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Butcher
From one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a women’s asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the world
In this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr. Silas Weir, “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry,” as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns. There, he is allowed to continue his practice, unchecked for decades, making a name for himself by focusing on women who have been neglected by the state—women he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weir’s ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weir’s primary experimental subject, but also the agent of his destruction.
Narrated by Silas Weir’s eldest son, who has repudiated his father’s brutal legacy, Butcher is a unique blend of fiction and fact, a nightmare voyage through the darkest regions of the American psyche conjoined, in its startling conclusion, with unexpected romance. Once again, Joyce Carol Oates has written a spellbinding novel confirming her position as one of our celebrated American visionaries of the imagination.
In this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr. Silas Weir, “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry,” as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns. There, he is allowed to continue his practice, unchecked for decades, making a name for himself by focusing on women who have been neglected by the state—women he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weir’s ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weir’s primary experimental subject, but also the agent of his destruction.
Narrated by Silas Weir’s eldest son, who has repudiated his father’s brutal legacy, Butcher is a unique blend of fiction and fact, a nightmare voyage through the darkest regions of the American psyche conjoined, in its startling conclusion, with unexpected romance. Once again, Joyce Carol Oates has written a spellbinding novel confirming her position as one of our celebrated American visionaries of the imagination.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published May 21, 2024
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
848 books8,614 followersJoyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is also the recipient of the 2005 Prix Femina for The Falls. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and she has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. Pseudonyms ... Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 352 reviews
June 5, 2024
Some earlier physicians were doctors, bona fide surgeons; others claimed to be doctors but were inept butchers. When it came to medical science in the early 1800’s, Dr. Silas Weir, led his own research into the field of “gyno-psychiatry”. WHAT?
This is a fact based story as well as fiction so buckle up and be prepared to be horrified.
We follow Silas' life through his son’s POV. The earlier days, when the apprenticing doctor Weir, was exiled from his family and town for taking needless & reckless risks. A few years later, a distant uncle anointed Silas the Director for the Trenton Asylum for Female Lunatics. Here is where the mad scientist began his experiments. No code of ethics; no governance; Often no anesthetic. Here he had the freedom to test and document his research to ensure publication. Driven by arrogance, ignorance and pride.
This was a compelling yet horrific account of women imprisoned for reasons only a man could determine and treated inhumanely by a man. Weir may have made some significant contributions to the medical field with tools that were never patented, however, given the brutality these women suffered at the expense of his god complex, he was a sadistic torturer who went into a field that he was repulsed by.
JCO, you got my full attention with this one.
4.25⭐️
This is a fact based story as well as fiction so buckle up and be prepared to be horrified.
We follow Silas' life through his son’s POV. The earlier days, when the apprenticing doctor Weir, was exiled from his family and town for taking needless & reckless risks. A few years later, a distant uncle anointed Silas the Director for the Trenton Asylum for Female Lunatics. Here is where the mad scientist began his experiments. No code of ethics; no governance; Often no anesthetic. Here he had the freedom to test and document his research to ensure publication. Driven by arrogance, ignorance and pride.
This was a compelling yet horrific account of women imprisoned for reasons only a man could determine and treated inhumanely by a man. Weir may have made some significant contributions to the medical field with tools that were never patented, however, given the brutality these women suffered at the expense of his god complex, he was a sadistic torturer who went into a field that he was repulsed by.
JCO, you got my full attention with this one.
4.25⭐️
April 28, 2024
It's true, most of my surgeries were performed without anaesthesia, for the practical reason that, in the early years of my Directorship, anaesthesia was scarcely known. Also, it is scientific fact, as I have explained to Brigit, that female organs have fewer nerve endings than other parts of the body, no doubt to make the rigours of childbirth less painful.
JCO is an extraordinary writer and not least for maintaining the quality of her fiction across so many years. In lots of ways this feels like it couldn't have been written by anyone else: a dark story of misogyny, medical 'research', 'knowledge' of the female body and 'madness' in mid-nineteenth century America.
Dr Silas Weir is one of JCO's monsters: both obsessed and horrified by the nascent science of gynaecology and still in thrall to ancient medical knowledge going back to Aristotle and Galen which related female psychology and maladies to hysteria originating in the idea of the 'wandering womb'. As Director of a 'lunatic asylum' in Trenton, New Jersey (old stomping ground for JCO's fiction), Weir has unlimited access to abandoned women on whom he can experiment to 'prove' his medical theories and procedures, as well as indentured workers who he can make into complicit helpers.
