I requested this purely off the strength of Joyce Carol Oates writing history, of which I'm a fan. I wasn't disappointed in the least. Yet again, JCO delivers us what she does best: a meaty, character-driven story with emotion, nuance, and depth. I did think this book could have been shorter, but at the same time-- its hard for me to not enjoy anything she writes. Her prose is lyrical and the story was beautiful. It was worth the length, in the end.

For fans of literary/general fiction that loves a meaty story, do yourself a favor and grab this as quickly as possible. Fans of Joyce Carol Oates, you are aware of her greatness. This is another great(er) family saga, one that she has drawn on her personal pain as a widow. She writes such a powerful main character Whitey, then his wife Jessalyn,tries to hold the family together in the face of tragedy. A great story you rarely see the likes of anymore.

This was soooo much longer than it needed to be. 800 pages?! Spent with some of the most insufferable characters on Earth. The children of Whitey and Jessalyn are repulsive, self-centered, and miserable. It is so spectacularly written and you can actually feel trapped, like Jessalyn, in the oppressiveness of her marriage and children. You feel so deeply for Jessalyn that she has been erased by her husband and children and that she has lost or forgotten any sense of who she is as a person—what and who she likes, how she wants to live, what it means to be a human. It’s almost a cautionary tale. I still think many pages could’ve been trimmed out with no change to the book, but the writing was beautiful and evocative.

According to Wikepedia, Joyce Carol Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published 58 novels, as well as a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. She has won many awards for her writing but no Nobel. That's a prodigious output with another volume of novellas set for publication later this year.
I'm a fan. Favorites are the richly detailed family epics like We Were the Mulvaneys and Carthage as well as the multi genre trio Bellefleur, A Bloodsmoor Romance and Mysteries of Winterthurn . And now, a new favorite, Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. A family drama written in clear language with Oats' characteristic comments, set off by commas appearing in the middle of sentences, suggesting a story being told.
This book is long. But so is your favorite Netflix series, I'll wager..

Genre: Literary Fiction/Family Saga
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub. Date: June 9, 2020

Joyce Carol Oates has long been a favorite literary author of mine. Just when I think that she can’t do it again—write another gripping family saga—she does. The book’s title comes from the closing lines of Walt Whitman’s “A Clear Midnight.” The poem “refers to the moment of transition that happens from one day to the next. The moment is used as a metaphor from changing corporeal existence to the spiritual existence.” The interruption of the poem is from Poet.AndPoem.com. Yes, I needed to look up its meaning. Once I got it I could easily see how its message is used repeatedly throughout this weighty novel of over 800 pages.

The theme of “Nights” is familiar to fans of Oates. Once again, she is writing about love and loss, which most would agree are preoccupations in our lives as well as in our literature. In this big, sprawling tale, Oates takes her readers to a small town located in upstate, New York (where she grew up). Oates has lost two husbands, one after forty-seven years of marriage, and the other after ten. I read her 2011 memoir, “A Widow's Story,” which she wrote after the death of her first husband. In this novel, the author holds nothing back when writing on the psychological effects of Jessalyn, who is one of the main characters and a grieving widow. The novel is filled with her emotions of shock, loss, feelings of unreality, and thoughts of never loving again. “Night” has been compared to Oates’ 1996 “We Were the Mulvaneys,” which is a saga about another family living in a small, rural upstate New York town. Oates didn’t write personally after the loss of her second husband. I can’t help but wonder if she wrote one more family saga, with shades of her own background, so she could reflect on the pain of being a woman who has been twice widowed. The author has said no such thing, to be sure.

In “Night,” along with examining grief, healing and a family coming undone, the author takes on race and class issues. The story revolves around John Earle “Whitey” McClaren, a successful 67-year-old husband and father with a big personality. He is the lynchpin of the family as well as the respected former mayor of the town. When he sees two cops beating a defenseless, nonwhite man he stops his car to intervene. The police do not recognize him and they use their taser gun on him repeatedly. Consequently, he has a stroke. And that is it for Whitey. Oates has him die in the hospital soon afterward. Oates has Whitey’s five adult children, all with very different personalities, lose their footing after their father’s death. Their fragile mental states are not immediately noticeable as with their mother, but they all experience life-altering changes.

Oates writes the family’s pecking order at a pace that begins slow and controlled, but builds up angrily. Out of all of the kids, the youngest son is the most sympathetic character. He is the black sheep of the family and at the bottom of the pecking order. The author portrays him with bone-deep loneliness. The middle daughter is a high school principal. She transfers her anger onto her students. She actually (spoiler) sabotages some kids by editing their transcripts so they will not get into their first choice colleges. The author has never shied away from writing on the dark side of human nature.

