<b>4.25 Stars</b>

All four novellas are vintage Joyce Carol Oates, classic literary fiction. These stories are perfect for a cold, rainy night or a Halloween read...I highly recommend them...and that cover is so beautiful and haunting. The theme here seems to be that males are predators and the females have had enough...how very timely.

<b>Cardiff, by the Sea: ☆☆☆☆ </b>
This is the way a story should be...creepy, suspenseful and entertaining. I love everything about the novella...creepy house, weird relatives, bumps in the night. I could see it in my head happening in every chilling detail. Great story with great writing, excellent plot and characterization. I was completely immersed in this one.

<b>Miao Dao: ☆☆☆☆☆</b>
This story is narrated by 13 year old Mia. Her parents have divorced, her father has moved away and she is developing into a young lady. She is being bullied at school and becomes friends with a bunch of feral cats. Someone complains about the cats and they are removed but for one white kitten, that Mia rescues and takes home. I felt so bad for Mia as her story is so similar to my own. My heart was breaking for her. This story read like poetry and I loved it so much, maybe is it because I felt the connection but the story was so beautiful in it's sadness.

<b>Phan-tomwise, 1972: ☆☆☆☆ </b>
I read this story in one sitting. Interesting characters with unusual motivations. I liked the style of writing and storyline and I was completly engaged through the end. Makes you think...does anyone ever really win in situations like these?

<b>The Surviving Child: ☆☆☆☆ </b>
Fantastic story, and the characters instantly became alive to me through the author's writing, I felt emotionally connected with all of them, and at times wanted to shout at them, console them, encourage them but always felt part of them. A very dark and thought provoking tale, and a story that I would definitely read again.

<i>Thank you NetGalley, Joyce Carol Oates and Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.</i>

#CardiffbytheSea #NetGalley

disclaimer – i received a copy of this book via grove atlantic/mysterious press in exchange for an honest review.

each of the novellas in cardiff, by the sea, by joyce carol oates, features a character at a crossroads. the woman in the title story inherits property from a relative she has never heard of and the property comes with a secret and a mystery that must be solved within a set timeframe. in miao dao, a young girl is dealing with her parents divorce, bullying at school, an abusive stepfather and a stray cat that seems to be more concerned for her well-being than any adult in her life. a college student finds herself pregnant in phan-tomwise: 1972 and enters into a mentorship with a professor who wants more from her than just a mentor/mentee relationship. finally, in the surviving child, a mother kills her daughter and herself but lets her son live with repercussions that touch everyone in his house.

oates is a remarkable author and the characters in these stories are compelling. it's incredibly easy to connect with these characters and become completely invested in their stories. each story is at times frantic and disjointed but this makes the story that much richer and makes the characters that much more sympathetic. the overwhelming feeling in all of these stories is a sense of being trapped. these characters are all searching for answers and hoping for help, a solution is possible but even when the right choice is made, the price is incredibly high.

four out of five stars

As ever, Joyce Carol Oates is a masterful storyteller. So gently she engages your imagination and then you are hanging on for dear life as she sends you on a soaring magic carpet through the minds and hearts of her characters.  Her uncanny ability to write from the perspective of the stream of consciousness of her characters remains unparalleled.  If you are a fan, you will love this collection.  So very juicy, but short enough that each can be read in a single sitting without keeping you up all night.  Unless, of course, your resultant dreams do.

Vintage Joyce Carol Oates. 

Anyone that has read a Joyce Carol Oates anthology will enjoy these novellas.
These stories are filled with such foreboding that I had to put the book down on multiple occasions. I found myself wanting to yell at each protagonist as their situations worsened. To tell them to beware. To tell them to hide, to run, to wake up. Very real and surreal at the same time. 
By the way, my favorite is Miao Dao. What a comeuppance!