As usual, JCO has done her research and the first person narrative of Weir is based on authentic doctors' papers. Weir's story is a complicated mix of arrogance, fear and a desperate attempt to win Freudian approval from his distant father. His acute misogyny, his lack of knowledge, his contempt for his patients, and his more indictable flaws (desire for the albino Irish Brigit; a gentle slide into laudanum and whisky, more violent appetites that he represses but which slip through his self-justificatory narrative) are offset against some genuine attempts at pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge, however inadequate the foundation.
JCO cleverly widens the scope of the book's points by setting it against debates about chattel slavery and comparing them to the situation of indentured workers such as Brigit. She also, eventually, gives us alternative views from women, including Brigit whose poetic, lyrical style of writing contrasts to the clinical prose of Weir.
There are, inevitably, horrific operation scenes which, importantly, JCO doesn't shy away from and she makes clear the connections between cultural constructions of femininity and the problematic, for many men, female body and associated sexuality which both come under patriarchal ownership:
I was likely the sole surgeon in New Jersey trained to treat vaginismus, at the request of frustrated husbands, who brought me their hysterically 'frigid' wives, to undergo a delicate surgery widening the mouth of the vagina, while at the same time severing nerves in the surrounding flesh, to kill sensation; this, often combined with a clitorectomy of which the wife was unaware.
So definitely a Gothic version of real medical history awash with blood, agony and disturbing ideas. But this remains a fascinating story of the history of women's medicine and 'madness', and the extent to which they were framed via out of date, unscientific and misogynistic schemes of thinking for so long.
Thanks to 4th Estate for an ARC via NetGalley
May 29, 2024
How does she do it? At age 85, with dozens of novels to her credit, Joyce Carol Oates knocks it out of the ballpark with Butcher, which may be based loosely on J. Marion Sims, the infamous “father of modern gynecology,” who experimented on enslaved women in the 1800s.
Based on actual historical documents, Oates focuses on the career of the fictionalized Dr. Silas Weir, who heads the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics. He is a strange choice for a director: he feels an outright repugnance for female “private parts,” which he views as a “hellish spectacle for the eye.” Nor does this so-called Christian possess any love for the downtrodden, the mentally ill, or the mostly Irish indentured servants of the Asylum.
Oates writes in a Victorian gothic tone, which adds to the authenticity of this novel. It takes a strong stomach to read about the grotesque medical experiments he performs on these unwitting women. For an author who has never shied away from the brutal side of human nature, Oates pulls no punches in this book. It’s even darker because it is based on what really happened in the 1800s to women who were treated worse than chattel.
Still, this book is impossible to put down, particularly in Dr. Weir’s interactions with the young Irish indentured servant, Brigit, an angelic-looking, mute albino. After transforming her life by curing her fistula – an opening in the vaginal wall that creates a constant seepage of urine, causing women to become pariahs – he takes her under his wing as his nurse assistant.
The splendidly advanced themes – particularly at these times with the erosion of women’s rights and the victimization of the disenfranchised – are haunting. As we readers sink deeper into the depravity and downright evil of Dr. Weir’s soul, we get a greater sense of what twisted misogyny can do. Yet Oates never crosses the line by making Dr. Weir a caricature; rather, she also reveals the lost promise of a man who hungered to develop innovative treatments for problems like fistula after childbirth and is partially a product of his times.
I was fascinated by Butcher, and it will stick with me. A big thanks to Alfred A. Knopf, publisher, for enabling me to become an early reviewer in exchange for an honest review.
Based on actual historical documents, Oates focuses on the career of the fictionalized Dr. Silas Weir, who heads the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics. He is a strange choice for a director: he feels an outright repugnance for female “private parts,” which he views as a “hellish spectacle for the eye.” Nor does this so-called Christian possess any love for the downtrodden, the mentally ill, or the mostly Irish indentured servants of the Asylum.