“Mulvaneys” is one of my favorite novels by the author. I believe that it is superior to “Night.” An argument can be made that “Night” 'takes on too many characters, too many details. It can leave the reader thinking that each character’s story should be a novel in itself, making the story feel bloated. Indeed, the master storyteller’s latest novel (according to her website, this is her 59th) is long. Whether it’s too long is debatable—at times yes, at times no. Still, the poetic quality of the author’s prose is worth your time. When all is said and done, the thing about Oates, is after reading her work, it becomes impossible not to notice when you are reading a mediocre novel. That is the power of Joyce Carol Oates.

I had Hugh hopes for this book since I’d read others by this author, including Carthage, The Sign of the Beast and Daddy Love. There were moments of beautiful writing, of course. There were also times when I was pulled in by the storyline but it felt long and drawn out. I would read more by Oates but this would not be one of hers that I would recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Joyce Carol Oates has long been a revered American author. Her latest book, Night, Sleep, Death, The Stars is a wonderful novel which explores the McClaren family from upstate New York. The patriarch, John "Whitey", is tragically attacked by racist white policemen in his hometown of Hammond. The book explores his fascinating family, especially his wife Jessalyn. One feels drawn into their damaged personalities, and interested in how they will adjust to the loss of their patriarch.

This was so good!
Set in Hammond New York.
I was thoroughly caught up inside the lives and minds of this big family...a quite wealthy family...a widow and her five adult children... all struggling to move on after the tragic loss of their much beloved husband/father.
There are many topics touched on in this novel, such as racial discrimination, police brutality, sibling rivalry, emotional trauma...etc..
The family dynamics were quite fascinating to watch... (yes, watch). I felt like I was there watching everything going on.
800 pages, yet I would still have liked to read more about these characters.
This was my first book by this author.. I plan to read more.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!

Joyce Oates is masterful, no question there. She can write like no other. Her writing is without question, some of the best in the industry. It invites you in, makes you want to sit down and really READ.. perhaps brew some tea, however, for whatever reason, this title just didn't grow on me like some of her other work, i.e., Blonde or We Were the Mulvaneys. It was definitely a quality book, with an interesting storyline, however it wasn't for me. I did manage to finish it, however. When recommending Joyce Carol Oate books to customers, which I do OFTEN. I may reach for another title before this one.

This was a very unique and interesting family saga, but there was too much of it. I think it could have been a lot shorter than it was. The characters were very well developed, but it was hard to get into it. It definitely could have benefited from a family tree in the beginning. If you're looking for a slow paced, detailed family saga, this is for you,

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. by Joyce Carol Oates.

Holy moly, this was by first book by Oates and I was SWEPT AWAY in this family drama. Initially I was scared by how long it was, but after time it didn't matter because I was an honorary member of the McLaren family. Being a fly on the wall of that family was never boring.

The story begins when community mogul and past mayor John "Whitey" McLaren pulls to the side of the road witnessing police officers using shocking and excessive force on a young Indian man. Determined to diffuse the interaction, Whitey himself ends up a victim of police brutality. From there, the rest of the McLaren family is forced to come together, confront past, and new demons, and hopefully regain peace after a difficult time.

I really love family dramas. Every family has different dynamics, but also every family has conflict and troubles. It's so interesting to see how every family functions differently. This was such an amazing opportunity for that. All of the characters react similarly to each other, but also so different, often finding themselves on the brink of hysteria and ruin. I genuinely grieved when it ended.

Just a warning, for I am often told that I read dark and sad books (a fair assessment). While this has lighter moments, it is not a light book. I can't say that it will uplift you, but if you let yourself dive in, it will take you away.

I have read this author before and find her to be a fabulous wordsmith. This book arrived to me as an ARC from NetGalley at a time when my own family was moving through grief and loss and her poignant writing was all the more beautiful for the timely overlap. This book is character-driven and requires the reader to care about each individual person and their collective traits. The writing makes one do just that. It is a solid book (800 pages) and perfect for someone looking to take on a "slow but steady" reading project or cross a "brick" off their reading challenge.

NIGHT. SLEEP. DEATH. THE STARS.
BY JOYCE CAROL OATES

A Clear Midnight

This is thy hour, O Soul,
thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased,
the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing,
pondering themes thou lovest best.
Night, sleep, death and the stars. Walt Whitman

This was a big sprawling examination about race issues, different classes, grief and healing which ultimately brings hope. It begins with John Earle McClaren witnessing an Indian doctor named Azim Murthy being brutally beaten by two police officers on the road. Azim Murthy wasn’t resisting arrest or fighting with the police as they brutally beat him and taser him. He in reality had been pulled over for no reason other than his dark skin. These two police officers racially profiled him. They must have already had anger for not being able to find drugs or a weapon and took their excessive force on this poor victim. He is a doctor with no criminal record at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York.

