When a young girl gets molested by her pedophile teacher, do we as a community share some blame?

I found this the most interesting to look into in a multiple pov literary Lolita thriller. 

We get inside the mind of the principal that hired him, the parents of a young girl who is one of his victims. Maybe they saw some signs, but were too distracted by their own separation? The young librarian blinded by adoration, the coworkers that saw some unusual things, the janitor that caught him doing something. But nobody said anything. Would you?

I’m not usually one for trigger warnings, but this one begs for it. Much like her book “Rape – a love story” except the warning is right there in the title, “Fox” is more cunning. It sneaks up on you with clever allegory like the fox and the kitten, and the not so subtle Mr. tongue. If you didn’t get it yet – this story is disturbing. It’s explicit. 

We also get inside the head of the molestor himself and it’s a dark place, not a place you want to dwell, but Oates keeps us there way past our comfort level. Some would argue too long. I’m tempted to agree. At 672 pages it’s a long time to spend being uncomfortable. As an audiobook it’s 25 hours. The audiobook has a full cast and the voice actors are extremely good at conveying the emotions of the book, so I’d recommend listening instead of reading. It also helps when your instinct at certain passages is to look away!

While there’s a body found in the marsh that drives the mystery of the book from the beginning, the investigation doesn’t start until we’re past the midway point. At that point you’re just so ready for the police to take over that there’s a sense of relief. Which, you have to give it to Oates, she manages to derive so many feelings out of the reader, it’s unlike anything I’ve read before. And there aren’t even any characters I particularly love in this book, it’s just an uncomfortable read from beginning to end. Does that make it good? I think it does, for me at least. I’m sure there are many that won’t or don’t like it because it lacks loveable characters, but I’m in awe of books that manage to evoke feelings, whatever those feelings may be. And even though all this book managed to fill me with was disgust, it did it so well that I can’t help but give it props for that.

Joyce Carol Oates debut novel “With Shuddering Fall” was published in 1964 when she was 26. That’s 62 years as an active author, with more than 70 published works. She’s is currently 87 years old and not showing any signs of slowing down, stating that she has so many outlines of books she could sell them because she wont’t be able ot finish them in this lifetime. She’s also still teaching writing at Princeton University.