Oates writes in a Victorian gothic tone, which adds to the authenticity of this novel. It takes a strong stomach to read about the grotesque medical experiments he performs on these unwitting women. For an author who has never shied away from the brutal side of human nature, Oates pulls no punches in this book. It’s even darker because it is based on what really happened in the 1800s to women who were treated worse than chattel.
Still, this book is impossible to put down, particularly in Dr. Weir’s interactions with the young Irish indentured servant, Brigit, an angelic-looking, mute albino. After transforming her life by curing her fistula – an opening in the vaginal wall that creates a constant seepage of urine, causing women to become pariahs – he takes her under his wing as his nurse assistant.
The splendidly advanced themes – particularly at these times with the erosion of women’s rights and the victimization of the disenfranchised – are haunting. As we readers sink deeper into the depravity and downright evil of Dr. Weir’s soul, we get a greater sense of what twisted misogyny can do. Yet Oates never crosses the line by making Dr. Weir a caricature; rather, she also reveals the lost promise of a man who hungered to develop innovative treatments for problems like fistula after childbirth and is partially a product of his times.
I was fascinated by Butcher, and it will stick with me. A big thanks to Alfred A. Knopf, publisher, for enabling me to become an early reviewer in exchange for an honest review.
February 22, 2024
Joyce Carol Oates has never been one to pull punches in her fiction and Butcher goes harder than she’s ever gone before. Silas Weir is the single most horrific character I’ve encountered in the world of fiction, which is a total bummer because he’s based on a real person. This book will challenge you, disgust you, and reinforce how thankful you are that science and modern medicine have come a long way.
June 18, 2024
Holy f*cking shit.
Joyce, wtf. 😳
This is an amazing book, possibly not for everyone 😳
I quite literally had a nightmare and nothing scares me.
So… 👀 yeah. Probably too close to home in regard to some of those asylums for “hysterical” woman but I’m leaving that thread alone because I’ll never stop yapping at you.
This book was incredibly visual for me (good or bad, I’m not sure yet lol).
I recommend it with caution to whatever your trigger warnings may be.
Joyce, wtf. 😳
This is an amazing book, possibly not for everyone 😳
I quite literally had a nightmare and nothing scares me.
So… 👀 yeah. Probably too close to home in regard to some of those asylums for “hysterical” woman but I’m leaving that thread alone because I’ll never stop yapping at you.
This book was incredibly visual for me (good or bad, I’m not sure yet lol).
I recommend it with caution to whatever your trigger warnings may be.
July 21, 2024
Pretty disappointed by this one as I was certain it would be a new favourite. I mean, a book about a terrifying doctor working in a women’s asylum in the nineteenth century?? Who is able to continue his practice unchecked by focusing on women neglected by the state? True nightmare fuel. And my favourite time period as well!! Alas, no. The start was very promising and I was inhaling the novel at an alarming rate. Then… it got incredibly repetitive and kinda boring? I was dragging myself through the last pages, which was such a shame after such a strong premise/incredible start! Sad about this one. 3 stars.
June 8, 2024
“One by one we were summoned to him. Through glittering eyeglasses examined by him. A crude instrument, to open us up to the Red-Handed Butcher's eyes.”
Joyce Carol Oates’ writing is always beyond perfect, so when I saw this at the bookstore I didn’t hesitate to purchase.
This book features a surgeon who conducts medical experiments on women who had been sent to the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics.
Although a surgeon conducting disturbing experiments on women’s bodies in the late 1800s - he was consumed with the notion that mental health symptoms could be alleviated with certain gynecological procedures. Over time, the surgeon Silas Weir, becomes so emboldened in his approach, thoughts, reasoning, and treatment of women in his care-acting not only as a surgeon but deeming himself the ‘father of gyno-psychiatry.’
Joyce Carol Oates’ writing is always beyond perfect, so when I saw this at the bookstore I didn’t hesitate to purchase.
This book features a surgeon who conducts medical experiments on women who had been sent to the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics.
Although a surgeon conducting disturbing experiments on women’s bodies in the late 1800s - he was consumed with the notion that mental health symptoms could be alleviated with certain gynecological procedures. Over time, the surgeon Silas Weir, becomes so emboldened in his approach, thoughts, reasoning, and treatment of women in his care-acting not only as a surgeon but deeming himself the ‘father of gyno-psychiatry.’
