Finally returned to print in a beautiful paperback edition, a haunting gothic tale of a nineteenth-century immigrant family of confidence artists—a story of morality, duplicity, and retribution that explores the depths of human manipulation and vulnerabilityThe patriarch of the Licht family, Abraham has raised a brood of talented con artists, children molded in his image, and experts in The Game, his calling and philosophy of life. Traveling from one small town to the next across the continent, from the Northeast to the frontier West, they skillfully swindle unsuspecting victims, playing on their greed, lust, pride, and small-mindedness. Despite their success, Abraham cannot banish a past that haunts him: the ghost of his ancestor Sarah Licht, a former con woman who met with a gruesome fate.As Abraham involves his family in more and more complex and impressive schemes, he finds himself caught between the specter of Sarah and the growing terrors of his...Finally returned to print in a beautiful paperback edition, a haunting gothic tale of a nineteenth-century immigrant family of confidence artists—a story of morality, duplicity, and retribution that explores the depths of human manipulation and vulnerabilityThe patriarch of the Licht family, Abraham has raised a brood of talented con artists, children molded in his image, and experts in The Game, his calling and philosophy of life. Traveling from one small town to the next across the continent, from the Northeast to the frontier West, they skillfully swindle unsuspecting victims, playing on their greed, lust, pride, and small-mindedness. Despite their success, Abraham cannot banish a past that haunts him: the ghost of his ancestor Sarah Licht, a former con woman who met with a gruesome fate.As Abraham involves his family in more and more complex and impressive schemes, he finds himself caught between the specter of Sarah and the growing terrors of his present. While his carefully crafted lies and schemes begin to fracture and disintegrate before his eyes, Abraham discovers that the bond of family is as tenuous and treacherous as the tricks he perpetrates upon unsuspecting strangers.
While I did enjoy this novel, I found it struggled to consistently retain my attention. Set around the turn of the last century, Heart is about a confidence man and a confidence family. Interesting character observations revolve around the lives of the children and their intricate, unpredictable and often volatile relationship with the father and protagonist. There is a subtle subtext how powerful parental influence is; equally in harmony as in dissent. Though fictionalized and contemporarily authored, Heart nevertheless deals with the politics of the time (specifically through 3 presidencies), World Ware II and the stock market crash of 1929. I found it stunning how little the political and economic world has changed in the last one hundred years. Reading about the tone of early 1900’s society, it was an easy perspective leap to interpret and identify with my feelings of today’s three-ring political circus. I recently been intrigued by how the last 50 years have seen more innovative advancement than in the previous 500 years. I’ve also been frustrated by the “good ol’ days” rhetoric and the perpetuated myth that the world is a more troubled and violent place now that 30 years ago. What Heart did for me was establish context and remind me that every age has it’s drama and every aging generation looks fondly on the past, often with a distorted and weak lens.There is no denying that I both enjoyed and got a lot out of this novel and I applaud Joyce Carol Oates for stretching the boundary of her prose; not limiting herself to a style. I found Heart’s style a bit obstructive and enigmatic. Part of the story were confusing, but, as Kipling might say, that’s a purpose; sometimes the reward simply did not live up to the suspense. My literary experience with Heart may have been a victim of an imposed schedule as I did not have a chunk of time to sink properly in to the novel for any decent stretch of time. I will leave you with this: read Heard, it’s juicy but read it when you have the time.
What do You think about My Heart Laid Bare (1999)?
This tale of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century escapades of a family of con artists is a departure for Oates in terms of its setting, if not its theme and tone. More known for tough, tragic stories set in the contemporary world or the recent past, Oates takes advantage of the sweep and turbulence of the decades on either side of 1900 to address classic themes: love, loss, ambition, envy, loyalty, betrayal, and the myriad other forces that draw families together and pull them apart.This is largely a well-executed novel, with colorful characters who stand up to and attempt to take every advantage of their rapidly changing times. Oates' prose is exquisite, as always, although I found the way that some of the internal/psychological/magical imagery was employed served more to pull me out of the story than to enhance it. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the way some characters' storylines developed, either, finding that several of them feel rather truncated. I would've been quite happy to have had a longer, truly epic novel about this family, which demonstrates the strength of the characters and story, despite the novel's flaws.
—Jennine
My Heart Laid Bare is a creation from an epic imagination — what a beautiful thing for a writer to enjoy, especially to use it to produce something so grand is a labor of love. Joyce Carol Oates is quite the creative dynamo — I’ve lost count of how many stories she’s written, and I have yet to buy let alone read all of them. One thing for sure, she loves words, she comes out to play with them; part of her process is becoming possessed by the story that she must tell — wringing out every last ounce of the tale tucked deep in the darkest corners of her mind. Writing like this is an exhausting and exhilarating process (not for the faint of heart) and at times can be the same exhausting and exhilarating experience for the reader. The books of the American Gothic Saga series never cease to amaze me with their complexity — they are larger than life stories chock full of larger than life characters — the head shaking unbelievable meshed with the head nodding believable. Abraham Licht’s family of My Heart Laid Bare is one of notorious distinction; seductive connivers, charming chameleons — they are perfectly flawed, blessed and damned — dichotomies of grotesque beauty — I could go on, but I will leave it at that—I don’t want to spoil it with details. As with any book from this series, it is best to approach these pages with an open mind and a sense of humor — for to take it too seriously (or literally) will only lead to vexation — the Gothics are unlike the rest of her fiction — yet where they diverge in their unique qualities, they complement each other too. This novel possesses a life of its own; the charisma of the characters makes this book so — evocative — macabre — dazzling — emotionally intense. Oh, I was sad to see it end. I love it for its lush writing style, daring to be gluttonous with its descriptions and it’s absolutely dripping with atmosphere — the American Gothic Sagas are my guilty pleasure. This book is the fourth out of five in the series — I’m glad there is one more left to read! The Accursed release date is March 2013...
—Laura
damn you depressing addictive lady. i'm so surprised she isn't compared to the faulkner school more often. or is she? she is faulkner meets magical realism. in my book anyway, she and louise erdrich are the only ones who can weave such spells and story snippets into a novel...anyway this is a novel emerging out of a series of erotic/mysterious con-artist tales, she really has mastered a 19th century voice of skepticism and voyeurism marvelously well. i'm barely 100 pages in and still am just learning who the main characters of the book will be, and what the hell is going on...but i'm hooked!
—jojo the burlesque poetess
