The (Other) You


The You is a collection of short fiction by Joyce Carol Oates published in 2021 by Ecco Press.

Stories

Selected periodical and date of original publication are provided:
1
  • "The You"
  • "The Women Friends"
  • "The Bloody Head"
  • "Where Are You?"
  • "The Crack"
  • "Waiting for Kizer"
  • "Blue Guide"
  • "Assassin" Cutting Edge: New Crime and Mystery Stories by Women ed. Joyce Carol Oates
2
  • "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
  • "Hospice/Honeymoon"
  • "Subaqueous"
  • "The Happy Place"
  • "Nightgrief"
  • "Final Interview"
  • "The Unexpected"

Reception

A reviewer at City Lights Press describes the stories as fictional counterfactuals, "the other lives we might have led if we'd made different choices." Joyce Carol Oates is lauded for her "arresting and incisive vision...demonstrating here why she remains one of our most celebrated and relevant literary figures."
Publishers Weekly writes: "Oates delivers a dark, moody collection permeated by themes of obsession, remorse, and violence... Oates's mastery of the form remains fierce and formidable in this unsettling collection of lamentations and missed opportunities."

Theme

Literary critic Helen Schulman at the New York Times provides this thematic overview of the volume: