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A Book of American Martyrs
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A Book of American Martyrs
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A Book of American Martyrs
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A Book of American Martyrs

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Two families. Two faces of America. An act of violence with far-reaching consequences.

Gus Voorhees is a pioneer in the advancement of women’s reproductive rights and a controversial abortion provider in the American Midwest. One morning as he arrives at his clinic, he is ambushed by a hardline Christian, Luther Dunphy, and shot dead.

The killing leaves in its wake two fatherless families: the Voorheeses, who are affluent, highly educated, secular and pro-choice, and the Dunphys, their opposite on all counts.
When the daughters of the two families, Naomi Voorhees and Dawn Dunphy, glimpse each other at the trial of Luther Dunphy, their initial response is mutual hatred. But their lives are tangled together forever by what has happened, and throughout the years to come and the events that follow, neither can quite forget the other.

A heart-rending reckoning with some of the most incendiary issues that divide us in our troubled times – religious extremism; abortion; gun violence; capital punishment – this is a novel Joyce Carol Oates was born to write. To read it is to encounter the full spectrum of humanity – its ugliness, misery, beauty and hope.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 1, 2017
ISBN9780008221706
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A Book of American Martyrs
Author

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, and the 2019 Jerusalem Prize, and has been several times nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written some of the most enduring fiction of our time, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys; Blonde, which was nominated for the National Book Award; and the New York Times bestseller The Falls, which won the 2005 Prix Femina. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

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Rating: 3.9433962028301885 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Mammoth Saga of Family, Grief, and Resolution

    In Joyce Carol Oates’ powerful new novel, the murder of a doctor devoted to providing women control over their reproductive lives, and thus whole lives, by a man devoted to his interpretation of Jesus’ will and with an emotional need to expiate his own real or imagined sin revolving around the intended or accidental death of his Down daughter launch readers on an intense and wide reaching psychological exploration of devotion (religious and secular), family resiliency, the independent woman, the impact of sudden, violent loss on the lives of children, and the consolation of aggrieved daughters. In short, abortion serves as the ignition but is hardly the sole, or even most important, object of Oates’ pen.

    In the early morning of November 2, 1999, Luther Dunphy, armed with a shotgun, confronts Dr. Gus Voorhees and his companion/bodyguard Tim Barron, retired military, in front of the Broome County Women’s Center in the town of Muskegee Falls, Ohio. He kills both men without a word. He then lays down his shotgun, prays, and awaits arrest by police, who arrive shortly after the event. From here on, Oates dives into the minds of the various characters, but none more so than Luther and Gus; Edna, Luther’s wife; D.D. (Dawn) his daughter and one of five; Jenna Matheson, Gus’ wife; Naomi, Gus’ Daughter; and Lena (Madelena), Gus’ mother, and more importantly in the novel, Naomi’s inspiring grandmother. The novel follows a linear course, from 1999 to 2012, covering Luther’s trials, his time in prison, the effect on Edna and his children, and the toll Gus’ murder takes his family, laced with frequent flashbacks.

    Certainly many readers will focus on abortion, the radical religious right’s terroristic opposition, and the reasons women seek medical help, all of which Oates addresses. But, really, her concerns bound far beyond abortion and can be best understood through a comparison of the main characters.

    Luther and Gus, you’ll discover, while at first apparently polar opposites, seem to meld into each other after you get to know them. Odd as that may sound, consider that both feature a passion, you might even call it obsession, for their opposing positions. Deep religious faith (as well what might be atonement for the death of his youngest child) drives Luther; unshakeable rationality motivates Gus (though he does prove to be quite a complex fellow). These things unite them, yes, but something else as well: both are perfectly willing to, and do, sacrifice their families to their beliefs. It’s not that they are indifferent to what will happen to their families, it’s that their missions take precedent over their families.

    Edna and Jenna, no two women could be further apart on the spectrum of motherhood than they. As the drama begins, Edna’s already an emotional and physical wreck over the death of her youngest daughter, but also from the burden of keeping her family together. That she’s addicted to a variety of medications doesn’t help matters. She’s a woman without a path to anywhere, until the end years later. Jenna, on the other hand, has ambitions. She’s more than a wife and mother. She’s a lawyer. She writes. And because Gus travels to other clinics (and perhaps for other reasons, as Naomi discovers) so much, she and Naomi and Darren (the son), pretty much live their own lives. Then one day Jenna decides she can no longer be their mother and abruptly leaves them with friends and family. In the sense of taking care of family, Edna and Jenna are somewhat similar. What drives each, though, is as vastly different as their roots.

