Pursuit

By Joyce Carol Oates

From Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of Blonde, now a major motion picture, an eerie, psychologically complex thriller about a woman haunted by her traumatic past.

As a child, Abby had the same nightmare night after night, in which she wandered through a field ridden with human bones. Now an adult, Abby thinks she's outgrown her demons, until, the evening before her wedding, the terrible dream returns and forces her to confront the dark secrets she is keeping from her new husband, Willem.

The following day, less than 24 hours after exchanging vows, Abby steps out into traffic. As his wife lies in her hospital bed, Willem tries to determine whether this was an absentminded accident or a premeditated plunge.

Slowly, Abby begins to open up to her husband, revealing to him what she has never shared with anyone before: the story of a terrified mother; a jealous, drug addled father; and a daughter's terrifying captivity.

With a suspenseful, alternating narrative that travels between the present and Abby's tortured childhood, Pursuit is a meticulously crafted, deeply disquieting tale that showcases Oates's masterful storytelling.

Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates:

'A writer of extraordinary strengths.' Guardian
'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express
'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review
'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times
'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' Booklist

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Oct 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781838933050

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, and the 2019 Jerusalem Prize, and has been several times nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written some of the most enduring fiction of our time, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys; Blonde, which was nominated for the National Book Award; and the New York Times bestseller The Falls, which won the 2005 Prix Femina. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Reviews for Pursuit

[thomaspluck · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Unexpected thriller bookended by the trauma of a girl on hey wedding day, a fairy tale confection with a brutal center

[hubblegal-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Abby Hayman has not had an easy life. When her parents disappeared when she was 5 years old, she went to live with an aunt, who had troubles of her own. Abby grew up confused by her memories of things she had been too young to understand. She has a recurring dream of walking in a field of skeletons, which she finds completely terrorizing. She’s 20 years old now and has just married William Zengler, a devout Christian who is madly in love with her. That makes it all the more difficult to understand why she steps out into traffic the day after her wedding when she was so happy to be William’s bride. Was it an accident or a suicide attempt?The first two pages of this book proves, once again, that Joyce Carol Oates is a master at her craft. Those pages were so chilling and pulled me right into this compelling, heartbreaking tale. This is a very intense, dark story with some extremely brutal moments. It’s more of a novella at only 144 pages, but Ms. Oates knows how to make every word count. It punches your heart with a powerful emotional wallop. Ms. Oates writes compassionately about the long term effects of war on soldiers and the devastating effect of violence on a family. This one is going to haunt me for a long time to come.Most highly recommended.This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It pains me to give this 2 stars but it just wasn't very good. Oates truly delivers the goods in her short stories - Dis Member being one of her best.

[tamidale · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Joyce Carol Oates brings her newest book to readers that really packs a punch. Though short in length, the subject matter delivers a deep and lasting impact.Abby, a newlywed of less than 24 hours, is in a serious accident that forces her to come to terms with a haunting past that may have contributed to the accident. Her husband, Willem, knows almost nothing of Abby’s past, but as she recovers she begins to confide in Willem about her recurring nightmare and something she thinks she saw as a child. What is revealed is a deeply disturbing story of domestic violence. I have to confess, I had to skim over some of the details because the scene described in the story is truly horrifying. Any readers sensitive to domestic violence need to be aware that this is not a book that glosses over what can happen in a marriage when one partner is mentally unstable.The story is told through the eyes of multiple narrators and I was never quite sure which one to believe. I liked the ending and the validation for Abby and the trust that grew between the newly married couple as a result.Oates is a superb writer and I was mesmerized by the story. Just note, this one is not for the faint of heart.Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic Mysterious Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A young woman, on the day after her wedding, steps in front of a bus. As she lays in a coma in the hospital her husband sits by her side, praying for her recovery. Was her action deliberate or accidental? And why might a young woman do such a thing? When Willem meets Abby, he's intrigued. She's kind and very, very shy. She's also extraordinarily innocent, something that appeals to Willem, a young man devoted to his fundamentalist faith. But why is Abby so withdrawn and passive? Could Willem be as sincere as he appears to be?This novel is written by Joyce Carol Oates, so I was ready for things to be more than a little off-kilter. It was certainly that and I enjoyed reading it. This is a novel that could only have been written by Oates; not only is the writing style immediately identifiable as hers, with this novel, she's playing with her usual themes. If you're familiar with Oates's work, you'll find no new insights or ideas here, just the usual patterns of a girlhood spent as witness to a marriage destroyed by domestic violence and the child's feelings of guilt and complicity, abandonment and the less than nurturing care of relatives who are doing their best, but after all, she's not their child, and a young woman who is left to put a life together without family. There's an oddly old-fashioned feel to this story, and although Oates specifically places it in the present and near past, it feels as though it would have been more comfortable situated in the middle of the last century. While this novel does nothing Oates hasn't done before and often and while it will never been numbered among her better novels, it was still an enjoyable read. I'm not sure what so appeals to me about Oates's writing, but I'm always willing to read another of her novels, even one as forgettable as this one.

[brookiexlicious · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a quick read, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Once again Miss Oates gets to the grittiness, the sheer ugliness of human emotions and lays them bare. The flashback scenes, particularly in part 3, are harrowing, nail biting and chilling. I enjoyed Miss Oates new work, and this would be a great first read if you’ve never read any of her novels before

[widdersyns · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Really didn't care for this. Lots of depictions of abuse and assault. Very tired of reading books that use violence against women as a vehicle for male character development. Honestly, it's not good if it's the only vehicle for the woman's character development either. Severely lacking in substance.