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We Were the Mulvaneys

by Joyce Carol Oates Plume ( Penguin Putnam Inc.), 1997; 454 paperback pages; $13.95)

Leo Tolstoy said: Every happy family is alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own unique way. Joyce Carol Oates seems to have set out to translate this theory into modern times with her novel about the Mulvaneys.

Told as reminiscence by 30-year-old Judd Mulvaney, the story begins in the latter half of the 1970's. The large and loving family consists of parents, Mike (aka "Curly" or "Captain") and Corinne (occasionally called "Whistle"), and their four children, Mike Jr. ("Mule"), Patrick ("P.J." or "Pinch"), Marianne ("Button" or "Chickadee"), and Judd, the baby ("Dimple," "Baby," or "Ranger"). Nicknames are only a part of the fun in this lively, loving ménage. Those Mulvaneys are a rollicking bunch.

The family lives on a farm in upstate New York, although Mike, Sr. also owns and runs a roofing business in the nearest town. A self-made man, Mike has been on his own since 18, when he and his harsh, manipulative father had a falling out, and he was thrown out of his family. His siblings, afraid of the father, also cut him out of their lives.

Corinne was a college student when she met Mike, fell in love, and dropped out to marry him. Not pretty in the conventional sense, she is an intelligent, energetic, and outspoken woman. It is she who keeps things going on the farm. She fills her life with the rearing of children and the raising of animals and crops. Corinne also gathers antiques, keeping them in a small outbuilding that she labels as a business, although she can never bring herself to part with the things she has bought. The children seem to have an idyllic childhood filled with pride and delight in simply being Mulvaneys. Their parents' charm and easy-going ways make them the envy of their friends. The Mulvaney children do well in school, tend to their chores, and care for and about the animals that are everywhere on the farm.

Trouble comes to the family through Marianne, the child who seems least difficult, an extremely pretty sixteen-year-old, popular at school (a cheerleader) and a deeply religious young woman. Invited to the high school senior prom by a boy on whom she takes pity, she stays on at a party following the dance, when her date must get home for his curfew. One of the "fast crowd" boys has plied her with a line ("It's like there are two of me, the every day one, and another one when I'm with you...") and strong drink ("an orange juice cocktail"). Later in the evening, when they are alone in his car, he rapes her.

Marianne keeps the rape a secret for several days, but when at last the truth comes out, she refuses to testify against the boy because her memory of the rape is fragmentary and confused. "I was drinking - there's so much I can't account for, can't remember. How can I bring criminal charges against him. I am as much to blame as. Can't bear false witness."

Corinne manages, in time, to accept the simple fact of the matter, and to concentrate on being glad that Marianne is alive. Mike, however, is completely overwhelmed with pain and fury. Marianne has always been his favorite child, and he cannot understand why the boy, son of a friend of his, is going unpunished. He shows up at the boy's house, confronts the father, and attacks the son, throwing him against a wall and breaking his nose. The police are called. Eventually there is a tacit agreement that the Mulvaneys won't make public their accusation of rape, and the boy's family will drop their charges against Mike.

At first, everyone tries to put lives back in order. Marianne returns to school (where none of her friends will speak to her). Corinne and her sons continue their routines in an effort to regain normalcy, but neighbors and friends avoid them. It is Mike who cannot cope with what has happened. He begins to drink heavily. He avoids Marianne. Eventually, Corinne suggests that Marianne go to live with a relative in another town, several miles away. She will finish high school there, and come home later, when the scandal has blown over.

It's a banishment that lasts for eight years.

During those eight years the effect of the trauma on each of the family members is evident: Mike, Jr. stops working for his father and joins the Marines. Patrick plots to bring justice to bear on the rapist, and actually kidnaps him at gunpoint, but then turns away from him in disgust, leaving him unscathed. Patrick is on a scholarship to Cornell, but after his misadventure, drops out in the last semester of his senior year, turning his back on a brilliant career in research biology.

Marianne seems unable to bear the burden of another's love and dependence on her. She leaves the elderly relative with whom she is staying, joins a cooperative, and enrolls in a small state college. When she finds that her duties in the coop are too demanding, she drops out of college. Eventually, the man who runs the coop confesses his love for her, and she flees. In fact, she flees several living situations during the years she is away from her family. She keeps in touch with her mother and Judd, but Mike will not speak to her, or let her come home.

Judd, the youngest, remains at home until he finishes school, and serves as witness to his father's disintegration. He also keeps in touch with Patrick, and in his eagerness to help his older brother mete out justice, steals his father's gun so that Patrick can confront the rapist.

Mike's drinking and erratic behaviors finally destroy his business, and eventually bring him to ruin. The farm must be sold, and a small house in town is bought. As the years go by, Mike leaves home, wandering the area and picking up whatever work he can to sustain his alcoholism. At the age of 61, he is a broken creature, his mind capable only of wondering where he can find the next drink.

Corinne tries valiantly to hold things together, but she cannot save Mike or convince him to bring Marianne home.

When Mike is dying from lung cancer, Corinne calls Marianne and tells her that her father wants to see her. There is a deathbed reunion of sorts, although Marianne is not sure that her father has spoken her name. Her mother and brother assure her that he has, but we are not sure, either.

The final chapter takes place in 1993, with the Mulvaneys holding a 4th of July reunion. Corinne has put her life back together and runs an antique store with the woman friend with whom she shares a house. Mike, Jr., no longer a Marine but a civil engineer, is married and has three children. Patrick has gone to California, made a life for himself as an expert treating autistic children, and found a ladylove. Marianne is married to a veterinarian and has two children. Judd is the editor of a twice-weekly newspaper.

The family has healed despite the loss of their father, and as they talk and play together, we see again flashes of the old Mulvaney brio.

There is no doubt that Joyce Carol Oates is a brilliant storyteller. Her ability to delineate her characters in very few words is legendary.

In The Mulvaneys, she makes us care deeply about them.

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