    Lest you think Jenna’s behavior strange, you’ll find it runs in the family, as her mother Madelena did the same. It’s she who ultimately gives lost Naomi a home in New York City, where Naomi eventually finds direction in her life.

    Which leads to the relationship of D.D., Luther’s daughter, and Naomi. These daughters are the most hurt people, perhaps the greatest of the American Martyrs of the title. They are angry. They are directionless for a long time. D.D.’s anger stems from her physical appearance, from the dysfunction of her family, from where and how she lives. Her salvation materializes as boxing, a sport that allows her to rise above the muck of her life, to fulfill herself, and, oddly, to praise Jesus. Naomi’s anger has more focus, directed at Luther and more fiercely at D.D. Nobody can fully understand how the two suffer in their own worlds than they. Ultimately, these women find resolution and consolation in each other’s arms. How they do so comprises a good deal of Oates’ American Martyrs.

    Readers, especially those of Oates’ considerable oeuvre, will find A Book of American Martyrs among her best efforts.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Complicated yet still stereotypical in some ways.The characters are complex, unlikeable, and real. The scenario is not only plausible but has happened. The writing was exemplary. Yet it still bought into stereotypes of the poor and it had some very unrealistic moments. Fetuses were never found in dumpsters. There are rules about the disposal of 'medical waste'. Also, carpenters are not generally poor. It's very skilled labor, and the pay is, while not doctor pay, certainly well above poverty wages. It is, in fact, ~20K over the median income.Overall it was good, but the author's class biases were evident.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5

    I'll be honest: in all my years of selling books, I had never read anything by Joyce Carol Oates. As I sit here in my sublime book-hangover, I can't believe I waited this long to find my way to reading what Oates has given to the literary world. I'm not sure I can write a review worthy enough to express how this raw and striking tale of two families is told.
    An exquisite portrait of one most provocative topics of our time told with unexpected and deep intimacy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    No one accuses JCO of shying away from controversial topics and this book is no exception. I'd be a little nervous about adding this selection to our neighborhood's free tiny library, but it is a powerful read and well worth the 736 pages.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A book of numerous sections, narrated by (or focussing on) the different characters who come together in this tragedy.In a small midwestern 'women's centre', likeable, driven doctor Gus Vorhees braves the pro-life demonstrators to continue serving his patients. Meanwhile another driven male- flawed working-class Luther Dunphy, a committed Christian, prays and turns a shotgun on the 'murderous' Vorhees.In a vast (750p) but utterly compelling work, Ms Oates looks at the two families destroyed. The middle class Vorhees kids, their father ripped from them, their mother unable to sustain the family, moving away to live alone.And Luther Dunphy's wife - already mentally frail and on mood altering medication after an earlier bereavement - and his kids, specifically the unlovely Dawn, shy, monosyllabic, who finds a purpose in taking up boxing.Who is the martyr? The murdered doctor? The innocent guy with him who also died? Or Dunphy himself, who knowingly gave his life for his faith? As widowed Jenna Vorhees walks out on her children ("I can't be your mommy any longer") we see too parallels with those women who opt out of motherhood. There are no easy answers.Masterly writing, in particular with her characterization of Luther and Dawn Dunphy, both so real you feel you know them.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I received an E-ARC from Edelweiss yesterday and wasn't able to put this down!

    It isn't for everyone- I found some parts a bit confusing, but I think that had more to do with the format of the E-ARC than the actual story line. However, it isn't a 'beach read'. I finished it in the early hours of this morning and I am still thinking about it. It will stick with you.

