Little Bird of Heaven: A Novel
by Joyce Carol Oates
Published by Harper Collins Publishing
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Reviewed by Beth Cummings
In her latest novel, Little Bird of Heaven, Joyce Carol Oates explores and exploits a tragedy that befalls two families in a fictional city in upstate New York.
There has been a murder. A somewhat loveable and also promiscuous Zoe Kruller, mother, wife, singer and part-time waitress, has been found beaten and strangled in her own bed. She was discovered by her thirteen-year-old son, Aaron.
Two men immediately become suspects or “persons of interest to the police” – her lover, Eddy Diehl, and her husband, Delray Kruller. Neither man is ever arrested or charged with the crime, but both are thoroughly questioned by the police and then tried in the court of public opinion as details of the case are made public in the news.
Eddy Diehl’s wife was not previously aware he was having an affair, so public humiliation was her first reaction. His son and daughter faced the taunts and looks from former friends and classmates. Delray Kruller reacted with anger and then closed hostility. His son, shocked by what he saw, began to fall off the radar at school and spent most of his time at his father’s auto repair shop.
In typical Oates fashion, this book combines violence and sexual tensions while aiming to depict the reactions of the characters. The characters are well-drawn – particularly Aaron Kruller and Eddy Diehl’s daughter, Krista, in whose voices the story is told. The dysfunctionality of the families involved reminded me of We Were the Mulvaneys. Again Oates probes at the dark psyches of seemingly ordinary people.
The book does not detract from Joyce Carol Oates reputation as a fine writer of modern fiction, but I found some of the sexual descriptions and some of the violent acts to be somewhat gratuitous. The book could have been successful without some of these scenes. I’m sure that fans of Oates other works will find this book to be worthy of the their reading time.
Armchair Interviews says: A 5-star read from Oates.