Rape: a Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates ****

What a great title, eh? This is an extremely short (154 pages) extremely fast read & I thoroughly enjoyed it. It tells the story of a woman who gets gang raped in a park while walking home on the night of the 4th of July. Her 12 year old daughter is with her, & much of the book is told thru her words. That moment changes their lives forever & sets in motion a series of events that are told in short chapters. The incident happens in 1996, & one of the cops that responds to the call is a Desert Storm veteran. It's amazing how this violent attack attaches these lives to each other, never to be separate again.
I read this book because Dog heard on NPR a listing of 4 American authors that deserve to win the Nobel prize for literature, but probably won't. Other than Joyce Carol Oates, there was John Updike, Philip Roth, & Cormac McCarthy. I've read Philip Roth recently (The Plot Against America), but had never read the others.
The story on NPR was right--none of them won. It was French author Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio. I'd like to read some of his work in the future. But for right now, Joyce Carol Oates wins on Suelle's Soapbox!