Missing Mom is a 2005 novel by American writer Joyce Carol Oates about the murder of a middle-aged widow.

Missing Mom
AuthorJoyce Carol Oates
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherEcco Press
Publication date
2005
Pages434 pp
ISBN978-0060816223

Plot edit

Nikki Eaton, a 31-year-old journalist in a small town in New York state, deals with the murder of her widowed mother, Gwen, by a meth addict, while having an affair with a married man and clashing with her more conventional older sister.

Reception edit

Stacey D'Erasmo in The New York Times noted the themes of feminism and class politics in the novel and praised it as "more disturbing" than Oates's typical crime fiction.[1] Kirkus Reviews was negative, calling the novel "irrationally bloated" and based on a "banal premise".[2]

References edit

  1. ^ D'Erasmo, Stacey (October 9, 2005). "'Missing Mom': The Lady Vanishes". The New York Times. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  2. ^ "Missing Mom". Kirkus Reviews. May 20, 2010. Retrieved April 3, 2022.