Guardian Review
Carthage exposes the facade erected by an apparently successful couple - Zeno Mayfield, former mayor of the town, and his brave, protective wife, Arlette - in the face of an onslaught of near-unbearable pressure, when their daughter Cressida vanishes after an uncharacteristic night out at a rowdy lakeside tavern frequented by bikers and local toughs. According to witnesses, Cressida was last seen in the company of Brett Kincaid, a badly traumatised Iraq war veteran who had recently broken off his engagement to Cressida's older sister, Juliet. It soon becomes clear that Carthage is not just the suspense thriller it at first seems, and by the end of the novel we see that all of its younger protagonists are in search of a transformation that will carry them through some profound blackness before returning them, absolved of some unspecified guilt, to their original places in the world. In its Dostoevsky-inspired conclusion, Carthage attains a profound vision of American guilt and its potential for absolution. - John Burnside Carthage exposes the facade erected by an apparently successful couple - Zeno Mayfield, former mayor of the town, and his brave, protective wife, Arlette - in the face of an onslaught of near-unbearable pressure, when their daughter Cressida vanishes after an uncharacteristic night out at a rowdy lakeside tavern frequented by bikers and local toughs.... - John Burnside.
Library Journal Review
Oates's latest novel is a meticulously crafted, emotionally raw rumination on grief and the attempts of individuals, families, and a community to cope with catastrophic loss. On the edge of the wilds of the Adirondacks, in the town of Carthage, NY, Cressida goes missing. The youngest daughter of the prestigious Mayfield family, she was last seen with her sister's ex-fiance, Brett Kincaid, a beloved hometown hero-turned- physically and emotionally damaged Iraq War veteran. Brett confesses to killing Cressida-but is he hallucinating or reliving a traumatic experience from combat? Or is it true? Suspense builds as the novel unfolds in a series of flashbacks and from the viewpoints of multiple characters. The smooth, empathetic narration by Susan Erickson and David Colacci expertly moves this heartbreaking story along to its startling conclusion. VERDICT This quintessential Oates tragedy is essential for all fiction collections. ["This is a story about war, violence, mental illness, love, hatred, and, perhaps most of all, the will to survive and the healing power of forgiveness, all powerfully rendered by a master storyteller," read the starred review of the Ecco: HarperCollins hc, LJ 1/14.]-Beth Farrell, Cleveland State Univ. Law Lib. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
