I couldn't get through this title. It ended up not being for me, but I hope it finds a hope with other readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

In this collection of 15 short stories, Joyce Carol Oates looks at aging, grief, and the road not travel. Full of tension and mystery, Oates explores the what if, alternatives to characters' lives and realities. I enjoyed that all the stories are interconnected and look at how a single decision can change one's path and destiny. While I enjoyed the collection, I did not find it particularly thought-provoking or emotional.

I almost never abandon a book mid-way through, but I was really struggling to get into this. I kept thinking "oh, the *next* section will excite me..." and after a certain number of "next sections" that never quite hooked me, I eventually lost interest.

The writing in this just didn't work for me. I think there were some interesting choices, but I never really got into the stories.

Joyce carol Oates... always a classic. Nothing she writes is bad and her books are always solid. I particularly enjoy her short stories and I am not a short story kind of gal. Poignant, bold and powerful.

This collection of short stories had some that hit and some that missed. Overall, I only felt meh about the book.

I’m a fan of Joyce Carol Oates, but this book wasn’t as satisfying as some of her others. I did enjoy the short stories., I just didn’t find most of them great. I would read anything by this author, so if you are a fan, give this book a go. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Thank you to Ms. Oates, Ecco and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Joyce Carol Oates, I want to love you and all of your work but this book is just not one of my favorites. God, this is depressing. Just regret and death and hate and bitterness and it's like acid slowly eating away at you. She's a fantastic and extremely prolific writer, and maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this collection, but I'd recommend one of her others.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The (Other) You by Joyce Carol Oates.

Listen, by now, I'm a fan of the Oates! I really like how she's not afraid to go their with her dark domestic dramas.

Having said that, I was not a fan of these short stories. They were like eating graham crackers, but like, the generic kind, and they're kind of stale. They just got me nowhere and made me feel sad. And normally I love graham crackers. Take that as you will.

I've been a Joyce Carol Oates fan for many years and will continue to be until she quits writing -- which I hope is never. I enjoyed this short story collection and I'm not a big short story person usually, but the themes of these connected and really worked for me. I love stories that ask "What If?"

It's impossible to go wrong with Oates, and this collection of stories is just another dose of brilliance from her. I've recommended it to several others, and look forward to including it in an upcoming round-up of my favorite books of the year.

JCO is one of my top five authors and I adore her short story collections. This one is no different. Had to buy a hard copy for my collection too. It's a beautiful book!

I read about halfway through and I just couldn’t get into it at all. The stories all seem to be related, especially those taking place at the same restaurant, but that just felt strange. I think the story lines were just too complex for me to follow.

I love anything by Joyce Carol Oates. With that said, I am more a fan of her novels than her short stories. However, this collection was woven together in a way that really worked for me. I loved the ideas within and between the stories. The imaginative way themes of time, alternative realities, love, friendship, aging, relationships and life choices were all compelling to read. I enjoyed the many ways Oates intertwined the "Purple Onion" stories together, each having a different purpose or part to play in the broader story. I really loved the reflections on couples aging together and the things we are proud to have accomplished or regret having done.
Overall, this was a well designed compilation of stories into themes that overlapped or played off each other. For all the Oates fans out there, this is a definitely recommended collection. I enjoyed these stories and their themes.
#TheOtherYou #Netgalley #Ecco

Another great story collection from Joyce Carol Oates. In this collection she follows a theme of "the other you" or what would happen if you made different choices in life. This is a theme that I often enjoy in books or movies, whether it is tales of parallel universes or "what if" stories.

Many of the stories also had common elements, like a suicide bombing in a cafe, that popped out. One of the stories that stands out in my mind is "Waiting for Kizer" where a man named Matt runs into his "other self" Matthew, both men are waiting for their friend Kizer at a restaurant and discover their common name and other common things in their lives but there are significant differences.

I enjoyed the collection and recommend it to others. It's also available in audio format, so give it a listen!

Absolutely Fantastic and Extraordinarily readable!

Sometimes a short story collection by Joyce Carol Oates is JUST what the doctor ordered! Oates has serious writing expertise. I have been reading her work for years. The (Other) You is merely one example of her extraordinary ability to woo and wow her reader. If you are an Oates or just a short story fan even.. than this is for you!

So.. this is a collection of 15 stories that are on the dark side, that also asks, what if we had made other choices? What would our alternate destinies look like?
These are stories of remorse and violence, loss and longing.
I don’t know how she comes up with her ideas, but I think she’s brilliant!
She’s becoming a favorite author, and I just loved her novel especially! Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Ecco for the ARC!

The (Other) You is an anthology of short stories by the incomparable Joyce Carol Oates. There are fifteen stories in this book and not one disappoints, though a few left me feeling devastated. In some ways, this book is the story of what might have been. Many stories look at those life choices that turn us from one future to another. A few seem to be exploring the idea of the multiverse such as in “Waiting for Kizer” where a man meets someone who has his name and much of his history, differing only in a few ways, while they both wait for their good friend Kizer who they lunch with at the Purple Onion, a vegetarian cafe with an outdoor patio that reappears frequently in several stories.

Oates looks at the male-female relationship several times. In “The Bloody Head” she tells the story of a woman losing herself to a man’s demands. This happens in a far more stark way in “Where Are You?” Other stories show how enduring love can be, even when navigating impatience and familiarity as in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” In many ways, this felt incredibly true to life.

Three stories were emotionally shattering examinations of grief, something she has come to know well since her husband’s death. “Hospice/Honeymoon” left me feeling so overwhelmed I put the book away for a few days. Then came “Subaqueous” and “Nightgrief” both also demanding a break after reading them.

I love how she bookends her anthology with “The (Other) You” and “The Unexpected.” Both happen in Yewville (Youville!!!) and seem to reflect each other perfectly. One is the story of the woman who chose marriage and children over her ambition to write and the other the writer returning to her hometown to the unexpected resentment of a woman who might have been a writer but who chose motherhood.

I have always liked Joyce Carol Oates. She writes with clarity and economy, but with such rich interior emotional heft. She can write her way into the minds of people on both sides of highly polarized issues such as the abortion war in “The Book of American Martyrs.” I think The (Other) You is one of her best books because it feels the most personal. And yes, I took note of her warning that memoirist writing is fiction in “The Happy Place” but her writing on grief comes from experience and that is why it is so emotionally devastating.

I received an e-galley of The (Other) You from the publisher through NetGalley.

The (Other) You at Ecco Books | The (Other) You
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The (Other) You is a powerful collection of short stories which explore the possibilities of alternate actions and outcomes. As always Joyce Carol Oates delivers a thoughtful and well crafted work.

A book of short stories, 15 to be exact, that looks at the "what if" that happens every time you choose a different direction in your life. As in all anthologies, some of the stories are better than others and as in all Joyce Carol Oates books, you will find yourself challenged by her examination of life. The detail she includes in her stories is amazing. Even these shorter tales give us a complete look at the either/or of the characters lives. Read this book, you will be amazed.