The Fireside Chats

In this book, there are eight tales……”The Home at Craigmillnar”, “High”, “Toad-Baby”, “Demon”, “Lorelei”, “The Rescuer”, “The Last Man of Letters” and “High Crime Area”. I’m not sure which story I liked the best, each story stands out about the same in my eyes. This book was one of those that I found in the bargain section at my local book store and I don’t feel I was disappointed with it. This book is perfect for Halloween and what makes this book scary is that the things in this book are everyday things that can happen (even though this is a work of fiction) and it just feels real. {Note: This book is definitely not for children or the faint of heart.}

Synopsis: Joyce Carol Oates is an unparalleled investigator of human flaws. In these eight stories, she deftly tests the bonds between damaged individuals—a brother and sister, a teacher and student, two strangers on a subway—in the fearless prose for which she’s become so celebrated.

In the title story “High Crime Area,” a white, aspiring professor is convinced she is being followed. No need to panic, she has a handgun stowed away in her purse—just in case. But when she turns to confront her black, male shadow, the situation isn’t what she expects. In “The Rescuer,” a promising graduate student detours to inner city Trenton, New Jersey to save her brother from a downward spiral. But she soon finds out there may be more to his world than to hers. And in “The Last Man of Letters,” the world-renowned author X embarks on a final grand tour of Europe. He has money, fame, but not a whole lot of manners. A little thing like etiquette couldn’t bring a man like X down, could it?

In these biting and beautiful stories, Oates confronts, one by one, the demons within us. Sometimes it’s the human who wins, and sometimes it’s the demon.