My Life As a Rat by Joyce Carol Oates
Which should prevail: loyalty to family, or loyalty to the truth? Is telling the truth ever a mistake, and is lying for one's family ever justified? Can one do the right thing, but bitterly regret it?
My Life as a Rat follows Violet Rue Kerrigan, a young woman who looks back upon her life in exile from her family following her testimony, at age twelve, concerning what she knew to be the racist murder of an African-American boy by her older brothers. In a succession of vividly recalled episodes Violet contemplates the circumstances of her life as the initially beloved youngest child of seven Kerrigan children who inadvertently "informs" on her brothers, setting into motion their arrests and convictions and her own long estrangement.
Arresting and poignant, My Life as a Rat traces a life of banishment from a family-banishment from parents, siblings, and the Church-that forces Violet to discover her own identity, to break the powerful spell of family, and to emerge from her long exile as a "rat" into a transformed life.
Format: Paperback | 416 pages
Dimensions (cm): 23.4 x 15.3 x 2.9 | 594g -
Publication Date: 20 May 2019
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint: 4th Estate
Publication City/Country: London, United Kingdom
Language: English
Edition Number: 1
ISBN10: 0008339651
ISBN13: 9780008339654
Condition: Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including minor scuff marks along the edges, but no holes or tears. The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing, but no tearing. There is a very small dot/stain on the book's block which is mostly only visible on the book's block when the book is shut. No pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text and no writing in margins. No missing pages.