The Gravedigger's Daughter | 
Day 19 #Scarathlon Photo Challenge - Cemetery/Grave. I found this book several years ago in a random little thrift shop in Arizona. It's been sitting on my TBR shelves ever since because as much as I want to read it, it's a bit of a brick. #TeamWhoYaGonnaCall
pickFollowing a female protagonist from the 1930‘s to 1990‘s. The story is a sweeping saga, which reminded me quite a bit of Steinbeck‘s ‘East of Eden‘ or Cather‘s ‘My Antonia‘ with a heroine as determined and plucky as Scarlet O‘Hara. The book addresses heavy issues & themes of identity, suffering, abuse, sacrifice & the elusive idea of what defines us as human beings. So reader be warned, especially if you‘re a sensitive reader.
I just started reading this book. It‘s been many years since I‘ve read a book by this author. I remember seeing Joyce Carol Oates at a past #NationalBookFestival when this book was new. She had remarked that, while writing this book, she had felt compelled to research her family‘s #Jewish roots. I‘m wondering what this book (by such a prolific author) is about. I‘ll soon find out! 😃
pickI love Oate‘s titles, though I‘ve only read a few. This is my third, found in a used bookstore. I look at the US from the outside in; don‘t count my years in NYC as it is onto itself. So this book was very intriguing in its depiction of how immigration, discrimination and misogyny led a woman to constantly reinvent herself to achieve a sort of American dream, and find a tenuous link to her real family, victims of the Holocaust.
so-soI'm very unsure yet what to say. It's only been a few hours since I finished it - not enough time yet to think.
