Finally a Joyce Carol Oates novel that hooked me from page one and kept me hanging on to the bitter end. I'LL TAKE YOU THERE is a pretty real look at college life in the early sixties, especially how it was for an extremely brainy, sensitive girl from a poor farming family there on scholarship. The setting is Syracuse, where Oates herself did her undergraduate years and began writing her first published stories. The narrator calls herself 'Anellia,' though she tells us it is not her real name, but part of an attempt to reinvent herself, to distance herself from her unhappy childhood. We learn she was the youngest of four, and the only girl of an impoverished farm family in upstate New York. Her mother died when she was a baby, and her father was rarely home. Raised by an unaffectionate grandmother and ignored by her much older brothers, she hopes joining a sorority will give her the sisters she never had. Nope. She is far too intelligent to fit into the catty pettiness of the sorority, and far too poor to afford it. In her second year she begins a passionate, gritty affair with a black doctoral student in philosophy ten years her senior, a time filled with heartache, uncertainty and ostracism.

If you were a female college student in the sixties, this gripping story will take you back. If you weren't, Joyce Carol Oates will take you there. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir BOOKLOVER ( )

If you were politically aware in the 1960s, and especially if you were at university around that time, then this book will bring back memories. It's worth reading just for JCO's take on that situation of which she was very much a part. In fact, I reckon there's a lot of autobiography in this novel (I've just recently read her memoir written on the death of her husband, but looking back to their early relationship in the time this book is set). It's much more than of historical interest though. The un-named main character has a personal growth experience with which many readers will find empathy. JCO's perspective added significantly to my understanding of self, but could add much more to a reader who is a white female in a mixed-colour society. There's a fairly heavy philosophy orientation which is really integral with the story and enriches it a lot.

JCO also makes a strong bid to rescue the semi-colon from demise, single-handedly using up the whole North American quota for one year :-) . I haven't noticed whether this is a feature of her other stories. ( )

A newspaper review or maybe the description on the back of this book described it a book that every college girl could relate to. Um, maybe if you're crazy? I read this right after reading Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates, which was wonderful, and while I was able to get through the book and didn't actively dislike it, it was sorta a disappointment. ( )

sempre ambientato in un college, una requisitoria contro la cattiveria del gruppo verso chi non riesce a integrarsi

Anellia est une étudiante à l'université de Syracuse dans l'état de New-York durant les années 60. Elle cherche ses repères dans cet univers loin de sa vie d'adolescente. On partage ses pensées intimes et poignantes sur les expériences qui vont la mener à l'âge adulte.

Une très belle histoire, avec une prose empreinte de poésie. ( )