Oates, Joyce Carol. The Gravedigger's Daughter.(Brief article)(Book review)

Oates, Joyce Carol. The Gravedigger's Daughter. Ecco: HarperCollins. May 2007. c.624p. ISBN 0-06-123682-9 [ISBN 978-0-06-123682-2]. $26.95. F

Oates (The Falls) here combines themes from earlier works--abuse, anti-Semitism, dysfunctional family life, and a woman's struggle for independence--in an examination of postwar American society. The Schwarts flee Nazi Germany in 1936 and settle in upstate New York, where the only job available to Rebecca's father is gravedigger. For Rebecca, being the gravedigger's daughter is only one stigma she has to bear: her two older brothers create problems, her father's frustration turns into paranoia, her mother slips into isolation, …