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A review by hetauuu
Daddy Love by Joyce Carol Oates
4.0
Joyce Carol Oates' Daddy Love is a gutwrenching, disturbing story about an abducted boy, a disturbed pedophile and grieving parents. Weaving these points of view together, Oates creates a sickening, chilling story that will stick with you for ages.
Five-year-old Robbie Whitcomb is abducted into a van in April 2006. His mother is ran over by the madman, Chester Cash, who, for six years, continues to abuse, groom and rape Robbie. This book digs into the psyche of a highly troubled, disgusting man such as Chester with such punch that I was gasping for air at times. Reading from Chester's perspective is so harrowing because he is so realistic. His character is not gratuitous or overly written, no, men like him have always existed and will always exist. The realism of it all made it hard to stomach. The same goes for how the other points of view were handled. Robbie's transformation to Son, an obedient little boy, and then to Gideon, a boy desperate to escape, was realistic and showed Oates' capability to understand the human mind.
The plot progresses well and I found this book very hard to put down. I was so invested in Robbie and hoping for his freedom all the way through. There certainly was hope and there were moments of possibility of healing for him. The ending left me scratching my head, but I like that. It means this book will keep me thinking about the characters and their fate in the future, and it is always important for me to take something away from a book.
Five-year-old Robbie Whitcomb is abducted into a van in April 2006. His mother is ran over by the madman, Chester Cash, who, for six years, continues to abuse, groom and rape Robbie. This book digs into the psyche of a highly troubled, disgusting man such as Chester with such punch that I was gasping for air at times. Reading from Chester's perspective is so harrowing because he is so realistic. His character is not gratuitous or overly written, no, men like him have always existed and will always exist. The realism of it all made it hard to stomach. The same goes for how the other points of view were handled. Robbie's transformation to Son, an obedient little boy, and then to Gideon, a boy desperate to escape, was realistic and showed Oates' capability to understand the human mind.
The plot progresses well and I found this book very hard to put down. I was so invested in Robbie and hoping for his freedom all the way through. There certainly was hope and there were moments of possibility of healing for him. The ending left me scratching my head, but I like that. It means this book will keep me thinking about the characters and their fate in the future, and it is always important for me to take something away from a book.