Joyce Carol Oates's Wonderland Quartet comprises four remarkable novels that explore social class in America and the inner lives of young Americans. Spanning from the Great Depression to the turbulent Vietnam War era, Wonderland is the epic account of Jesse Vogel, a boy who emerged from a family tragedy with his life spared but his world torn apart. Orphaned after watching his father murder his entire family, Jesse embarks on a personal odyssey that takes him from a Dickensian foster home to college and graduate school to the pinnacle of the medical profession. As an adult, Jesse must summon the strength to reach across the "generation gap" and rescue his endangered teenaged daughter, who has fallen into the drug-infused 1960s counterculture.
Hailed by Library Journal as "the greatest of Oates's novels," Wonderland is the capstone of a magnificent literary excursion that plunges beneath the glossy surface of American life.
Wonderland is the final novel in Joyce Carol Oates's Wonderland Quartet. The books that complete this acclaimed series, A Garden of Earthly Delights, Expensive People, and them, are also available from the Modern Library.
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(@ModernLibrary, 12 October 2006, first published 1971, 528 pages, paperback, copy from @AmazonUK, #reread)
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I read this for the first time a few years ago. It was my favourite book from the Wonderland Quarter and after this re-read is still my favourite. It's much darker than the other three books focusing on the aftermath of a horrific experience, Jesse; a young boy survives his father's slaughter of the entire family. He's injured as he flees the blood-soaked house, his father shooting him in the back. Much of Wonderland focuses on Jesse's recovery from this horrific experience. He becomes a successful doctor and leaves the dark shadows of his past far behind. This book touched me deeply. The story is focalised through Jesse as he grows and matures determined not to be the sole survivor of a slaughter. About three quarters of the way through the book the focus shifts to Jesse's daughter who gets in with a bad crowd and is seemingly lost to drugs. Jesse risks everything to save her. This is JCO at her best.
This will be my last reread for a while. I have four brand new books to read and another two coming later this month.