June 4, 2024
3.5 stars
The title is definitely apt. The doctor in this novel, who runs a female asylum, is a butcher of women and girls. This book seems to be loosely based on the real-life figure, James Marion Sims. Known as the “father of modern gynecology,” he performed cruel and heinous experiments on enslaved Black women. In this book, our main character is known as the “father of gyno-psychiatry” and has no issue butchering people of a lower station than him, particularly women who are indentured servants or deemed “lunatics.” His experimental and inhumane surgeries often led to death, which is no surprise. Like Sims, Dr. Weir also favored performing surgeries without anesthesia, which is absolutely barbaric.
Dr. Weir is also quite delusional. He thinks of himself as a genius guided by God, but he’s just a foolish man looking to make a name for himself. He’s a monster and I felt bad for the patients who were abused and taken advantage by him. There are some particularly graphic and brutal surgeries, especially in the second half of the novel. I was wincing at some of the rationale Dr. Weir had for his experiments and surgeries. I do think this novel was a tad long, but overall it was a powerful read highlighting how awful some doctors were back in the day.
The title is definitely apt. The doctor in this novel, who runs a female asylum, is a butcher of women and girls. This book seems to be loosely based on the real-life figure, James Marion Sims. Known as the “father of modern gynecology,” he performed cruel and heinous experiments on enslaved Black women. In this book, our main character is known as the “father of gyno-psychiatry” and has no issue butchering people of a lower station than him, particularly women who are indentured servants or deemed “lunatics.” His experimental and inhumane surgeries often led to death, which is no surprise. Like Sims, Dr. Weir also favored performing surgeries without anesthesia, which is absolutely barbaric.
Dr. Weir is also quite delusional. He thinks of himself as a genius guided by God, but he’s just a foolish man looking to make a name for himself. He’s a monster and I felt bad for the patients who were abused and taken advantage by him. There are some particularly graphic and brutal surgeries, especially in the second half of the novel. I was wincing at some of the rationale Dr. Weir had for his experiments and surgeries. I do think this novel was a tad long, but overall it was a powerful read highlighting how awful some doctors were back in the day.
June 3, 2024
It must be said that while I’ve read a few of JCO’s novels, I’m not a rabid fan although I do appreciate her prolific achievements. BUTCHER stitches together, into one main character, the practices, experiments and surgeries of three physicians during the 19th century. The horrors committed on women in a lunatic asylum resulted in the development of gynecology. The main character, Silas Weir M.D., is best described as a pompous ass without regard, empathy or consideration for his helpless victims. Needless to say, this novel is not for the faint of heart.
Read
June 23, 2024This morning I realized that my life will be better if I stop right now and return this book. I made it about a quarter of the way.
This is my second JCO and the second I have not finished. It must be me.
I just read The Yellow Wallpaper and I love Virginia Woolf, both have some connection to the main character of this book.
This is my second JCO and the second I have not finished. It must be me.
I just read The Yellow Wallpaper and I love Virginia Woolf, both have some connection to the main character of this book.
May 21, 2024
Butcher by Joyce Carol Oates
Thank you so much PRH Audio + Knopf for the free audiobook and gifted copy.
Blurb:
A novel about a women’s asylum in the 19th century and a terrifying doctor who wanted to change the world.
✨My thoughts:
This story truly is terrifying and uncomfortable as all hell to say the least. Although disturbing, it’s also just as intriguing. It will blow your mind regarding early practices. I found this book a little hard to rate because I can’t necessarily say it was enjoyable* given the content but I also really wanted to finish the book. It was a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. I physically read and listened to this book and thought both versions were great. It was just easier to stomach as an audiobook for some reason. I should note that this book is not for the weak but it one that will pique and keep your interest. Especially if you’re interested in some twisted historical fiction! Butcher is out TODAY 5/21/24, happy pub day!
Happy reading 📖
Thank you so much PRH Audio + Knopf for the free audiobook and gifted copy.
Blurb:
A novel about a women’s asylum in the 19th century and a terrifying doctor who wanted to change the world.
