Oates, Joyce Carol. The Gravedigger’s Daughter. New York: Harper Perennial, 2008.
I was in such a mad rush to finish Losing Clementine (so that I could leave it for my sister to read) that I didn’t think about the long trip home; how I would have nothing with which to while away the miles. It was with surprised relief I accepted the loan of The Gravedigger’s Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates. Oddly enough, I didn’t start it until we were firmly back at Hilltop. I’m not sure why.
Normally when a book is over 500 pages I balk at it’s length. I see it as a chore I must tackle with a barely suppressed sigh. In my opinion, the best books have always been neat packages of 350 pages or less. It shouldn’t take more than that to say what you need to say. It’s a rare treat when 500+ pages goes by in the blink of a read. The Gravedigger’s Daughter is that rare treat. I read 234 pages in three days without sighing or shifting positions. I didn’t need bathroom breaks or snack interludes. For once, I was content to stay completely still, eyes glued to the page.
The Gravedigger’s Daughter is exactly that, a story about Rebecca, a gravedigger’s daughter. Her story is wrought with tragedy. Her family (father, two brothers and pregnant-with-Rebecca mother) fled Nazi Germany in 1936. After Rebecca’s birth on U.S. soil the family finds themselves in a small town in upstate New York. Rebecca’s father in his former life was a high school teacher, but in America is reduced to sole cemetery caretaker and gravedigger. With his place in society diminished he grows more and more discontent with his family and way of life. After a horrible tragedy Rebecca is left to escape; to reinvent herself; to renew her place in the world. Her story is one of terrible beauty and bittersweet courage. My only “complaint” is in the end the length did bother me; it took a long time (over 500 pages) for Rebecca to get where she’s going.
Favorite lines, “For she’d come to hate him, he had so lacerated her heart” (p 18), “Nature has provided a wondrous assortment of exits from life” (p 158), and “You live your life forward and remember only backward” (p 401).
~*LunaSea*~ 