Purchased after seeing the Cormac McCarthy essay referenced elsewhere. That particular effort was good, but felt like a delve into Suttree was somehow cut. That was very disappointing, as it is one of his best.

I enjoyed JCO on Dickinson, squirmed uncomfortably during the Lolita chapter (one of the few books I ever booted out of my library after reading), nodded along with the Malamud discussion.

I have the Rushdie and Doctorow novels on my 'not yet' shelf, waiting for me one day soon.

Well worth the time. ( )

Although I have read a few of Oates's novels, I had never read any of her essays until this collection. Her insights are sharp, as expected, and delivered with sometimes gentle, sometimes biting, humor. For some reason that came as a surprise to me although the humor is often apparent in her fiction. Very enjoyable to read. ( )

I won a copy of this book through First Reads and I enjoyed Oates' insights into authors and their works. Her reviews are both unique and well thought out.
I wasn't at all sure how I would like the book because I tried to read We Were the Mulvaneys years ago and gave up because it was so awful. In essay form, at least, Oates is a good writer and I now have hope that I might like some of her fiction.
She had me with her through most of In Rough Country. That is, up until she praised poet Sharon Olds to the skies and called her rather offensive letter to Laura Bush (rejecting an invitation to the National Book Festival) "a model of tact and integrity". It was around this point that Oates' unfortunate political and social views, America-bashing, and description of God as "imaginary" became too much for me. I had to push myself to finish the last section of the book. This was something I has not been able to make myself do with We Were the Mulvaneys, so that's progress, I suppose. But I suspect the progress is mine rather than hers. Years ago, I was probably unable to finish the novel in large part because I was only in high school and I hadn't yet learned to slog through a book I didn't like. The last section of In Rough Country--the only one I didn't enjoy reading--is mostly about Oates' personal experiences and lack of a literary mentor. It has nothing of the zest of the previous reviews and essays. ( )

Joyce Carol Oates is a protean writer. That is her writing demonstrates a diversity and fecundity of style that is exceptional although not unique in my experience. Rather than devoting herself to one style or theme and honing that over many stories and novels, she has explored myriad ways to tell stories over a career that has produced more than three dozen novels (not counting those she has written under a pseudonym). I remember being mesmerized by the beauty of Wonderland; however not nearly as impressed with the tragic family saga We Were the Mulvaneys; and unable to finish tomes like Bellefleur. I even read and enjoyed one of her "entertainments" written under a pseudonym. It is not surprising that she is widely read, and a prescient critic of literature. There is a double meaning for this collection of previously published literary essays and reviews, “In Rough Country.” “It refers to both the treacherous geographic/psychological terrains of the writers who are my subjects. And also the emotional terrain of my life,” she writes in the preface. It’s an especially evocative parallel when you consider a pair of essays in the collection also titled “In Rough Country” (set apart from each other with Roman numerals). In the first, she examines the ecstatic violence of Cormac McCarthy’s work, in the second the brutal naturalism of Annie Proulx’s fiction. Rough country, indeed.
Thus it is her skill at criticism that is on display in this readable collection of essays. Just as she has with her own fiction and poetry, she displays a variety of interests and styles sometimes regaling the reader with biographical morsels, as in her essay on Edgar Allan Poe. I appreciated learning that some of my formative reading paralleled Oates' even as I admire her criticism and the immensity of her oeuvre. ( )