Well written of course but a bit of a slog

I am a HUGE Oates fan now. This is a book I borrowed from my mom, who is also an Oates fan. The book is put together as three Victorian crime novellas, all featuring the same detective, Xavier Kilgarvin, at three different points in his life and career. It’s definitely odd to try to get into Victorian-style writing, and it’s amazing to me that Oates immersed herself so much in a bygone era. I’m still not certain what went on in the first mystery…

As part of my recent thought-experiment on Oates’s “Americanness,” I’ve decided to read the several unread JCO books I already own. I read the first two novels in the so-called Gothic Saga too many years ago to remember and I eventually bought its last two books, so I’d remember to read them. Because I have no Goodreads reviews to remind me, I’ve forgotten too much about the first two, though an atmosphere lingers.

Mysteries of Winterthurn takes place in the late-nineteenth into the early-twentieth century. By writing of the (violent, even gory) horror under the surface of a New York village, of what’s exploited and hidden by prominent families, of the community’s rush to judgment and the willingness of the authorities to put the blame on “others,” Oates is commenting on more recent times as well.

Detective Xavier Kilgarvan, a Sherlock Holmes without a Watson, has an existential, philosophical bent. His obsessive love interest, Perdita, being a younger (half-) cousin reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe, whose fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin is also being invoked. I particularly enjoyed a conversation between the cousins when they are in their mid-to-late twenties, her “feminist” chastising of him and his bewildered, clueless responses. By the end of the book, I too was obsessed with Perdita.

In keeping with the Gothic/sensation genre, the writing style is ornate and breathless, though a bit less so when the sometimes-clueless, sometimes-repetitive narrator (a dabbler in unsolved true-crime) adds his prefaces and epilogues. I’m left wondering why I don’t mind JCO’s penchant for exclamation marks, though I’m on record for disliking such a surfeit with other writers.

I was proud of myself for remembering an odd detail from the beginning (it’s a long book!) that might be a clue to the last “mystery.” Oates is always thought-provoking—and I had a lot of thoughts with this one.

Joyce Carol Oates nous propose avec Les mystères de Winterthurn un roman aux accents gothiques délicieusement prononcés, mais nous surprend par sa forme inattendue et tout à fait originale. L’action se déroule à la fin du XIXe siècle, dans l’est des États-Unis, et nous plonge dans l’intimité d’une famille déchirée donc les trois héritières auront un bien étrange et tragique destin.
Xavier, jeune rejeton de la branche « coupée » des Kilgarvan, démarre précocement une carrière de détective en enquêtant secrètement sur les mystères de sa propre famille, dont ses trois cousines sont les principales protagonistes. La mort frappe plusieurs fois chez les Kilgarvan et au fil des ans, une aura de mystères et de superstition plane sur Winterthurn et intrigue le jeune Xavier, qui reviendra des années plus tard sur les lieux dans le cadre d’une autre affaire de meurtres violents. Devenu détective, Xavier mènera l’enquête jusqu’au bout, avec plus ou moins de succès et de clairvoyance. La dernière partie du roman met à nouveau en scène les cousines de Xavier, qui revient cette fois avec une réputation et une expérience de détective confirmé, pour enquêter sur des meurtres particulièrement sanglants, et dans laquelle sa cousine secrètement aimée sera impliquée.
Trois affaires sordides, une ambiance fortement teintée de fantastique mais pas trop, une famille qui cache bien des choses, et des personnages nimbés de mystère, tout les ingrédients sont rassemblés pour une triple intrigue qui garde le lecteur en alerte jusqu’à la fin. Les mystères de Winterthurn est un roman gothico-fantastico-noir, dans lequel bon nombre de questions reste dans réponses, où l’imaginaire du lecteur est sollicité d’un bout à l’autre. Les mystères de Winterthurn restent entiers.

Joyce Carol Oates has written several gothic novels, but this is only the third I've had the pleasure of reading. The dreamy, almost realistic style of Mysteries of Winterthurn is hypnotic and provocative. Each mystery has an undercurrent of the supernatural and unexplained, especially the last one. How people perceive situations and other human beings--the assumptions, prejudice, and inevitable rumors--are things we can count on being part of both mystery novels and real life--are especially well formed in this novel, which is penned in a much older style.

Xavier Kilgarvan, the detective, is a complex character, an intelligent man who nonetheless has his demons and blind spots. Winterthurn, the place of his birth, sometimes seems to be under an evil enchantment, a pocket of land apart from its surroundings. For Xavier and some of his relatives, life is only cursed there.

Double Dog Dare spoiler alert:

About that last murder: Perdita did it! She was the author of that mysterious summons to Winterthurn, she was the one who cut out all those hearts, and she was the one who killed her husband and everyone who happened to be in the way, because she wanted out of that marriage so that she could be free again for Xavier. She's fickle, but she's always been Xavier's biggest blind spot....Unless Xavier did figure it out, and had a breakdown as a result of his refusal to face the truth. Now he must watch his back, huh? Mwahahaha

The author completes the Winterthurn landscape with the customs and attitudes of the times, which adds enough realism into these stories for the reader to feel that she is in a real place--even if it is Winterthurn.

An intriguing read! I'm glad to have finally read this, and will read the others, as well. Eventually.

The shortest of the Gothic trilogy, and, for me, the one which felt the longest!
The author mixes crime novel and gothic novel ; she develops, once more, great, complex, unique characters, but I couldn't relate to any of them.
The book I less enjoyed in this great trilogy!

Joyce Carol Oates a écrit un formidable roman gothique. L'auteure, de sa superble plume, nous conte les mystères qui sévissent dans la ville de Winterthurn à trois époques différentes. Xavier Kilgarvan, le héros de ce roman va tenter de les résoudre en usant de son intelligence, de ses talents de détective et de son sens de la justice.

J'ai aimé suivre les aventures de ce détective hors-norme dans un Winterthurn maudit où tout personnage semble recéler une part de folie en lui. Les meurtres sont macabres, les différents personnages sont (presque tous) plus détestables les uns que les autres, les apparences trompeuses, les mauvais esprits pas très loin et la folie bien présente. Et il y a Winterthurn ! Cette une ville est un personnage à elle seule. Attirante, maudite, perverse, elle possède tout pour nous attirer et nous tromper. J'ai adoré cette ambiance étouffante et malfaisante qui régnait dans ce livre.

Si Les Mystères de Winterthurn est le premier roman de Joyce Carol Oates que je lis, il ne sera pas le dernier !