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Tone Clusters: the Joyce Carol Oates discussion group archive

Sunday, May 13, 2007

RE: JCO: Missing Mom

Hello Marie
 
I agree that Missing Mom is a very moving novel for the reasons you described.
 
Another book I read recently which deals so powerfully with the subject of grief is Joan Didion's memoir The Year of Magical Thinking. It demonstrates how emotional response can't be regulated by rational thinking, how the physical presence of those we've lost can take up habitation in our minds and the way we live our daily lives. It's a beautiful form of tribute despite how painful a process it is. You may be interested in reading Oates' novel American Appetites if you haven't already which partly deals with grief and loss concerning a relationship between a husband and wife which was much more tumultuous than that which Nikki had with her mother. However, the daughter's way of mourning is similar in some ways to that of Missing Mom.
 
Eric

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