Do you give the book a lower rating because you don't like to read about a young woman, Alma Busch, who doesn't believe that the Holocaust happened and that over 6 million Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, mental patients and more were brutally murdered?
Alma works as an assistant for a reclusive author who became famous and wealthy because of his semi-autobiographical novel about his families holocaust history. She hates him because of his house in the expensive area of town and because he is wealthy and spends his money - in her opinion - irrationally. But most of all, she hates him because he is a Jew.
On that premise, the book shares inside knowledge both from Alma Busch's and from the author, Joshua Seigl's perspective. Joshua feels empathetic towards Alma and wants to pay for schooling and often pays her more than the agreed upon wages. Alma wages war on Joshua by spitting in his food and drinks, putting shards of glass in his food and doing other far worse and unmentionable acts.
In Joyce Carol Oates' world, destruction for both Joshua and Alma is inevitable. I don't want to give away any more of the plot, so it is here that I will stop telling you about these characters.
Which brings us back to the original question I posed, "How do you review a book when the subject is distasteful? By my reckoning, you judge it on how well it is crafted. Did it hold your attention? Did it make you think? Did it make you think HARD? Did the words make you sit up and read them again because of their beautiful phrasing? Did it make you want to read another book by the author?
I would say Oates hit the nail on the head for most all of these questions. Don't get me wrong, it was a very difficult book to read and there wasn't a lot of sentences that made me catch my breath because of their beauty. However, true to Oates' nature she leaves no subject alone. She writes about them all, rape, incest, murder, love, hate, adultery and everything in between. And now she has added holocaust disbelievers to that list.
Me? I will always believe in Joyce Carol Oates ability to write a very good book.
Rating: 7 / 10
ISBN: 9780060531065
Publisher: Ecco
Year Published: 2003
Edition: 1st
Remainder: No