I've read a lot of JCO's books over the years, and I've liked most of them, loved more than a few and I've always admired her writing. I'm not sure how she keeps plugging away (she's well into her 80's) I think, and though I'm not far behind her in age and I read her works regularly, I'm sure I have not read even half of her output. (Wiki tells me she's written more than 70 books).

This one was her latest, at least I think it was at the time I read it, and it is very gothic. It reminded me very much of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In The Castle. Set in a small town in upstate New York, we have a younger sister, Georgene, clearly an unreliable narrator, telling the story of her family, and what happened some 15 years previously when her beautiful and talented older sister Marguerite disappeared on her way to a local college where she was a professor of art.

Interesting characters are created, and there is an involving plot as well as things to puzzle out, all the while trying to figure out what games, conscious or unconscious, our narrator Georgene (and behind her author Oates) is playing with us.

Recommended.
3 1/2 stars

First Line: "Silky white fabric. Bodiless."
Last Line: "Dear Sister, Wait! I am almost there."

Factoid: In the afterword (or maybe I read it on Wiki?) it is stated that 600,000 people disappear annually in the US, and of these 90,000 are never found. This doesn't mean they are all murdered, but there is this quote: "The earth is bloody with the bodies of raped, murdered, cast-aside women and girls." ( )

Marguerite's younger sister begins with her last glimpse of her older, glamorous sister and tells the story of what happened after Marguerite disappeared somewhere between the home she'd moved back to after her mother's death to care for her father and younger sister, and the local college where she worked as an artist-in-residence. M. is beautiful and talented and her disappearance brings a lot of attention to their town and to Gigi and her father. Gigi is very different from her sister, not a beauty and unlike her sister, whose art career is taking off, Gigi works as a clerk in the post office. Gigi begins to explore her sister's life, finding surprises in a sketchbook and in the attentions of a man who claims to have been her sister's mentor.

Joyce Carol Oates is playing to her strengths with this novel. There's the young woman both repelled and drawn to an over-bearing man, there's the distant father, there's that sense of being uncomfortable in one's own body and, more than anything, JCO's writing style that gives everything an off-kilter feel, a touch of the creepy. All those things are why I like JCO's writing so much and yet, here, they fail to deliver. JCO is pulling out all the usual tricks, but this novel feels like she's just going through the motions. She's written dozens of books like this one and, for once, it shows. It's not a bad book, but there are so very many better books by her out there. She is an extraordinary author who has written a remarkable number of books so a rare stumble is no doubt to be expected, although her mistakes are usually ones where she takes a chance and fails, not when she's writing to her strengths. A bad book by JCO is still better than most other books, but she's written far better books. ( )

(23) I loved this - deliciously creepy, Geogene Fulmer is an incredible creation. Oates is a master of characterization. In the opening scene Georgene describes the last time she sees her young adult sister. In fact, she sees a double reflection of her in the mirror as she is creeping by her sister's bedroom door left ajar one morning .. and then never sees her again. Or does she? Georgene is not the most reliable narrator. The police investigate; a psychic becomes involved, a private investigator. The Fulmers are a old rich family in upstate New York. The patriarch is recently widowed after his wife dies an untimely death from breast cancer and his daughters' lives are upended. Marguerite, the elder sister (the disappeared one,) comes home from NYC where she is a successful artist, declining a prestigious fellowship to become the artist in residence at a local college, in order to minister to her younger sister. Georgene, the younger sister, who has gone off the rails after her mother's demise.

And so the premise is set and JCO writes mesmerizingly in the vein of true crime through the lens of the acerbic, intelligent, but potentially mentally unhinged younger sister. It is a brilliant short novel! I am such a fan of Oates macabre fiction - this reminded me of the depiction of the Jon Benet Ramsey case in 'My Sister, My Love' and 'Black Water,' the Chappaquiddick reenactment.

Anyway, from an entertainment standpoint - I think I know what happened. I think the author answered all my questions and tied off loose ends - but I do think there are some parts that are tantalizingly open to interpretation. Bravo! ( )

Although a long-time JCO fan, I couldn’t give this novel more than 3 stars due to the unlikeable character of G and the ambiguity of the ending. She is a brilliant writer and I always look forward to her new books, but this one was a disappointment. ( )

In April of 1991, 30-year-old Marguerite (M.) Fulmer disappears from her upper middle-class home in Aurora-on-Cayuga in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. Twenty-two years later, her younger sister Georgene (G.), the narrator, reveals snippets of her sister’s life and the various theories developed by police, relatives, colleagues, and even a psychic: was she abducted and murdered or did she run away for some reason? Also revealed are G’s complicated feelings for her perfect, much-loved sister.

The two sisters are foils. M. was beautiful, talented, accomplished, and popular. A sculptor, she received prestigious awards. With her sense of style and designer clothes, hers seemed to be a glamorous life G. could never achieve. G. is the exact opposite. She lacks her sister’s beauty and accomplishments. She works in a dead-end job as a postal clerk. Because she tends to be brusque, rude, and dismissive of others, she has no friends or romantic relationships.

G.’s anger, jealousy, and resentment become increasingly obvious. She wants what her sister had: beauty, popularity, and success. She feels unloved by her family and hopes for a romantic relationship. Beneath her peevish and abrasive exterior lies a deeply unhappy, lonely, and insecure woman.

What also becomes clear is that G. is an unreliable narrator. For instance, at one point she says that she refused “to be envious of anyone, ever” but then later admits “All that was secret in my sister, I deeply envied, and resented.” From the beginning she makes clear that she is not totally forthcoming: “Note that much is hypothetical here. Though G. may know exactly what has happened to M., G. is taking care to present ‘clues’ as they appear in sequence.” The line between reality and imagination is often blurred. For instance, there is one episode where G. describes taking a certain action only for the reader to learn later that she was fantasizing. As a consequence, the reader must wonder about other scenes: are they reality or hallucinations?

Readers should be warned that the ending is ambiguous. Of course, this should not come as a surprise since G. states at the beginning, “So many maybes! Yet (this is the tantalizing promise of clues!) one of these maybes however improbable and implausible is the Truth.” G.’s last glimpse of M. is her face “in the bureau mirror reflected in the mirror on the closet door – that is, an image double mirrored.” This suggests a distorted image and that’s really what the narration feels like: not everything is clear.

This is a mystery for those who like to read closely in order to figure out what happened. I have my suspicions, but I think a second reading would be beneficial.

Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.

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