Thanks to NetGalley, Mysterious Press, and Joyce Carol Oates for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Cardiff, by the Sea is an anthology of four previously unpublished novellas by Joyce Carol Oates.  Ms. Oates is a world-renowned and prolific author.  Her talent is unquestionable, but I have to be honest and admit that these novellas left me cold.  The novellas are all written in third-party prose that kept me from gaining anything other than a surface-level understanding any of the characters.  There was no depth, no empathy.  Further, the main character in each of the stories is a woman, but they are women who lack confidence and come across as passive observers of life.  I couldn't connect to any of them.  Also, each story builds to an appropriate ending, but then in the final paragraph(s), that ending is questioned.  It's hard to explain what I mean here, but I found all the endings to be unsatisfying.  Finally, I'm not sure when these novellas were written, but they read as dated to me.  Perhaps why this is the first time the are being published.

Fans of JCO will no doubt love Cardiff, by the Sea, and I know I'm in the minority, but I have to be honest.  My thanks to NetGallley and The Mysterious Press for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free advanced ebook of Cardiff, by the Sea from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Anyone who has read Joyce Carol Oates knows that there will be equal parts pain and pleasure in reading her work. Cardiff, by the Sea is a collection of four novellas, each of which is centered on a female protagonist. Each young woman is solitary by nature and hesitant to express herself. Each finds contentment in poetry and art but the realities of life are a bit more difficult.

The first and longest novella for which the collection is named, concerns a young woman, Clare, who unexpectedly inherits a house in Maine from her grandmother by birth. Clare had been adopted as a toddler and knows nothing about her birth family. Upon traveling to Maine, she meets some rather eccentric great aunts and begins the painful search for her family past. There is no easy way to accept or understand family annihilation and Clare's survival when the rest of her family has died sets her reeling. What, if anything, does she remember and can her memories be trusted?

The second novella, Miao Dao, was the most painful to read. Mia is a preteen whose parents are going through a divorce. Her father wanders away from his family to a new one out of state and her mother is initially incapable of forward movement. Mia feels out of sorts in her changing body and the cruel chaotic nature of middle school only exacerbates her separateness. She hides her maturing body with large clothing and slumped shoulders but silly and crude middle school boys are fascinated. Mia's only solace is a feral kitten, Miao Dao, that she brings home after the cat colony is destroyed. Her new stepfather makes Mia uneasy and she has no outlets to express her emotions. Unhappiness and uncertainty ooze out of her.

Phantomwise reveals a naive college-age woman who becomes the date rape victim of an older teaching assistant. Alyce is is his apartment because she doesn't know what to say to get out of there. She doesn't want to be rude and their continued relationship is indicative of her uncertainty.
Not rape. Nothing so physically coercive. Instead he'd made her feel shame, that she had caused him to misunderstand her...Her heart was beating rapidly, as the heart of a creature that is trapped, yet has not quite acknowledged it is trapped...Not rape. Not - precisely.

Finally, there is The Surviving Child where a young woman marries an older widower with a child and moves into the lovely home where wife #1, the mysterious poet known as N.K., had killed herself and one of her children. Elizabeth longs to connect with the quiet surviving child but there are specters of mystery about the murder-suicide.

As always, Oates' work is spectacularly written. #NetGalley #CardiffbytheSea

5 "how the heck do you doit?" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Grove Atlantic for an advance ebook in exchange for my honest review. This will be released in October 2020.

I am absolutely astonished that in a collection of 4 novellas that ALL OF THEM WOULD BE FUCKIN BRILLIANT !!

Ms. Oates' collection is hypnotic, mesmerizing, terrifying, astute and true. I will list the novella's title and a brief little review of each. These mini-reviews were written right after I read the piece and are collected here.


Cardiff, by the Sea (5 stars)

This novella is so moving, so thrilling, so astute. A young woman receives a call from a lawyer in Maine. She has inheritance ! But she is adopted. Who were her parents ? On this quest she meets her great-aunts, her uncle. This little ditty does not do this novella justice. It is likely one of the best little psychological pieces I have ever read....as good as yes....Shirley Jackson ! That says it all !

I will revisit this novella for sure but more for its prose and structure to help me with my own creative writing. I felt short of breath, afraid and thrilled reading this one !

