My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike

Right off the bat, I must admit that I am a huge Joyce Carol Oates. I have read much, although certainly not all, of her work and have enjoyed each one of them. I hope that any read of this review, armed with that information, will be able to put this review in context. If you are a JCO fan, you should read My Sister, My Love. It's great, vintage Oates, but with a satirical edge sharper than what she usually does. She borrows quite heavily from the Jon Bonet Ramsay tragedy, but then builds on it and makes it her own. Bliss Rampike is a young, champion ice skater who is found murdered in the basement of her New Jersey home. This murder destroys the life of Skyler Rampike, her older brother and the narrator of this novel. Oates uses the Rampike saga to skewer suburban social climbers, conspicuous consumers and their over-medicated offspring. If you have not ready any Joyce Carol Oates, I would suggest starting with something a bit shorter, perhaps Black Water, to make certain her approach and cadences are to your liking. If so, there are plenty of next steps, and My Sister, My Love would be a perfect place to start.

Oates' writing seem to leave no reader untouched; read the reviews of her latest book here. Readers seem to either love or hate her work. This book, a sorta retread of the JonBenet Ramsay murder, is a bleak but brilliant work. It's not an easy read, but well worth the effort, IF you've enjoyed her previous work.

While any new work from JCO is inevitably a literary treat, this is one of her best of late, even outshining such marvels as THE FALLS and the truly virtuoso WILD NIGHTS! Seldom has there been such a twistedly hyper-real protagonist as Skyler Rampike. The other characters are equally drawn large and unflinchingly simon-pure in all their archness and jejunity. Oates' milieu of skating rinks, ice princess pageants, Jersey burbs social-climbing, and outre hi-jinks never ceases to compel and amuse, even as it disgusts. The novel is long, well over 500 pages, and apparently that is a major stumbling block for some readers. But every JCO-penned word is a treasure and her books are treasure chests for the literately-inclined. Her attention to detail is positively Proustian; indeed recent JCO works have definitely reminded this writer of Proustian mastery more than once. Just amazing literature and great storytelling as well.

I could not put this novel down. I rarely rate books, as I don't feel I adequately have words to describe them, however, this book was so incredibly mesmerizing I feel compelled to share my thoughts. I was drawn in from the first page and all the way until the end. I alternatively sympathized with and despised some of the characters. This satirical tale brought in so much from contemporary American life, with all its greed and fixation on fame - but in the end, what everyone is seeking for is acceptance and love. I think Joyce Carol Oates is one of the greatest U.S. writers ever, and possibly the greatest living writer we have today.

Joyce Carol Oates has written fiction based on actual events before, BLACK WATER (1992) and BLONDE (2000). Now she has written a gargantuan novel (562 pages) that has its "genesis" in what she calls in her Author's Note/Disclaimer a "true crime mystery of the late twentieth century." Think the murder of Jonbenet Ramsey and tragic aftermath of events that followed. The family name here is Rampike; the parents are Betsey and Bix; the childen, Bliss, whose name was changed from Edna Louise, and Skyler. This rambling story unfolds through the eyes of Skyler, who is nine years old when his six-year-old sister, an ice skating prodigy, is killed in the upper-middle-class family's home in suburban New Jersey. Ms. Oates' world view is nothing if not dark-- at least in her fiction I have read although I do not pretend to have read her 70 or so volumes. In MY SISTER, MY LOVE Ms. Oates satirizes a certain section of American society, the perennial social climber. Thr Ramikes must get into the most prestigious social club. Betsey arranges playdates for Skyler with the children of the most important neighbors. Then there is Bix, the red-blooded former football star who has a cliche ("who's complaining?" "cut your losses!"never say never!" for every occasion. So what are they to do with a troubled son with a limp who always appears to smirk in the obligatory publicity photos of Mummy, Daddy and Bliss, the holder of the title of "Little Miss Jersey Ice Princess" among many others? Ms. Oates skewers fundamentalist get-rich religion as well. While Bix can take his religion or leave it-- he believes in a Caucasian god and is a nominal Episcopalean-- Betsey after the death of Bliss joins a pentecostal church and writes memoirs of her tragedy and produces a line of "Heaven Scent" products-- cosmetics, candies et cetera, to help heal her wounds. Her funeral in a mega-church, a "fervent/impassioned/'smiling-through-tears' Assembley of God" that seats 2,100 and is located "beyond Wal-Mart, beyond Home Depot and Big Savings Bonanza" with a copper cross twelve feet high floating over the stage-- there is no altar in sight-- is way past macabre. Threaded through all this picture of modern American bad taste is Skyler's sometimes creepy, at other times moving, but always sad account of his love for his little sister-- at her insistence he inks a red heart in her palm-- and his own shipwrecked life. There are precious few people to like here. Both Rampike parents are despicable in twenty different ways. Oates is neither subtle nor merciful in her portrayal of them or many others as well. The two bungling detectives assigned to the murder invetigation are named Sledge and Slugg. She reserves her sympathy for the most part for the young people, Bliss and Skyler and Heidi Harkness, the teenager Skyler falls in love with at the Academy of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, a school for students with "special needs." Heidi is the troubled daughter of a celebrity murderer and former ma