THE ASSIGNATION.

By Joyce Carol Oates

Book Overview

A woman's lover seems not to recognize her on the street. A teenage girl accepts a ride from a stranger in a rust-speckled Cadillac. An old man is obsessed by the memory of his innocent childhood... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880012005
• ISBN13: 9780880012003
• Release Date: December 1988
• Publisher: The Ecco Press
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Collection of stories 40 years in making

This review related to the hardcopy version of the same book. I have never read any of Joyce Carol Oates' books before, but I do know about her and the fact that she is often compared to John Updike in terms of her being a prolific writer. She publishes almost a book per year in addition to her full time teaching job at the Ivy League University. This is comprehensive collection of her stories written in the period of the last 40 years. The early ones seem to be about people who change in many ways after experiencing dramatic events in their lives. Those could be tick attacking woman's scalp, drive by shooting, or witnessing armed robbery. Her later stories seems to be about middle-aged women strong enough to stand up to their husbands and lovers and even have a lover or two while married, or in some sort of relationship. These women are empowered, strong and almost giddy about their choices. My favorite stories are "Secret" and "Homestead". I wish I could find these stories compelling, but I do not. Most of them seem to follow some formula that are not allowing story to stick around for the long time...

A modern mastermind of the human experience

A small collection of short stories, some even shorter, vignettes, I suppose one could say, always in the vein of a slice of a person's life; however, Oates manages to find those things that really get to the heart of us. The volume has a theme, of secrecy, of trysts, rendezvous; the things one keeps closest to oneself, and does not like to let the too-harsh daylight shine upon them.

Brilliant, dark, haunting short-story collection!

Joyce Carol Oates has really outdone herself with this collection. These stories are wonderful and -- Oates at the top of her game. Each story is so well crafted and haunting, she gives you little slices of American life, each one revealing a different aspect of that life. She usually focuses on some seemliness, something dark, something sinister, but manages to keep the stories enjoyable to read. The Assignation is a collection of explicit, racy stories that awaken your senses almost as much as your intellect. My favorite story is "In Traction." You can almost feel the main character's despair. The aforementioned story enthralled me like few short stories have done. I highly recommend this collection. Oates fans will not be disappointed and for those who are not familiar with her work, it is the perfect introduction.

Assignation

This book is my all-time favorite Oates book. I've read it years ago and find myself re-reading it from time to time. In this collection of short stories, Oates finds a way to drive home the utter despair of the human condition. "A Touch of the Flu" twisted my insides and gave me that sick feeling I get when I think about death. My favorite story is "In Traction"-- the hopelessness of the character A. is completely beyond help. Oates is absolutely the master of horror when it comes to daily life and she magically transfers those utterly private and personal feelings onto paper and exposes them grotesquely for the world to see. EXCELLENT!

Typical Oates

The Assignation is filled with often startling and honest glimpses into the interesting moments of everyday life. Realistic to the point of being grotesque, this collection of stories is typical Oates--beautiful yet piercing. From a woman's yearly physical ("Pinch") to an ironic tour through a fallout shelter ("Shelter") Oates, as always, challenges her readers to think!