    I highly recommend pre-ordering this novel. You will not be disappointed!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fascinating character study of two fathers and their daughters.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Two families are as far apart on the abortion issue as is possible. In one family, a doctor-Dad who performs abortions in high-exposure clinics and a lawyer-Mom who focuses on reproductive rights. In the other family, a husband and wife who are on the far right, going to right-to-life rallies and picketing abortion clinics. Following an auto accident that leaves the second family's Down's Syndrome child dead, the father assassinates the doctor and his body guard one fateful morning in front of the abortion clinic. As trials drone on, as appeals are filed, as the death penalty is brought to bear, both families are left in the messy aftermath. Well-argued from both sides of the issue, The Great JCO does not disappoint. Astonishing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "What terrorism means—the end of grief. The wound is just too great. One limb you might mourn, but all of your limbs torn from you—it is just too much."A Book of American Martyrs is astonishing. This is a painful, difficult book; Oates' subject matter provocative, her characters so incredibly poignant and uncomfortable. I'll admit I was beginning to sour on this story by the last 150 pages of this 750-page beast, but then Oates knocked me on my ass with that ending.A family saga, A Book of American Martyrs follows two families over the course of nearly twenty years. The story weaves itself throughout both the Dunphy and the Vorhees clans, following the murder of abortion provider Augustus Voorhees by zealous Evangelical Luther Dunphy, but the narrative most closely follows the experiences of Dawn and Naomi, the daughters of Luther and Gus, respectively.Oates' latest is a monumental portrait of tragedy, grief, violence, and family dynamics. A Book of American Martyrs offers a perspective on one of the most politically and emotionally charged topics in modern American culture and does so with unequivocal grace and empathy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Liked it, recommend it, but can’t give it my highest rating.Starting with criticisms: First, the book is too long. The plot itself is straightforward; Evangelical Christian murders abortion doctor and his bodyguard and is subsequently sentenced to death; dramatic consequences ensue. So, clearly the narrative is intended to be character driven. I think JCO could have fleshed out these characters in fewer than 736 pages. Speaking of characters, what the heck happened to Melissa? She just sort of disappeared. What is the significance of Kinch? Or Madelena for that matter? Next, I was as bored by Dawn’s boxing career as the fictional fans attending her matches. Female boxing is just not interesting to me, so whatever character themes her career choice was supposed to evoke were lost on me. And then the ending. Yikes! Where did that come from? Did I miss something? Do I have to flip back? (Spoiler Alert) C’mon, 735 ½ pages devoted to acrimony and we end on a love fest? Did the author miss her deadline?Now the praise:OK, it’s Joyce Carol Oates, so you know the writing is solid throughout. She confronts a variety of controversial topics (abortion, death penalty, family dynamics), and while I think I can guess which side of these issues she herself on, she deals fairly with both sides.It is a character driven story in which none of the characters are very likeable. The reader can discern how the characters see themselves, but at the same time can recognize why their perception is so inaccurate. Luther’s motives can never be seen as pure because he lives in complete denial of his faults. Jenna can never be pitied because she abandons her own kids under the pretense of grief. Edna Mae is simply pitiable, and not in a good way. Finally, the intense scenes are really intense; Gus’s assassination, Luther’s execution, Dawn’s boxing matches. The reader is definitely going to get the picture.On the whole, a satisfying read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fact: There are some people in the world who make their ideology into a crusade. They believe they are right, even if they're presented with information that they are wrong. They stop at nothing to force their way of life onto others. They will resort to extreme measures if necessary.Fiction: Everyone who shares that same belief or ideology also shares in the crusade. They all believe they are always right no matter the evidence against them. Everyone of a particular ideology charges ahead in the quest to convert the world to their way of thinking.Joyce Carol Oates presents this “fiction” as a fact in her most recent novel, A Book of American Martyrs and it's troubling. The promise to present both sides of the abortion debate with empathy and an unbiased perspective is complete rot. On one side of the debate we have Augustus Voorhees, an abortion provider who is a community leader and a loving family man who is brilliant and well-spoken, a man who provides free abortions to women who cannot pay and does so because he is truly kind-hearted. Then there's Luther Dunphy. Dunphy is a Christian man who believes God is telling him to murder abortion doctors. Dunphy is ignorant. Dunphy is a common man who contributes nothing to society. Dunphy is a hypocrite who cheats on his wife and abuses his children. The Dunphys are against radio, television, movies, sex education, contraception, vaccinations, Tampax, alcohol, carbonated beverages, chewing gum, sugar, sugar substitutes, games like Monopoly, and a slew of other things. (No, I'm not making any of this up.) And