For over half a century, Joyce Carol Oates has been recognized as one of the finest and most respected authors in the business. She has a mastery of the written word and is able to detail human complexities in a way that lesser writers can only dream about.

Oates’ latest release, THE FRENZY, is a collection of short stories that have been published over the past decade. One running theme that permeates each of these tales is characters having to deal with significant change.

Here are brief summaries of the stories that especially stood out to me and my thoughts on them.

"[Oates] has a mastery of the written word and is able to detail human complexities in a way that lesser writers can only dream about.... THE FRENZY will give you plenty to think about as you let the language she creates wash over you."

“The Frenzy”: Nineteen-year-old Brianna is set to enjoy a romantic weekend in Cape May, New Jersey, with the man with whom she is having an affair. Forty-nine-year-old Cassidy is the married father of a girl who is just a few years younger than Brianna. He turns a tad obsessive and at one point tosses her cell phone into the ocean. Brianna decides to get back at him in a very unexpected way.

“The Fear”: At times, Juliet and Janette may be mistaken for twins when they are actually cousins. As a child, Janette was never jealous of the slightly older Juliet; she just wanted to be her. We witness how these feelings subtly change over the years, beginning with the cancer that disfigures Juliet’s features straight through to a tragic occurrence when the girls are college-age.

“The Call”: When S. receives the heartbreaking call that her father has died, she has no idea in that moment how much her response will paint the rest of her life --- first when it comes to her relationship with her husband, and later when she is faced with her mother’s own end-of-life challenges.

“The Return”: When Maude reconnects with Audra, with whom she had lost touch during the COVID-19 pandemic, she is startled by how much her old friend has changed and in ways she never could have predicted.

“The Redwoods”: When a young hiker in the woods comes upon a couple violently fighting, he does not know how to respond. The decision he ultimately makes will have a significant impact on everyone involved. Vann had grown up in Northern California and always saw its famous redwood trees as calming and inspiring. Now, they only bring about his own feelings of negative solitude due to his most recent experience there.

While Oates indicates that these stories may have appeared in slightly different forms in their original incarnations, they still contain a feeling of human fear and isolation, mostly of the unknown. THE FRENZY will give you plenty to think about as you let the language she creates wash over you.