✨My thoughts:
This story truly is terrifying and uncomfortable as all hell to say the least. Although disturbing, it’s also just as intriguing. It will blow your mind regarding early practices. I found this book a little hard to rate because I can’t necessarily say it was enjoyable* given the content but I also really wanted to finish the book. It was a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. I physically read and listened to this book and thought both versions were great. It was just easier to stomach as an audiobook for some reason. I should note that this book is not for the weak but it one that will pique and keep your interest. Especially if you’re interested in some twisted historical fiction! Butcher is out TODAY 5/21/24, happy pub day!
Happy reading 📖
July 23, 2024
I have had the biggest reading slump this summer so it has taken me an age to finish this book, but every second was wonderful. I loved the language, it felt like reading a flowing river. No matter that what the words actually said was awful. This is parts of our medical history told in an almost horror like way. This novel might be the best I’ll read this year. It will hard to top this.
“All that is done to us, which we cannot prevent. Which steeps us in sin—if not our own, the sins of others, that stain us.”
“All that is done to us, which we cannot prevent. Which steeps us in sin—if not our own, the sins of others, that stain us.”
June 9, 2024
This latest from the ever-prolific Joyce Carol Oates is not for the faint of heart, or maybe I should say not for the weak of stomach. This Gothic horror is largely set at the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum in the mid 19th century, where the female inmates—er, patients—are entirely at the mercy of the director, a doctor bent on making a name for himself by conducting horrific experiments, surgical and otherwise, on the hapless women. (JCO explains in an afterward that Dr. Silas Weir was a real-life doctor, but that her character is a fictionalized amalgam of three real-life 19th- and 20th-century medical figures, borrowing many events from their lives.) Medicine was, to put it mildly, still very crude in the 1850s, anesthesia nonexistent or imperfectly understood, and attitudes and opinions about women’s health virtually medieval. And don’t forget the beliefs of the comfortably middle-class that those from the underclass were not fully human, not feeling pain like more refined (richer) folk, for instance, thus giving this forerunner of Dr. Mengele the licence to carry on his evil surgeries and “treatments,” secretly burying the evidence afterwards. But wait—there’s more! (Hope you’re hearing those old K-Tel TV ads in your head.) Dr. Weir is a dyed-in-the-wool misogynist, being utterly disgusted by women’s bodies and resentful that he has somehow been sidelined into the field of being a women’s doctor. Just horrifically, shockingly brutal, all the more so for being ripped from the pages of history.
July 11, 2024
This was a HARD read. I had to stop many times.
For context, I do work in the medical field and reading this shook me.
This history is way way way too close to us in time for me to feel anywhere close to comfortable. With the world the way it currently is, women not having complete rights over their body — how is this STILL up for debate????? — and medicine standards being set mostly by white men… this book is still extremely relevant. It’s relevant to me not just as a woman but as someone who is half Asian, half white.
While I’m grateful for the courses that actively try to discuss minorities, women’s health, and being a part of a diversity committee, I still see glimpses of the horror in this book in much more subtle ways: the mindset, comments, “jokes”, and the unspoken glances, or raised eyebrows of male counterparts.
We still have such a long way to go and this book reminds me not to rest because we have not come nearly far enough.
For context, I do work in the medical field and reading this shook me.
This history is way way way too close to us in time for me to feel anywhere close to comfortable. With the world the way it currently is, women not having complete rights over their body — how is this STILL up for debate????? — and medicine standards being set mostly by white men… this book is still extremely relevant. It’s relevant to me not just as a woman but as someone who is half Asian, half white.
While I’m grateful for the courses that actively try to discuss minorities, women’s health, and being a part of a diversity committee, I still see glimpses of the horror in this book in much more subtle ways: the mindset, comments, “jokes”, and the unspoken glances, or raised eyebrows of male counterparts.
We still have such a long way to go and this book reminds me not to rest because we have not come nearly far enough.
July 16, 2024
3.5⭐️
Pros: Love the premise. The various POVs. The absolutely vile, evil nature of man that is explored.
Cons: A bit longer and more repetitive than necessary. Focusing the story on primarily white indentured servants leaves out a huge piece of the history of enslaved Black women who were also abused in the name of medical “experimentation” during this time period.
Pros: Love the premise. The various POVs. The absolutely vile, evil nature of man that is explored.
Cons: A bit longer and more repetitive than necessary. Focusing the story on primarily white indentured servants leaves out a huge piece of the history of enslaved Black women who were also abused in the name of medical “experimentation” during this time period.