all that is fine. There are men out there like Voorhees and there are men out there like Dunphy. The fact is, there are some people in the world who make their ideology into a crusade.The problem comes in the blanketing stereotype of everyone. Every single pro-choice character is intelligent and wonderful, a model citizen. Every single pro-life character is a hypocritical and ignorant extremist. This is fiction. How is it that we open-minded individuals who have opposed these kind of blanketing statements now embrace them? Merely because the shoe is on the other foot? Come on, I expect more of us. If this book were making such statements about a marginalized group we've become accustomed to defending, we'd be up in arms about it. We'd call the author a bigot and demand a boycott. But simply because the group she attacks “deserves it,” we turn away and smile indignantly. I, for one, choose not to smile.For the most part, A Book of American Martyrs fails for this very reason. It is fiction with an agenda. And it's not even masked in the slightest.Luckily, the book gets away from Luther Dunphy and Augustus Voorhees. It becomes a novel about their children. And fortunately, for the sake of this story, Naomi and D.D. are much more rounded characters than their parents. They do not blindly follow the path that has been made for them. It's a much better and balanced novel in the last couple hundred pages, but that does not diminish the hatred of the first several hundred. The whole novel is well written and very Oatesian in all ways, but in the end, propaganda is propaganda, no matter how beautifully it is dressed.This novel made me angry, but that can be a good thing: we need to talk about this. What worries me however is the direction we're going. Hatred and prejudice are wrong regardless of the recipient. Let's not lose sight of the truth.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Oates is absolutely one of my all time favorite authors and I enjoyed this book very much. It told the story from the perspective of several of the characters, which really gave the reader some thought provoking points to ponder. One of the things I love most about Oates’ work is that it takes potentially real-life situations, and presents them to the reader in a manner that makes you realize that these characters could be your neighbors. I did find one aspect of this particular book very annoying. That is, some of the details do not match from chapter to chapter. For instance, at one point, Dawn was given a pink hairbrush; later it was referenced as a blue brush. One of the boxing characters was described as having a buzz cut and was referenced as having ringlet curls just 2 pages later. I really felt like these were things an editor should catch. All in all, the story was great. I didn’t see the ending coming at all; and the characters were so engaging, I really wanted the story to continue.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Because he'd seen, and not forgotten.Because there is so little we can do. Yet it is our duty, to do it.Because he had not lost faith and because I am hoping to learn what faith is.So Joyce Carol Oates has written a big, meaty novel about abortion. A Book of American Martyrs isn't what I had expected it to be, but does JCO ever cater to expectations? Here JCO tells the story of two men, and then of two families and finishes by focusing on the daughters of the two men. Gus Voorhees is a public health doctor working in women's clinics, vocal and visible enough to have worked his way onto the ten most wanted lists of the more radical right-to-life groups. Luther Dunphy is a carpenter who attends a fundamentalist church and who had once had dreams of becoming a minister himself. He's active in the right-to-life movement, often joining with those protesting at the clinic in his small Ohio city. The novel opens with Dunphy firing his shotgun, first at Voorhees and then at the clinic escort who had arrived at the clinic with the doctor. Oates then goes back and forth in time, showing the lives of both families before and after the murder. The trial forms the backbone of the book. But Oates's attention is less on abortion than on how the sudden removal of the father from a family can destroy it, and on mothers who are unable, for different reasons, to be mothers and what that does to children. Oates's writing style keeps the reader at a short distance from her characters and thank goodness for that, the book is emotionally exhausting as it is. I will call the author out for her classism, where the poor are not just lacking money, but also intelligence and curiosity. The novel might have been stronger for allowing the Dunphys to be more than they were.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Best Joyce Carol Oates book that I have read since "Mulvaney's". Great story line that is 'fiction' but so grounded in what really occurred in the whole Right-to-Life/Freedom-of- Choice arena. Characters became people that you cared about!. Oates definitely a courageous author. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    A special thank you to Edelweiss and Ecco for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
    This was an incredible feat for both Joyce Carol Oates to write, and for me to finish. The book is a huge undertaking, both ambitious in length and subject matter, and it left me confused. I’m confused as to why it needed to be so long, and confused at some of the characters (more on that later). What Oates does exceptionally well is write, but that doesn’t mean that the book needs to be as robust to showcase her talent. It would have been more effective if it was trimmed because she loses readers in the minor events that don’t propel the story forward.

