Babysitter (Oates novel)

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Babysitter
Babysitter novel.jpg
First edition
Author Joyce Carol Oates
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date
2022
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages448
ISBN 978-0802125057

Babysitter is a novel by Joyce Carol Oates published in 2022 by Alfred A. Knopf.

Contents

Contents

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Plot

Reception

New York Times critic Oyinkan Braithwaite reports that reading Babysitter may be unsettling:

It spares nothing in its violent account of every kind of horror one could imagine happening in a single story: rape, pedophilia and child abuse, police brutality, more rape, murder. [1]

Praising Oates's "beautiful" Gothic-themed narrative for its style, Braithwaite repeats the caveat: "Babysitter is a ghost story without the ghosts, but with tension thick enough to inspire several heart attacks. Read with care." [2]

Reviewer Valerie Taylor at BookTrib Taylor finds Oates's profuse application of parenthetical remarks "jarring", perhaps leading readers "to either to stop and ingest the words or to simply ignore them." Describing the novel as "disturbing" and "stunning," the narrative presents a litany of social horrors set in late 1970s America, which "could just as easily have been ripped from today's headlines." [3] Taylor cautions: "Babysitter is not for the faint of heart." [4]

Kirkus Reviews calls Babysitter "a searing work of slow-burning domestic noir." [5]

Footnotes

  1. Oyinkan, 2022: "...not a novel for the faint of heart."
  2. Oyinkan, 2022: "In plot and theme, Babysitter is bleak and indulgent. Still, it is nigh impossible to fault Oates's style. She writes beautifully."
  3. Taylor, 2022: "It's a stunning portrayal of multiple forms of brutality: child abuse and abduction, police misconduct, clergy abuse, and of course, rape."
  4. Taylor, 2022
  5. "Review: Babysitter". Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved March 14, 2025.

Sources