Fuck fuck fuck this was so damn good Ms. Oates !

Miao Dao (5 stars)

Mia is turning 12, 13, 14. Mia is deeply hurt by her mother, her departing father, her distant unsupportive friends. The boys at school are both silly and brutish, the stepfather is.....

Mia loves the feral cats and one beautiful white one is angelic yet terrible....

This is a terrifying and deeply sad story that has wisdom and rhythm.

Ms. Oates you are astounding me !

Phan-tomwise, 1972 (5 stars)

A 19 yo undergrad in humanities is so very lonely, so very bright, so very naive. She tangles with two malignant narcissists (one paternalistic, one sneering) and the results are not just frightening but terrifying, horrifying.

One of the most ruthless tales about misogyny that I have ever read. I was breathless and hopeless reading this.

Ms. Oates....just stop....you are so bloody good !

The Surviving Child (5 stars)

A new stepmother for Stefan. His mother killed herself and murdered his sister ! The new stepmother is haunted by the new seaside house, by strange happenings, by the notoriety of the brilliant first wife. Her love for Stefan is fierce but will that save her from succumbing to....

This is a brilliant psychological ghost story. Chilling, everyday, horrifying. Amazing !!

Ms. Oates I bow down to your ghoulish brilliance !

As you can probably tell ....these are novellas to both frighten and tantalize and are the PERFECT ADDITION to your autumn and especially Halloween reading list.

There are four novellas in this book including the one that is the title of the book. I have read several of Oates’s books in the past and taken her writing class on Masterclass so obviously I admire her work.

But, of the four novellas I only found the last two satisfactory. The first two felt like the start of novels that were given up and quickly given ‘an ending’. Of course this may not be true but I do wonder about how prolific Oates is and whether her work suffers because of this.

Overall I was disappointed with all of the stories and how dark they were. I quite like authors dealing with dark topics but these lacked nuance and felt a bit relentless.

I received an ARC of this book, after having seen the title and description.  Cardiff?  I've been to Cardiff, I like Wales.  Mysterious Press?  I've read and enjoyed lots of other Mysterious Press books, especially by Donald Westlake.  Mystery, thriller, haunting?  Sounds great!  Short fiction?  I love short fiction!

Unfortunately, these stories just didn't speak to me.  I'm sure they're fine, but they weren't my cup of tea.

Multiple stories included haunting elements, but there was no real resolution about them.  Were spiders somehow nefariously involved in life-changing experiences, or were they simply present?  Was any poisoning being done?  The characters simply don't seem _smart_.  Their lives are full of sensations, and what appear to be absurd choices - if they're being manipulated, are they truly weak, or are they facing challenges that they simply are incapable of responding to effectively?  To the extent that there are mysteries, they generally don't seem to be resolved, at least not in a way that I considered satisfying.

Some of the characterizations were definitely carefully sketched.  But, again, some of them were excessively nasty.  This can be explained by the perspective of the heroine, I suppose, but people who appear so distasteful yet the heroine seems to not observe their faults, or to respond to forces that appear to dominate their lives, it just didn't make much sense to me.  She does have extremely clear descriptions, I can definitely envision the houses, dresses, etc that she describes.

I'm a guy.  Maybe this book will speak to women in a completely different way.  I haven't read much else by Joyce Carol Oates, so perhaps this is precisely the kind of book that her fans will love.  For me, though, it didn't succeed in making me a fan, and I don't expect to read much else by her.  I'm grateful to have received an ARC, though!

I received an ARC of this collection of novellas from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I love the stories of Joyce Carol Oates.  Her raw portrayals of life and the ugliness alongside the beauty and hopefulness of existence is compelling.

Impressive that this is the third book I've read by Joyce Carol Oates (JCO) in the space of eight months, each showcasing another facet of her prodigious talent.  The fact that the three books consisted of a book of short stories, an 800-page novel, and this, a collection of four novellas only proves that she is equally at home with every form (she also has a book of poetry due out later this year).  The theme uniting these four novellas of psychological suspense is women of different ages in danger, but such is her talent that these examples are unique in situation and outcome.  She has been writing about the survivor of family mass murder ever since her earliest days, but due to her ability to create individuals, each is remarkable and memorable.

