Joyce Carol Oates
Best-selling author Joyce Carol Oates returns with an incendiary novel that illuminates the tragic impact of sexual violence, racism, brutality, and power on innocent lives and probes the persistence of stereotypes, the nature of revenge, the complexities of truth, and our insatiable hunger for sensationalism.
When a fourteen-year-old girl is the alleged victim of a terrible act of racial violence, the incident shocks and galvanises her community, exacerbating the racial tension that has been simmering in this New Jersey town for decades. In this magisterial work of fiction, Joyce Carol Oates explores the uneasy fault lines in a racially troubled society. In such a tense, charged atmosphere, Oates reveals that there must always be a sacrifice – of innocence, truth, trust, and, ultimately, of lives. Unfolding in a succession of multiracial voices, in a community transfixed by this alleged crime and the spectacle unfolding around it, this profound novel exposes what – and who – the “sacrifice” actually is, and what consequences these kind of events hold for us all.
Working at the height of her powers, Oates offers a sympathetic portrait of the young girl and her mother, and challenges our expectations and beliefs about our society, our biases, and ourselves. As the chorus of its voices – from the police to the media to the victim and her family – reaches a crescendo, “The Sacrifice” offers a shocking new understanding of power and oppression, innocence and guilt, truth and sensationalism, justice and retribution.
A chilling exploration of complex social, political, and moral themes – the enduring trauma of the past, modern racial and class tensions, the power of secrets, and the primal decisions we all make to protect those we love – “The Sacrifice” is a major work of fiction from one of our most revered literary masters.
Reviews of The Sacrifice
-
‘[Joyce Carol Oates] is simply the most consistently inventive, brilliant, curious and creative writer going, as far as I’m concerned’ Gillian Flynn, author of “Gone Girl”
‘A powerful new novel … We see how, in the hands of a great writer, a gripping story can be torn from the poisonous rubble’ Rose Tremain, Guardian
‘Visceral and hypnotising … simmers with barely concealed rage at the impotence inflicted on people by race and gender inequalities’ Lesley McDowell, Independent
‘Oates demonstrates a fearlessness in her writing. The book has the energy and force of a river in full flow, filled with dangerous undercurrents and eddies’ Victoria Moore, Daily Mail
‘A savage satire on race relations and the culture of sensationalism … The Sacrifice ranks among Joyce Carol Oates’ best novels’ Robert Rorke, New York Post
‘With great energy and a cold eye for contemporary American race relations … offers a mix of fiery drama and the cold bone truths of race as we all live it today’ Alan Cheuse, NPR Books
‘Oates’ firecracker of a novel explores the minefield of race relations in thought-provoking style’ Max Davidson, Irish Mail on Sunday
‘Explosive’ Jon Michaud, Washington Post
More from Joyce Carol Oates
-
My Life as a Rat
Hardback -
My Life as a Rat
Ebook -
Blonde
Paperback -
My Life as a Rat
Audiobook -
Hazards of Time Travel
Hardback -
Hazards of Time Travel
Audiobook -
Hazards of Time Travel
Ebook -
A Book of American Martyrs
Paperback -
A Book of American Martyrs
Audiobook -
A Book of American Martyrs
Hardback -
A Book of American Martyrs
Ebook -
The Man Without a Shadow
Paperback -
The Lost Landscape
Paperback -
The Man Without a Shadow
Ebook -
The Man Without a Shadow
Ebook -
The Man Without a Shadow
Paperback -
The Man Without a Shadow
Paperback -
The Man Without a Shadow
Audiobook -
The Man Without a Shadow
Audiobook -
The Lost Landscape
Hardback -
The Lost Landscape
Paperback -
The Lost Landscape
Ebook -
The Sacrifice
Paperback -
The Accursed
Paperback -
The Sacrifice
Audiobook -
The Sacrifice
Ebook -
Ugly
Ebook -
The High School Sweetheart: A Mystery
Ebook -
The Vampire
Ebook -
Faithless
Ebook -
Little Bird of Heaven
Paperback -
My Sister My Love
Paperback -
We Were the Mulvaneys
Paperback -
The Gravedigger’s Daughter
Hardback -
Black Girl White Girl
Hardback -
Mother, Missing
Hardback -
The Falls
Hardback -
The Tattooed Girl
Hardback -
I’ll Take You There
Paperback -
Middle Age
Paperback -
Middle Age
Paperback -
Blonde
Hardback -
Carthage
Paperback -
Black Girl White Girl
Paperback -
We Were the Mulvaneys
Ebook -
Mudwoman
Audiobook -
Carthage
Ebook -
Carthage
Paperback -
Mudwoman
Paperback -
Mudwoman
Hardback -
Mudwoman
Ebook -
Faithless
Paperback -
Blonde
Paperback -
We Were the Mulvaneys
Paperback -
The Tattooed Girl
Paperback -
Mother, Missing
Paperback -
The Falls
Paperback -
The Gravedigger’s Daughter
Paperback -
My Sister My Love
Paperback -
Little Bird of Heaven
Paperback -
Middle Age
Paperback -
Little Bird of Heaven
Ebook -
I’ll Take You There
Paperback -
A Widow’s Story
Hardback -
A Widow’s Story
Paperback -
A Widow’s Story
Ebook -
The Accursed
Audiobook -
The Accursed
Hardback -
The Accursed
Ebook -
The Accursed
Paperback