers (A.B.A.A.)
We describe our items carefully and conservatively. Anything may be returned for any reason for a full refund provided that the return is intiated within 5 days of receipt.
About the Seller
James & Mary Laurie Booksellers (A.B.A.A.)
About James & Mary Laurie Booksellers (A.B.A.A.)
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Reading Copy
- Indicates a book that is perfectly serviceable for reading. It may have a defect or damage. As such, reading copy is not a...
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