Black Water

Joyce Carol Oates

You know going into this novel that you're going to read a fictional account of the Chappaquiddick incident which took place back in the 60's, involving Senator Edward Kennedy and a young girl he met at a party one summer afternoon. Oates is careful in this book, she never names the Senator, she puts him in a different vehicle, and she, of course, changes the name of the girl who drowned as a result of her decision to leave a party with Kennedy. But as a reader, you are never left to wonder about Oates judgement upon this tragedy, her words are full of outrage and shock and the novel itself is presented in part from the narrative voice of a young girl who made a fateful decision, for all the wrong reasons, on a pretty summer day.

Oates took some liberties with the circumstances of this accident. She presumes that the girl was alive for long after the car left the bridge and sank to the bottom of the swirling black waters. That she could have been saved had Kennedy reported the accident immediately and sought help (I believe a timeframe of almost 8 hours passed between the time of the accident and the reporting of it) This presumption is not solely the property of Oates, due to findings during the embalming process (no autopsy was ever performed) there were questions raised as to what exactly caused the death of this young girl. Who is to know this? She is no longer with us and cannot tell her own story. So Oates has told one for her. There was a great deal of doubt in the public eye about Kennedy's actions and whether he was responsible for Mary Jo Kopechne's death. Those doubts remain in many minds this thirty some years later. But Ted Kennedy was protected by connections and power and money and means that only a family like the Kennedy's could provide.

None the less, whatever your thoughts on this, contained within the pages of this thin volume is a whole life whose candle extinguished when she made a decision to pursue a star. The novel is wrought with emotion and at times, you almost hear her screams. Oates takes you into the vehicle in which she spent her last moments of life and forces you to hear her thoughts and know her voice. It is a tense novel and one which some part of you wishes to walk away from, while another part waits for each turning page.

Thank you Rev for the recommendation. I would not have sought this novel out without that. I know it is a story of life and of death which will stay with me for a long time.