June 11, 2024
I've read 46 books by JCO, this is 47. I've also read the nonfiction book this borrows from - Madhouse: A Tragic Tale of Megalomania and Modern Medicine. This is a very good book with a classic unreliable narrator, an absolute villain to root against who fancies himself a great humanitarian. But of course Silas Weir couldn't do it alone, the whole male medical establishment propped him up. At times, very difficult to read, especially knowing there's truth behind it.
July 2, 2024
A work of fiction based on historical documents about the father of gyno-psychiatry, who experimented on patients at asylums in the 1800s. So nasty and gruesome I had to put it down at times. But it’s Joyce Carol Oates, so the writing is so compelling that you don’t want to. I learned a lot from this book…some that I wish I didn’t know. Without giving too much away, I will say that the ending was very satisfying.
May 24, 2024
What a satisfying read in this time of legislating control of women’s bodies! I couldn’t put it down. The end brought it all together in a way I couldn’t have predicted. What a writer! JCO, in her eighties, writes as if she’s in her prime. Maybe she is!
June 2, 2024
3.5, but kinda wanted more?
June 13, 2024
3.5 rounded up. At times i hated this book! It was often hard to read. I despised the protagonist. It was definitely disturbing and lets just say karma is a bitch!
July 1, 2024
I haven’t winced that much reading a book since American Psycho!
Read
August 21, 2024Oo. Security! Hated how gory this book was esp towards womens bodies. The last bit of the book had me going 😐😟😮😦😧☹️🤨😥
May 23, 2024
I’m terribly conflicted as I write this: at one moment, this book is so perfectly rendered and in another moment, it’s so disturbing it’s hard to finish. Those that have read Oates’ “Black Water” and “Blonde” will be quite familiar with the way Oates tells stories using brutality and abuse by the hands of men in power to distill highly wrought and absolutely perfect (in my mind) feminist ideology. With that comes a level of gothic horror (and a character I can only classify as more diabolical than Patrick Bateman in Bret Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho”) that is definitely not for everyone.
At a time when the *lack* of research on the female body, menopause, and the physical and mental effects of estrogen has started to come to the forefront of the public discourse, this book couldn’t be more poignant or set off more alarm bells for women to take heed. The brilliantly woven-in historical commentary around class, race, bodily shame, pregnancy, and mental health— all completely couched in the lack of most women’s knowledge and agency of their own body and needs (and the desire of men in power over the centuries to keep it that way)—is told in a way so unique to Oates and her more classic novels. She is one of the greatest at the deepest and most raw of human commentary.
This book is extremely hard to get through. But “Butcher” is one of those galvanizing reads for this galvanizing moment surrounding bodily autonomy that we are currently living in.
At a time when the *lack* of research on the female body, menopause, and the physical and mental effects of estrogen has started to come to the forefront of the public discourse, this book couldn’t be more poignant or set off more alarm bells for women to take heed. The brilliantly woven-in historical commentary around class, race, bodily shame, pregnancy, and mental health— all completely couched in the lack of most women’s knowledge and agency of their own body and needs (and the desire of men in power over the centuries to keep it that way)—is told in a way so unique to Oates and her more classic novels. She is one of the greatest at the deepest and most raw of human commentary.
This book is extremely hard to get through. But “Butcher” is one of those galvanizing reads for this galvanizing moment surrounding bodily autonomy that we are currently living in.
July 21, 2024
This book is not for the faint hearted. Joyce Carol Oates does not shy away from using grotesque and descriptive scenes to elicit an emotional reaction.
Another technique she uses in this book is to tell this historical fiction through the eyes of two opposing views. We mainly go through the events through the eyes of the 'butcher' and this builds a connection with him. All the while knowing he is doing harm but justifying it in the eyes of science.
Without spoiling things, it's really towards the very end that things start to flip and you get the perspective from those he harmed. At that point, you see why Joyce Carol Oates wrote it the way she did.
While this book might not be stomached by everyone, there is quite a lot to unpack. It really shines a light on how not long ago, medicine was quite barbaric. It makes you wonder if we would be as advanced as we are now in medicine without those barbaric practices.
Going even further, it also made me think about our current medical practices that will likely be considered barbaric in the future. I recently had to undergo chemotherapy and had a double mastectomy for stage 3 breast cancer. The treatment for it... It really is barbaric (while also life saving). So, yeah... This book made me think about that a lot.
