When Joyce Carol Oats publishes a new book there is always a stir in the world. It is like a stone hitting water; the large splash in the center is the literary world all of whom are very excited that this master author has published something new. The ever spreading circles that surround the splash include a wide variety of people. In the Case of "A Widows Story: A Memoir" she has attracted an entire new fan base and because of the delicate and painful subject of her book, the results are similar to the first publication of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" in the June, 1948 New Yorker. People are amazed, outraged, desperately moved and as her nakedly honest book touches each reader the reaction is powerful regardless of how each reader reacts. The best way to illustrate my point is by reading through about fifteen of the reviews right here on Amazon. There is the team of typical reviews telling us nothing except for one paragraph of unsupported opinion - and these are almost always in first person, annoying all seventh grade English teachers - to the well written four paragraph essays that delve into the book and support using quotes or reasons. Normally this is nothing, but the fact that so many people have reacted strongly enough to write about her new book is, when taken as a whole, a review unto itself: "A Widow's Story" is an important piece of nonfiction that touches most of us in a strong way. The angry people are confusing their feelings about the book with their feelings about the loved ones they have lost and the people who love it are doing the same thing and experienced her emotions or people are pleased that once again Joyce Carol Oates has made a substantial contribution to American literature.In "A Widows Story" Oats writes, "Widowhood is the punishment for being a wife. Vicious reviews opprobrium of all sorts are the writer's punishment for being a writer." When someone is made the executor of a loved one's estate on more than a dozen occasions the thought that one is being punished for something crosses the mind. Was it for loving too much? Was it for not being at the bedside when they died? Is this why docket numbers and certified death certificates, tax I.D. numbers and the unexplained taxes continue to hjit us as often as the grief? And nothing hurts more to be listening to the radio and suddenly hear a stranger say horrible things about you and your work. That's an unexpected attack, as though you were jumped by an ogre as you passed by an alley. Oats has the ability to remember each of the horrible emotions and events that follow the death of a spouse and she manages to put into words exactly how it really felt. The only other writer who ever managed this with an emotional malady was William Styron in his little book, "Darkness Revealed: a Memoir of Madness" and Styron puts into words for the layman exactly what the disease of clinical depression is like. Bravo to Styron. Bravo even more to Joyce Carol Oats. To write such a book means to live through the horror twice. Once as it is happening - and not a soul goes through this nightmare taking notes - and then again at the laptop as the story is placed on the page. There are so many times in this book that the reader is stopped short with breath stopped short only to say, "God yes! That is so true! How did she manage to place these emotions into words?" Guilt is the underlying emotion for so many when a loved one has died and guilt is behind every word of this book, sometimes pushing up to the surface, but always there. And this is how we all feel at some point. Then there is how she has captured the feeling of being an alien in a world that continues to move forward and function when in fact everything has come to a halting stop, a black pit has opened and swallowed you and the words that come out of your mouth are the words of a stranger. Ms Oats captures all of these emotions, the piles of mail and newspapers, the multitude of rotting fruit in sympathy baskets or the many frozen casseroles in case you should remember to eat. She even addresses the inevitable but always unspoken thoughts of suicide by quoting Nietzsche: "The thought of suicide can get one through many a long night." That suicide should be come someone's inner "happy place" is sad, but it works and as a friend of Oats said to her, "Suffer, Joyce. Ray was worth it." And if we can only remember that and not allow the probate courts, the lawyers, accountants, friends, family, clerks and funeral directors (grief specialists?!) to keep spinning the earth sunrise to sunset over and over again when we really need to stop and say, "Leave me alone! Don't you see that the world has come to an end for me?" Sadly we learn this too late.This is what inspired Joyce Carol Oats to write "A Widow's Story". She did not want to relive the horror; she did not wish to make money on her husband's death nor did she wish to expose her personal life to so many readers and critics. She wrote this book for the same reason Styron wrote his and Dave Pelzer wrote "A Child Called It:" She felt that if she could console and help a few people who endured and will endure what she did then Ray's death and her subsequent drop into the abyss of despair will not have been in vain.For this reason, and the fact that she is one of the finest writers alive today, we all owe her a generous debt of gratitude. As far as the multitude of nasty amateur reviews, Oats will likely take them as they are: someone out there saying, "Wait a minute! Can't you see that the world has come to an end for me?"She has not reached the insane witch burners that Shirley Jackson did in 1948, but just as it was for the New Yorker and Jackson, anyone who writes something and gets such a vast and numerous amount of critical commentary has clearly written a book that is more than worth its price. "A Widow's Story" is just that: a book that will comfort, irritate, remind and offer camaraderie to every single person who reads it, male or female. It's good to know that on a personal level Joyce Carol Oats has honored Ray by writing this book and by continuing to live. It's hoped that we have many more books from her. She is established as one of America's top writers of serious literature and though Joyce Carol Oats is a different woman than Joyce Carol Smith it is wonderful that both of them are sharing our planet. Instead of reading all those reviews, read the book.