Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates
Why can Joyce Carol Oates give us Babysitter — a psychological nail-biter — at a time when some readers are looking to escape to a calmer, friendlier world these days? Because she’s Joyce Carol Oates, that’s why. Highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning author of nearly sixty novels, as well as a number of novellas, plays, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction — she’s done it all in her 84 years.
How is it, then, that Babysitter is my first Joyce Carol Oates book?
Given Oates’s reputation, I approached Babysitter with respect and curiosity. I was surprised, though I shouldn’t have been, at the breadth of topics Oates explores in this thriller. And though Babysitter is set in 1977, this story could just as easily have been ripped from today’s headlines.
Set in tiny Far Hills, Michigan, with its gated mansions, manicured lawns, nannies and annual fund raisers for the arts, many residents glide through their days mostly insulated from real world events spinning out of control around them. So when Hannah Jarrett, who is bored with the country club lifestyle and her detached husband, begins to look for love in all the wrong places, we become restless and disturbed.
A STUNNING PORTRAYAL OF BRUTALITY
Though a seemingly doting mother of two young children, she risks it all and enters into a violent and dangerous sexual relationship with a stranger whose touch she craves but whose name she doesn’t even know. Rather than listen to her better self and escape with her dignity and life unharmed, Hannah embraces, rationalizes, and continues to pursue her unhealthy obsession.
After all, she has a lover.
At the same time, in Oakland County, a safe distance from Far Hills, young boys are being abducted and murdered. News outlets describe Babysitter as a serial killer who “takes only children not loved and not deserved.” That assumption is dismissed when a ten year old boy from a wealthy Far Hills family is kidnapped and later found alive but cruelly assaulted.
Suddenly, as two distinct worlds converge, Hannah is herself terrorized, shaken to her core, as she begins to question her risky behavior and to trust her own instincts. But is she capable of clear and rational thinking and of doing the right things, like revealing the truth, protecting her family, her husband, her community? Or will her addiction ultimately destroy her?
Babysitter is disturbing, not for the faint of heart. It’s a stunning portrayal of multiple forms of brutality: child abuse and abduction, police misconduct, clergy abuse, and of course, rape. By deftly weaving in the hot and controversial issues of elitism, racism, gun safety, mental health, immigration, and infidelity, Oates challenges us to ask ourselves: “Of what am I capable?”
NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART
From the very first page I was struck by Oates’s unconventional writing style, which novice writers would normally be reluctant to adopt. For years we were taught never to start a sentence with the word because, yet that’s the first word in the entire novel. Her sprinkling of parentheticals, while initially jarring, causes the reader either to stop and ingest the words or to simply ignore them. Moreover, her use of initials instead of full names forces us to fill in the blanks as we endeavor to solve the mystery ourselves.
Easily overlooked is the name of the street on which Hannah Jarrett lives. Beyond any doubt, Cradle Rock Road is a true example of Oates’s storytelling brilliance.
When we go to the theater to see a thriller, we cover our eyes during the spine-chilling scenes. When we watch a potential nightmare-inducing movie on television, we mute the sound. But what do we do when we read a really scary book, like Babysitter? We keep turning the pages, of course.
If you’re unfamiliar with Joyce Carol Oates, as I was, read Babysitter, and make a vow that it won’t be the last of her books that you’ll read.
About Joyce Carol Oates:
Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is also the recipient of the 2005 Prix Femina for The Falls. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and she has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.
This is a brilliantly written review! Worthy of Joyce Carol Oates!