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slothrop's review
5.0
Been a slow reader. But this book was great. Another reading in the future will be required. Dreamy and gothic, my favorite.
Joy Williams forever
Joy Williams forever
cadigana's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
the most gut wrenching heart breaking thing i have ever had the pleasure to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
rpmirabella's review
5.0
I think I held off on this for so long because the description makes it sound sort of conventional, but it is NOT CONVENTIONAL, and I should have known better. We're talking about Joy here! This is a brilliant, inventive, strange, sometimes brutal, darkly funny novel. A novel which lives in the past, present, and future simultaneously. This is how we all live, with the past invading, the specter of death hanging over our present lives. Kate is disturbed, in great trouble, and this trouble propels the narrative forward, without holding our hand. This is a novel that teaches you how to read it as you go.
In her forward to the Collected Works of Jane Bowles, Joy writes: "Of course, this is the most important thing a writer can learn—the necessity of finding one's own dangerous, inimitable, and lonely place, and writing from there."
I think Joy Williams is the perfect example of a writer succeeding at this, and STATE OF GRACE is her first expression of it.
In her forward to the Collected Works of Jane Bowles, Joy writes: "Of course, this is the most important thing a writer can learn—the necessity of finding one's own dangerous, inimitable, and lonely place, and writing from there."
I think Joy Williams is the perfect example of a writer succeeding at this, and STATE OF GRACE is her first expression of it.
adrianasturalvarez's review
5.0
I took my time with this one. The prose is rich. I had to immerse myself in Williams' sentences and allow the narrative to emerge on its own. It does, by the way. This is definitely a novel I want to reread. A first pass doesn't do it justice. I love it when prose demands rigor and pays off with poignant themes, poetic insight, and more than a little transformation for both the characters and the reader.
the_emas's review
2.0
Beautiful prose at times, but also fully undecipherable. Kate's dreamy stream-of-conscious narration in Books I and III is filled with words that aren't words, esoteric allusions, and metaphors straining for meaning. At times there are powerful passages that hit you in the gut, but most of the time reading State of Grace feels like swimming through murky ocean depths.
The third person narration of Book II was a welcome respite from Kate's delusions. The visit from the townsfolk dropping off the family portrait is especially packed with insight into human nature, although this is offset by the much too exaggerated precociousness and vocabulary of 8 year-old Kate.
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take away or feel after finishing this book, but that's assuredly part of the point. 2.5 stars.
The third person narration of Book II was a welcome respite from Kate's delusions. The visit from the townsfolk dropping off the family portrait is especially packed with insight into human nature, although this is offset by the much too exaggerated precociousness and vocabulary of 8 year-old Kate.
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take away or feel after finishing this book, but that's assuredly part of the point. 2.5 stars.
earnestlilt's review against another edition
3.0
i got lost and couldn't find my way back. even at the end. the book is "style over substance", for sure. but, goddamn, what style!