Review of the book “A Fair Maiden”
The author of the book, Joyce Carol Oates is one of the greatest and well known writers of the modern age. The novel “A Fair Maiden” is her recent work which has become very successful.
The main character of her novel is Katya Spivak, a sixteen year old young girl and her relationship with Marcus Kidder, an elderly man. The plot revolves around Katya who works as a nanny for a wealthy family in Jersey. She belongs to that category of society who lives in the area of New Jersey where most of the lower class people live and work for mere pittance compared to the better off. Many adults of the locality have often been imprisoned for petty crimes. Most of the children are uneducated and grow up to become violent adults who indulge in crimes as a matter of course.
After starting work in the house of the wealthy family, Katya becomes amazed at the lifestyle of the rich who live in large and opulent houses and employ a number of people to work for them. They own expensive cars and yachts and spend money like water. The story unfolds with Katya taking the two children who are in her care for a walk. As she walks past a lingerie shop, she stops to admire a red lingerie set that catches her fancy. At this point a very wealthy man, Marcus Kidder, who happens to be passing by, stop and asks what Katya is looking at. The innocent beauty of Katya attracts Marcus who invites her to his house for tea along with the children.
Slowly their relationship develops which is rather strange. Marcus has sexual as well as a fairy tale like longing for Katya who has both longing and repulsion for Marcus. But Katya cannot help herself and goes back to meet Marcus again and again.
As their relationship grows more and more desperate sexually, ambivalent and full of tension, Marcus reveals his desire of dying in her arms. Katya feels horrified at this but cannot control herself and does something that sets forth a chain of horrible events. Her grandfather often used to say to her that people do something without thinking just like throwing a dice while gambling and the outcome of which can never be undone. The dice is just the like the dark side of the poor people.
The author of the novel has wonderfully superimposed the lives of the rich and poor. In the short novel you can see the wide gap between the rich and the poor and how money can get you all the luxuries that you want. However, all people get caught up in their own net of despair and nightmares, where money cannot help them in anyway.
Joyce Carol Oates is a wonderful novelist and a spinner of tales. This is one book that you should read even if you are not an avid book reader and more interested in finding out the latest news related to real estate Lebanon or London.
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