I'd encourage anyone who likes to delve into our history (without it being toned down or altered) to read this one. It's definitely impactful.
Another technique she uses in this book is to tell this historical fiction through the eyes of two opposing views. We mainly go through the events through the eyes of the 'butcher' and this builds a connection with him. All the while knowing he is doing harm but justifying it in the eyes of science.
Without spoiling things, it's really towards the very end that things start to flip and you get the perspective from those he harmed. At that point, you see why Joyce Carol Oates wrote it the way she did.
While this book might not be stomached by everyone, there is quite a lot to unpack. It really shines a light on how not long ago, medicine was quite barbaric. It makes you wonder if we would be as advanced as we are now in medicine without those barbaric practices.
Going even further, it also made me think about our current medical practices that will likely be considered barbaric in the future. I recently had to undergo chemotherapy and had a double mastectomy for stage 3 breast cancer. The treatment for it... It really is barbaric (while also life saving). So, yeah... This book made me think about that a lot.
I'd encourage anyone who likes to delve into our history (without it being toned down or altered) to read this one. It's definitely impactful.
May 30, 2024
“…for names of the female lunatics upon whom he operated did not register to one who wields the knife.”
REVIEW: This is an important book - although you’ll probably never read it… Back up: ALL DAY i have been waiting to read the conclusion to BUTCHER. It is an exceptional read but holy hell is it GRIM. Lets not forget that Joyce Carol Oates wrote Zombie, which consistently lists among the most disturbing books of all time… and this reaches for that pinnacle. At times it made me feel physically sick. But! Oates indulges in elaboration (at times to the books detriment) and I found myself waiting for that spark in the first 250 pages; we’ve all been here before with great books. Readers who can stomach the grossness and tedium to push beyond halfway… holy hell, brace yourself. 🎢it is a WILD ride. I have so many thoughts in my head RN… 😪 From @nytbooks “the novel is larger than one might think, becoming an empathic and discerning commentary on women’s rights, the abuses of patriarchy and the servitude of the poor and disenfranchised.”
For those waiting for THAT book: I just hope you have a strong stomach. While it feels weird rating such a dark book so enthusiastically… #joycecaroloates BUTCHER made me feel so, so, oh so many things. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
REVIEW: This is an important book - although you’ll probably never read it… Back up: ALL DAY i have been waiting to read the conclusion to BUTCHER. It is an exceptional read but holy hell is it GRIM. Lets not forget that Joyce Carol Oates wrote Zombie, which consistently lists among the most disturbing books of all time… and this reaches for that pinnacle. At times it made me feel physically sick. But! Oates indulges in elaboration (at times to the books detriment) and I found myself waiting for that spark in the first 250 pages; we’ve all been here before with great books. Readers who can stomach the grossness and tedium to push beyond halfway… holy hell, brace yourself. 🎢it is a WILD ride. I have so many thoughts in my head RN… 😪 From @nytbooks “the novel is larger than one might think, becoming an empathic and discerning commentary on women’s rights, the abuses of patriarchy and the servitude of the poor and disenfranchised.”
For those waiting for THAT book: I just hope you have a strong stomach. While it feels weird rating such a dark book so enthusiastically… #joycecaroloates BUTCHER made me feel so, so, oh so many things. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
June 27, 2024
Phew. Wow. Okay. Ummm, this is one of those books that was absolutely *incredible* yet is difficult for me to recommend to people I care about lol…It was A LOT.
Epistolary, fictionalized history of a “pioneer of gyno-psychiatry” in New Jersey in the mid 1800s, Dr. Silas Weir. (Loosely based on the careers of Dr. J. Marion Sims, Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, and Dr. Henry Cotton.) It tells the story of Weir’s unlikely and bumbling rise to professional renown, including his appointment as director of a women’s asylum, where he took full advantage of his “patients” as well as the indentured servants in his employ. His experiments on these forgotten women ranged from rupturing eardrums to cure mania, to pulling teeth to cure fever, to full hysterectomies to cure “feminine malaise” and the list goes on, all without anesthesia. The medical geniuses of this time thought that class played a role in pain tolerance and oh, also that the vagina contained no nerve endings.