I am a huge Joyce Carol Oates fan but this book is just awful. The stories contained within in are stilted and disjointed and best and horrible at worst. Give this a pass

Perhaps it is the headspace I am in (the pandemic has rendered me capable of reading only comforting things), this book was just a miss for me. It felt slow, not gripping enough, and most importantly- hard to read! Both in terms of the writing style and the themes.

I love Joyce Carrol Oates and I loved this novellas. She's a master storyteller and her stories are haunting and brilliant.
It's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Joyce Carol Oates both never surprises and always surprises.  That holds true in her new collection of four novellas, Cardiff, By The Sea.  Her readers have come to expect excellence - lyrical writing, well-drawn characters, vivid settings and always with a touch or more of darkness - and so it is no surprise that these novellas are consistently excellent.  I had read Phantomwise: 1972 when it appeared in The Best Mystery Stories of 2018 (edited by Louise Penny) but the other three stories were new to me, although they have all appeared in print prior to being gathered together in this collection.  Oates always surprises with new insights, new depth of character, new twists and turns.  All of these novellas feature women, women who discover more about themselves and women who discover more about others, mostly men.  Cardiff, By the Sea is my favorite of the collection.  It is the longest and, in some ways more complex than the others.  One usually can't go wrong in choosing to read anything of Oates'; her work does not grow old. She is, indeed, one of our greatest living authors and a national treasure - and Cardiff, by the Sea will only add to that well-deserved reputation.

Soulless writing, uninspired themes, ridiculous characters, mundane, detrimental prose, wooden dialogue, messy punctuation as an attempt to adopt a pseudo-literary style. Heavily disappointing.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an impartial review.

Wow, JCO.  First a fabulous 800+ page novel of family dysfunction, then a collection of sharp, short(ish) suspense novellas to soothe my COVID brain.  In these stories, Oates applies her considerable and prolific talents to exploring the effects of trauma on (specifically) women's bodies and souls.  Each of the stories has a female protagonist grappling with abuse, alienation and fear. It's ok to read in the dark (well, maybe not the first one...or the last one) because Oats deals in chills more than thrills--the quiet creeping sensation up your back as you delve into the sad and damaged worlds she creates.  I confess to struggling a bit with the female characters as each, in her own way, must confront her own weaknesses to varying degrees of success. I found myself desperate for one of them to stand and fight in a conventional way. But in their fear, Oates finds a poignancy and the characters touch the reader in their vulnerability.  These are haunting, psychological dramas that will leave you chilled and disconcerted.  By which, I mean as a compliment.

*Many thanks to Joyce Carol Oates, Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
The four novellas were for me the introduction to Ms Oates's writing. All four deal with distrurbing themes and ways to conquer fears. Quite captivating and original.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for granting me an advance review copy. 

Four wonderful novellas from Joyce Carol Oates. "Cardiff, by the sea": A young researcher, adopted as a young child, gets in touch with her biological family after receiving an inheritance.  As she gets to know her family history, things don’t seem to be quite as they appear on the surface.

Miao Dao: A young girl experiences massive changes in her life with the only constant comfort in her life being a once feral cat that she has adopted

Phantom wise:1972: A young university student struggles when a romantic relationship with a professor goes too far. 

The surviving child: a stepmother tries to make a success of her new blended family and to connect with her new stepson, who has survived the tragic loss of his mother. 


Reading books by Joyce Carol Oates can be quite an intense experience.  This collection is no different, four compelling and deeply disturbing novellas about troubled romance, death, life, relationships. Joyce Carol Oates never disappoints.

Another brilliant read by Joyce Carol Oates,as usual she writes in the most lyrical style.Four novellas full of wonderful characters.I was moved emotionally I laughed I enjoyed page after page.Highly recommend #netgalley#groveatlantic