John Earle McClaren had been in the wrong place at the wrong time dressed up with an expensive vehicle. He used to be Mayor of Hammond where he has had a good relationship with the police. John or his nick name “Whitey,” bravely pulled over to try to intervene with what he saw happening. The police beat Whitey and taser him and he has a stroke. His wife Jessalyn and his five children have no idea other than he has had a stroke and crashed his vehicle. I don’t understand how the doctors of which he had a neurologist and with all of the imaging machines that they easily bought this exclamation. It is only when the oldest of his five children, Thom goes to the impound lot to pick up his father’s vehicle he finds no damage on it at all. He finds a slip of paper saying all charges are dropped. As the days pass and Jessalyn and her five children stay with Whitey waiting for him to open his eyes or become conscious, Thom whom is already suspicious starts snapping pictures of his father of all of the red-purple blotches on his skin.

Whitey is only 67 years old and when he does become conscious he tries to talk and one side of his body is but his wife Jessalyn can understand him. He says “hi there,” and “I love you.” They all think Whitey is going to recover but he dies of a staph infection. It is quite shocking to me that he died so young when the doctors thought he would make a full recovery but of course that would require many months of physical therapy. The two oldest daughters blame the fourth child Virgil for not using the hand sanitizer and since Virgil is not materialistic and works as an artist and lives on a farm, they blame him for their father’s demise.

Jessalyn is the nicest and most likable character other than Virgil and the younger Sophia who is taking a break from getting her doctorate. Sophia is working in a medical laboratory under the wing of the director Alistair Means her boss. She works with mice and rats and is known for her steady hands. Virgil and Sophia are good to their mother Jessalyn who is a saint. They respect who she chooses for friends and are supportive to the grieving widow. There is much written about grief and pages of Jessalyn grieving the loss of her husband. Thom takes his father’s place at the helm of McClaren Inc. Thom lives the furthest away and is married with children. Beverly is second oldest and buts into her mother’s grieving process by complaining about a stray feral cat that Jessalyn feeds and adopts. Beverly does things like call Thom on the phone telling him that he has to do something about Jessalyn’s cat named Mack the Knife or Mackie who I think helped her grieve Whitey’s death.

Beverly also finds her mother has decided to give away all of her expensive clothes to Goodwill and Beverly acts like she is the mother and takes all the nice clothes, fur coats and shoes for herself. She also can’t seem to recognize that Jessalyn is grieving and wants to stay close to home where she feels Whitey’s presence. Beverly complains that Jessalyn is neglecting her grandchildren. Lorene does not have children but is very mean spirited. She is the Principal at North Hammond High school and is very technological savvy. She sabotages Senior’s by interfering with their first choice colleges because she finds out that they make fun of her on social media. Lorene and Beverly are very judgmental about people of color or aren’t as concerned with money for example their younger brother Virgil who in the beginning rides around on an old bicycle. They didn’t get that way from their mother or father.

This is a good literary novel by Joyce Carol Oates whom I have had so many of her books over the years but haven’t gotten around to reading them. It may appear that I have given away too many spoilers but there is so much more to this novel. I have described some of the very beginning and who I liked as character’s such as Jessalyn and her two youngest children, Sophia and Virgil. I was recommended this by a Good Reads friend and she was right. This is approximately 800 pages but I read it in three sittings. It is interesting and Joyce Carol Oates has crafted a very realistic contemporary novel that I found to be very timely and easily readable. It takes place in 2010 through 2011 in Hammond, New York. I did witness sibling rivalry, how we all cope with grief in our own ways. There is some pretty impressive writing and it is hard to believe that racial profiling still exists and how excessive force is a real problem with some police. How hard it is to prove police brutality for people of color and how sometimes people are wrongly accused. With the selfless lovable Jessalyn you are in good company as she is still young and there is a triumph of hope. I will read more from this author who is a very talented and who writes a new book just about every year.

Publication Date: June 9, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Joyce Carol Oates and Ecco/Harper Collins Publishers for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
#NightSleepDeathTheStars #JoyceCarolOates #EccoHarperCollinsPublishers #NetGalley

*ARC provided via #netgalley ⁣
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Joyce Carol Oates, one of my favorite authors, has written another sweeping family epic, much like her well known novel “We Were the Mulvaney’s”. We witness firsthand a once stable family collapse after the death of the patriarch of the family. ⁣
Unlike “We Were The Mulvaney’s” though, I struggled to finish this one. I was intrigued at the beginning of the novel, when we meet the much lauded Whitey McLaren, and then become a bystander to a vicious crime and his ultimate demise. I love books that have alternating character viewpoints, and we get several here, with the surviving members of the McLaren family: the matriarch Jessalyn, and their children Thom, Beverly, Lorene, Sophia, and Virgil. Each chapter is a detailed & lengthy glimpse into their lives before, during, and after the tragedy that has befallen them. ⁣
I feel guilty because of how much I love Ms. Oates and her previous works, and I tried to enjoy this book more, but it honestly became a chore to read it and the reason it took me over a month to complete it. Much of the prose in the chapters, particularly Jessalyn’s, were much too long. As a frequent reader of Oates’s work I’m accustomed to her unique style of prose, but after a while it grew tiring. Although I did feel quite sorry for Jessalyn as a character not only because of her husband’s passing, but mainly because her children, (especially Thom, Beverly, and Lorene) were so vile. They had no redeeming qualities and their chapters revealed more of the same. I much preferred Sophia and Virgil and looked forward to reading their chapters. ⁣
Despite not enjoying this one, I do eagerly look forward to Ms. Oates’s next book. If this is your first time reading this author, I would recommend skipping this one and picking up “We Were the Mulvaney’s” & “The Hazards of Time Travel” instead. ⁣

