Where is here

Who openly invites a stranger into his home on a bleak, dark November evening? Still, the tone has been set for how this stranger will affect the family negatively. Any kind of thief, or mentally disturbed person, or even a murderer. Ringing our doorbell like that with no warning…. Interestingly, Oates defies the usual writing conventions with the dialogue in her story.

Instead of beginning a new paragraph when a new of different character speaks, Oates has 2 more than one character speak in the same paragraph.

Is this merely her style or does she want the reader to see all of the characters as indistinct entities? And if so, for what purpose? Who truly is real in this story? Or are they all ghosts, a la M. Oates hints at the possibility of at least one ghost during a conversation between the stranger and the mother. Cool and damp because he has been out in the cool November evening, or is it the cool, damp, and uncertain touch of a non-corporeal entity?

There is little doubt that the visitor did spend part of his childhood in the house, as evidenced by even the most minute details he can recall when he enters each room. He notes the size of the windows being different, seeming to shrink, perhaps, as he grew?

What seemed much larger to the eyes of a child has diminished for the adult stranger. Had he been locked in the basement as punishment? Had he met with a fatal accident in the basement or at least a fall that has caused him now to limp? Furthermore, why do the new owners not want to show him that part of the house? It can be no coincidence that he remembers living in the house, along with his parents and his sister, when he was eleven, and that the current family also includes two children: a girl, who is thirteen; and a boy, who is eleven.

These lines suggest that both mother and son and probably his sister as well were the victims of the domineering father. Curiously, Oates uses quotation marks around the word master, perhaps suggesting not only an abusive father but also an abusive husband. Why else would the visitor consciously avoid that room? Similarly, is this also the case with the family currently living in the house? The parents seem to be very fond of each other and of their children. However, looks can be deceiving, as people mask their true selves.

Throughout the story the reader sees cracks begin to appear in the thin veneer of civility the parents pretend to maintain, as the husband and wife blame each 3 other for inviting the stranger into their home and allowing him the freedom they have granted him as he explores each room. They even silently chide themselves and blame each other? It was as if a force of nature, benign at the outset, now uncontrollable, had swept its way into the house!

At one point the visitor asks why the couple had two children. Rating details. Sort order. Start your review of Where is Here? Nov 02, Larry Bassett rated it really liked it Shelves: short-stories. I have not read any JCO in a while and have an entire shelf of books by her. I have also decided that it is time to focus on some short stories since my brain seems hard pressed to retain significant quantities of detail in longer stories.

I just finished a book of short stories where most were ten pages or less and I enjoyed most of them. It turns out that there are 35 storie I have not read any JCO in a while and have an entire shelf of books by her.

It turns out that there are 35 stories in this book of less than pages. Really short stories! I open this book with the hope of being entertained. That is one way of having your life improved without interference of significant money or morality.

Considering JCO is a well known and prolific author, this book published in has been rated by relatively few GR readers. Oates takes me places that I might not otherwise go and gives me a strong sense that I am right there.

The lipstick scrawls on the cinderblock walls, the mirrors specked with grime, stained sinks with hairs visible in the drains, stained toilets. I rushed in, steeling myself for some disagreeable sight or odor, and one of the mirrors showed me wild-looking in the face, damp eyes and a mouth that appeared lipless.

I winced, looked away, refused to acknowledge myself before I was ready to be seen. The twenty year old is getting ready for a date and is late. It is also two pages and waiting for you right now. You could pause, take a breath, ready yourself. Remember that I expressed some hope of being entertained?

Well, good luck with that! I forgot. This is Joyce Carol Fucking Oates. Her entertainment will cost you some piece of mind. She makes you think. But not necessarily will she make you smile. She fled, she returned home.

And she did telephone the SPCA. And the local police. It was hot weather, in any case. Often, she heard dogs barking. In the distance.

Any number of dogs. For the world was filled with barking dogs after all. The book is filled with special people. One or more in every short story. And then the murderer was arrested. And confessed.

A local man, a resident too of the welfare hotel. And though Dennis Brewer was innocent presumably people continued to view him with a certain degree of suspicion. It was as if the man had been absorbed and been contaminated by evil as freshly laundered white sheets, hung out to dry, might absorb and be contaminated by polluted air.

Even the children could not shake off the expectation, or was it the perverse unspoken hope, that their uncle Dennie had done something special — was something special. Though of course they knew better. As everyone knew better. Got to love JC Fucking Oates. But be careful of her sharp edges. Four stars. View all 3 comments.

Jan 12, Shelby rated it it was ok. I guess it is because it was not really my type of book. I thought this book was just to dark for me.

I know that it is supposed to be like that but I thought that it was kind of boring. I thought the book was kind of hard for me to simply because the book was boring and not my type. I was not sure what to except being I had to read this book. I would not read this book again simply because I did not really like it. I would recommend this book to anyone t 2 Stars I really did not like this book. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes gothic literature.

Sep 29, Dannie JO rated it it was ok. My opinion of this book will change after I discuss it with my Professor, other than that I'm extremely confused For some reason my brain is not up to speed tonight. Also I don't know if it's because i'm not a fan of scary genre bur I did not appreciate the suspense I wanted to know what happen so bad View 1 comment.

Aug 01, Siobhan F. Joyce Carol Oates is one of those writers either you love her work or you don't. I don't. Meddling spirits conceived this trick to twist the knife in me!

Clearly, his time spent among the suitors had influenced him to distrust the words of others. When Odysseus proves that he is his father, they reunite and weep until sundown. Normally, it is peculiar to immediately trust a person after a few sentences of proof, much less share a plan together.

He admits that he lives only to feed himself. Though it is crucial to Eliezer to remain with his father at all costs, even the link between parent and child grows tenuous under the stress of the Nazi oppression. When, in this section, Eliezer relates with horror a story about witnessing a thirteen-year-old child who beats his father for making his bed improperly, he seems to feel that the event serves as an implicit cautionary tale.

This lack of discipline and self control soon rubbed off onto wes as show in chapter 6. From the text the author Wes Moore shares how these foolish actions will further limits his chances of getting a real job and being hired and how it was and easier way for Wes to get back into the drug game so soon after he is released from prison.

Mccandless sense of self confidence while trying to find his identity helped him to progress in life, but was also his greatest downfall; Into the Wild demonstrates self confidence as not an unacceptable trait to have, but the significance of the negative or positive effects it can possess. Confidence played a big role in Mccandless life, so much that he created relationships with his family and other people that caused him to go on his adventures.

Throughout this book Mccandless expresses his hate towards his parents. When he was old enough to realize that his dad had cheated on his mom this particular aspect changed him. In typically sibling relationships based on pride the older sibling manipulates the younger one for self gain and then doesn't want anything else to do with that person anymore. In this scene Brother threatens to leave Doodle in the barn loft if he doesn't touch his own coffin.

Doodle is dependent of Brother because he trust that Brother wouldn't intentionally hurt him. Huck realizes that life will be easier away from his father because whether Pap was drunk or sober, Huck was always in a bad situation, either neglected or abused. I do not believe that Len 's parents thought he was having problems, or there were voices talking to him.

However, I believe that Len 's mother sensed something because she had him start writing in the journal. Another thing to consider was Len 's father, who Len did not have a very good relationship with. His father was always hurting his mother physically, drank high amounts of alcohol, and liked to control the family.

I believe this had something to do with why Len became an active shooter at school. This is a personal challenge for not only Christopher but also those around him, especially his father.