THE FALLS by Joyce Carol Oates

I've recognized Oates' name for some years now, but this is the first of her novels that I've read.  I chose this one because it's on Book Browse's site, which I consider to be a pretty good recommendation. Also, I'm discovering through my reading this winter that I am most completely satisfied by a longer book: one where I can revel in the characters or the plot, see it unfold over time.  In going through Book Browse's list of books over 500 pages ( the list is called Doorstoppers), several of my all-time favorites showed up there : A Fine Balance, Where The Crow Flies,The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, plus Elizabeth George's novels.

The Falls is set in the area of Niagara Falls, on the American side.  A young man, married earlier that day, climbs over the railing and plunges into the Falls.  His widow, Ariah, spends seven days beside the Falls, waiting for her husband's body to be found.  Dirk Burnaby, a young lawyer and well-known in the community, comes to counsel her and ends up falling in love with her.  They marry, and raise a family; he is a very successful litigation lawyer, she teaches piano at home. 

Dirk becomes involved with the community group seeking charges against the developers of the  Love Canal, ends up being vilified by the very men he worked with before: all pillars of the community, like himself, and is eventually murdered: his car ends up in the Niagara River and his body is never found.  By this time, his marriage to Ariah is over, because of his overwhelming dedication to seeking damages for residents and children affected by the radioactive waste, and with his death, Ariah tries to wipe out their children's memories of him as well.

Then the children grow up, and we see how Ariah's obsession with them, plus their unfolding awareness of the scandal surrounding  radioactive waste, leads them to uncover , pretty well individually, the mystery of their father's life and death.

The Falls is a revealing story of the American family in crisis, plus the greed and corruption of American industrial expansion and how it affects those same families.  There is some redemption in the end, as Chandler, Royall, and Juliet find some personal happiness, and escape the damaging clutches of their mother, whose whole life has been affected by that first tragedy the day of her marriage.

I'm reminded in some ways of Taylor Caldwell's novels, which I read all through my teens.  One review I read likened Oates to Theodore Dreiser, whose name I always associated with An American Tragedy.  This type of fiction, which I guess could be labelled as historical fiction, is much more substantial than books like Beneath A Marble Sky, which almost seems gratuitous in comparison!

This is book number 18 that I've read since coming to PCB this year!