⋆⋆⋆½
Content Warning: death (including that of a child), murder, violence, rape, sexual harassment, racism, child abuse, minor/adult relationship, grooming, animal death, homophobic slurs, homophobia.
A boy becomes obsessed with dolls after the untimely death of his little cousin. A husband and wife journey to the Galapagos Island -- but is he trying to kill her? A student is entrusted with caring for her favorite teacher's house, only to live through a hellish night with an intruder. Another girl befriends a strange family and is introduced to their reticulated python, Big Momma...
These are just a few of the stories included in The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror, and like all short story collections, some of them are more successful than others. Oates's classic, peculiar style of writing is, as always, present here, and as someone who enjoys it, I thought these were particularly on the mark. Unlike some collections, these stories verge on the longer side, another element I found myself enjoying, as they didn't seem to suffer from the sometimes shallow characterization in other short stories.
My favorites are probably the title story, "The Doll Master," as well as "Big Momma" and "Gun Accident." For some reason, these are the ones I found myself thinking about even when I'd put the book down. "The Doll Master" is a classic tale of psychological suspense, through the eyes of a rather disturbed young man, and while I feared it might suffer from some of the problems in Oates's Jeffrey Dahmer-inspired "Zombie," I actually enjoyed it from beginning to end. It's also one of the only stories with a clear-cut ending, and if vagueness bothers you, you probably won't find yourself too fond of this book.
"Big Momma" concerns the misfit Clovis family, who lure a young girl, Violet, into an uneasy friendship with them. Oates excels at writing young people, especially young women -- they always feel realistic, and for me, I often find myself thinking of my younger self when I read them. Violet is stubborn, your usual temperamental girl on the cusp of puberty, and her intense desire for any kind of affection and attention (no matter where or who it comes from) is all too relatable. "Gun Accident" is a bit similar, at least in its choice of protagonist, a young girl who housesits for the teacher she has a crush on. The night takes a turn for the worse, and now grown, she reflects back on the ghastly events that occurred, questioning the reliability of memory and the public desire for gory details.
As for the others, "Equatorial," the tale of the wife who is convinced her husband is trying to kill her, struck me as a bit flat sometimes -- and even I grew annoyed with Audrey, our main character. The whole thing with the "Asian girl" was a bit weird, and I wasn't quite sure if it was supposed to be Audrey's ignorance or not. The ultimate goal of the story is for us to question the motives of the couple, as well as what's real and what's not, never quite delineating clearly between the two. For me, it was mildly successful, though I didn't like the ending. "Soldier" is my least favorite of the entire collection. I get what Oates is trying to say about racism, but in my opinion, it was handled rather clumsily and didn't quite have the bite that the rest of the tales do. It's decent, but for me, nothing special.
"Mystery, Inc." I enjoyed quite a lot. It's at the very end, and while I did like it, I don't think it left as much of an impression on me as some of the others. As a whole, the collection is pretty good; some people were disappointed, not finding it "terrifying" enough, but I like this genre of terror -- the kind that works at your mind, and leaves you wondering what exactly is going on. In this regard, "Big Momma" is the easy winner, about as creepy as they come.
All in all, I'd recommend it!
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