Another great one from Oates! Admittedly, I've loved this author since I discovered her writing in college. While I typically prefer her short stories, this is a powerful novel that seems super relevant right now. I loved the complicated characters and deep reflections on the human condition.

Oates is an icon so I feel embarrassed to offer this critique. Her talent is legendary and lauded but this novel was a huge disappointment to me. The narration is awkward and off putting. There is a third person narration that alternates with a secondary commentator. ..akin to the chorus in Greek tragedies. This book is indeed a tragedy. You hear a disembodied voice-over that is very annoying. She has written an extremely long tome about a very dysfunctional family who unravels after the untimely death of the father. What a depressing, morbid book emerges from these family members. Unrealistic events that go unpunished and unresolved add to the mix. All of the primary characters appear to be unhinged and border line psychotic. I could not wait to put it down. I would not recommend it to any type of reader. Skip it.

Once again, Joyce Carol Oates delivers a powerful, haunting novel centered on that most enticing of family events: the death of a family patriarch. Peopled by a wonderfully rich and gorgeously textured cast of characters and sparked by all of the foibles and strengths exhibited in any family, Oates' newest novel is mandatory reading for anyone fascinated by the workings (and failings) of any family.

This tome delves into family relations when a strong patriarch dies and each member reacts differently to his/her own grief and the grief of siblings, spouses, children, and parents. Whitey MacClaren dies following a stroke - but the initial pages delie the circumstances of that stroke. As his conditions improves and then plummets, his wife and five adult children surround his bedside and pray for his recovery. And each reacts differently to his conditiona nd eventually to his loss. This is a book with out resolutions in some ways. Many questions are left unanswered about how and if the players will rise above their grief, their relationshisp, their mistakes. I'll be mulling this for quite some time.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I haven’t read something so good for so long!

I confess! I was scared and my eyes were about to pop out of my sockets as soon as I saw page numbers of the book. I liked to work on long books but they should be “Goldfinch” worthy greatly written and memorable reads. I was having second thoughts but I realized the book’s named after one my favorite poems so I have to go blind and dodge the bullet. There is nothing to be afraid of dnf’ing a book (I hate to do it but if it’s necessary you should have to do it as well.)

But as soon as I start this powerful, extra ordinary reading that ruined me for any mediocre readings I did recently, my emotions were everywhere. I smiled. I cried. I gritted my teeth. I clenched my fists. I laughed aloud. I whined. I clapped. I hurt. I ached. I smiled and finally I LOVED THIS DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY and the author’s brilliant, realistic portraits, living, breathing characterization, moving story-telling like a fresh breeze touches your face and you’re swimming in the literature sea, discovering new tastes, new gems and remarkable vividness of word choices.

When I read a book, two things are important for me : The story’s pacing and strength of the characters’ depictions. For so long I haven’t read multi layered, detailed characters make you feel like you really know them. But the author brought them out with impeccable visualization. They seem like one of your family members. The author makes us easier to connect them and understand their motives, strengths, weaknesses, faults, flaws, beliefs, worries, dreams.

I loved Jessalyn and I understand that she is better alone. She doesn’t need anyone to share her life after she lost her husband. She doesn’t want to be controlled by her own children.

And of course those siblings fight with their own inner demons. My favorites were normally golden hearted Sophie and Virgil. Beverly and Thom are more problematic characters with their bottled up resentments and angers. Beverly shows her feelings by using her aggressive, critical tone and Thom prefers mockery and sarcasm as defense mechanism.
We’re introduced so many remarkable characters throughout our journey and mesmerized by the story’s progression and memorable ending.

This book needs your effort, your time, your full concentration and demands your heart and mind to open to the possibilities, surprises and unexpected twists of life. But at the end, your feel the warmness in your heart that sings to you loudly and you embrace the happiness with your soul. So this is amazing experience you’d love to welcome with open hands.

Overall: THIS IS MASTERPIECE!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers/Ecco for sharing this fantastic fiction’s ARC COPY with me in exchange my honest review.