    The story opens with the reader inside the head of Luther Dunphy, a religious fanatic who thinks he is doing God’s work when he calls in late to work one day so that he can assassinate Dr. Gus Voorhees, an abortionist for the Broome County Women’s Center.

    Oates segues into Dunphy’s back story outlining his motivations and ideologies. The story bogs out here, but push through it before you bottom out and abandon the book. In his younger days, Dunphy is every bit the monster he is when he kills Voorhees–he sexually assaulted women, and exhibited extremely violent behaviour– only this later version of him thinks he is safe under the cloak of religion. The reader also learns that he is father wrought with guilt over the death of a child, a husband who cannot fix his wife’s depression, and a hard worker that battles chronic pain to support his family. The sadness and destitute Luther feels seeks solace in the righting of a wrong; it isn’t murder, he is the ‘chosen one’.

    In the later chapters, we see into Gus Voorhees’ life. He is equally as driven as Dunphy, convinced with rightness for his cause.

    We come to know both men’s families: the liberal, well-educated Voorheeses juxtaposed against the devout, poor Dunphys. The families are left devastated in the wake of tragedy, forever changed, yet leading similar lives. Both wives pull away from their families, both sets of siblings experience a wedge of grief that drives them apart. Speaking of wives, I mentioned earlier that I was confused by some of the characters, and Jenna (Voorhees’ widow) is one of them. Why did she abandon her children? Why did she disappear from the hotel after scattering her husband’s ashes? Was this just deliberate of Oates to draw another parallel between the two families? I felt that this wasn’t behaviour that was driven by grief, it was just plain out of character and was just there to inflict more pain and tragedy on the Voorhees children.

    The story shifts gears again and focuses on the men’s daughters: Naomi Voorhees and Dawn Dunphy. Naomi chronicles her dad’s life, fronted as a documentary, but really she is trying to make sense of the tragedy and how it has shaped who she is. Stemming from a vicious attack in school, Dawn becomes a professional boxer and this is how she exerts control of her life. The two meet when Naomi feigns interest in Dawn as the subject matter for a documentary about female boxers. This is where Oates shines–when she explores the complex relationships and facets of their lives, the last third of the book is the best part.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The story of two families: the Dunphy's, poor, uneducated zealous evangelicals, and the Voorhees, educated and liberal. Augustus Voorhees is a doctor who performs abortions; Luther Dunphy believes he is called by God to protect the unborn. Both men have a families and both have daughters who are of high school age when Luther Dunphy assassinates Dr. Voorhees outside a women's clinic killing another man was well.The story seems to center more on the Dunphy family especially Dawn, the daughter. Unattractive, poor in school, harassed by many, Dawn's life is one of hardship and confusion which is not helped by a mother addicted to painkillers. Luther Dunphy is immediately arrested and after several years is tried. The first trial ends in a mistrial due to two pro-life people on the jury. After a second trial, Luther is sentenced to death and is eventually killed in a prolonged "legal" death.The Voorhees family is stricken first by the death of their father and then by the abandonment of their mother. Naomi Voorhees, the daughter is cared for by grandparents but seems never comfortable with herself. Smart, cynical, and not untethered by family she eventually meets her father's mother, a sophisticated, professional woman in New York City. Madelina Kein admits to Naomi that she had actually attempted an abortion when she was pregnant with Augustus. Now she is aged, but wealthy with another son suffering from MS.Dawn Dunphy eventually attains some reputation as a female boxer, "The Hammer of Jesus." Naomi becomes interested in this other woman whose life has been so entangled with her own. Under the guise of being a documentary filmmaker, Naomi and Dawn meet.I can't say that I held any particular liking for any of the characters in the book, but it is a credit to the skill of Oates that I was still interested in the story. I felt at times there was too much stereotyping of both families: poor and uneducated religious fanatics and smart, cynical educated liberals. However, it is the extreme differences in these families that make the story work. The abortion issue is the center of the book, and it is pretty clear that the author believes that the work of Voorhees was justified. On the other hand, the Dunphy family story is treated with respect and the character of Dawn is especially a product of her environment.I won't give the ending which I felt was a pretty far stretch.