So yeah, I rage read this, but the ending was pretty perfect. Obviously all of the trigger warnings but if you think you can stomach it, brilliant writing and storytelling.
“I was definitely born in the right era. I love being able to tell men to STFU without being lobotomized.”
Epistolary, fictionalized history of a “pioneer of gyno-psychiatry” in New Jersey in the mid 1800s, Dr. Silas Weir. (Loosely based on the careers of Dr. J. Marion Sims, Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, and Dr. Henry Cotton.) It tells the story of Weir’s unlikely and bumbling rise to professional renown, including his appointment as director of a women’s asylum, where he took full advantage of his “patients” as well as the indentured servants in his employ. His experiments on these forgotten women ranged from rupturing eardrums to cure mania, to pulling teeth to cure fever, to full hysterectomies to cure “feminine malaise” and the list goes on, all without anesthesia. The medical geniuses of this time thought that class played a role in pain tolerance and oh, also that the vagina contained no nerve endings.
So yeah, I rage read this, but the ending was pretty perfect. Obviously all of the trigger warnings but if you think you can stomach it, brilliant writing and storytelling.
“I was definitely born in the right era. I love being able to tell men to STFU without being lobotomized.”
June 16, 2024
There’s a lot that’s grisly in Butcher, so much so that it often comes close to overwhelming all the other things that make up the novel. For instance, it’s a solid bet that no other work of fiction contains as many instances of the word fistula. Then again, I’m probably more squeamish than most readers (and than Oates, apparently). I don’t want to discount the book’s empathy and humor, though, the latter of which pulls the novel away from being purely Gothic.
August 14, 2024
First half was interesting (and brutal), second half felt very repetitive (and brutal)
June 11, 2024
A horrifying look at what real life 19th century "doctors" did to treat institutionalized women and the horrific surgical procedures they put them through in the interest of "science." This was a compelling, harrowing story about the "father of modern gynecology:" It was difficult to read at times but oh so important and relevant and I couldn't put it down. Great on audio and HIGHLY recommended, especially for fans of books like Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood.
September 11, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★
”For all the Brigits—the unnamed as well as the named, the muted as well as those whose voices were heard, the forgotten as well as those enshrined in history.”
Butcher tells the story of Silas Weir, “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry”, as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns.
⟡•—— ・ ₊˚🩸♱‧₊˚. ・ ——•⟡
Oates forged a striking brew of horror, insanity, hopelessness and imprisonment, crafting, in a very raw manner, a commentary on an era where patriarchy brutally dictated societal norms placed on women, highlighting the devastating impact of male control.
Depicted as a weak-minded individual, Silas Weir is mocked and distrusted both in his familiar relationships and in his professional career. Although painted in a somewhat naive light in the beginning of the novel, he is quick to turn into a cruel and torturous barbarian in possession of narcissistic tendencies. Never questioning himself and lacking empathy for the women held against their will in his asylum, he only shows cruelness to patients, immigrants, slaves and workers. Weir’s actions serve as a reminder of the pervasive and unchecked power men historically held and still hold over women.
The author doesn’t shy away from the descriptive ways in which men wield their power over our female characters who are, although resilient, ensnared within a culture that both devalues and exploits them.
Feminist overtones permeate the plot and the tension between men and women isn’t just a backdrop - it’s the very essence of the novels heart.
”For all the Brigits—the unnamed as well as the named, the muted as well as those whose voices were heard, the forgotten as well as those enshrined in history.”
Butcher tells the story of Silas Weir, “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry”, as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns.
⟡•—— ・ ₊˚🩸♱‧₊˚. ・ ——•⟡
Oates forged a striking brew of horror, insanity, hopelessness and imprisonment, crafting, in a very raw manner, a commentary on an era where patriarchy brutally dictated societal norms placed on women, highlighting the devastating impact of male control.
Depicted as a weak-minded individual, Silas Weir is mocked and distrusted both in his familiar relationships and in his professional career. Although painted in a somewhat naive light in the beginning of the novel, he is quick to turn into a cruel and torturous barbarian in possession of narcissistic tendencies. Never questioning himself and lacking empathy for the women held against their will in his asylum, he only shows cruelness to patients, immigrants, slaves and workers. Weir’s actions serve as a reminder of the pervasive and unchecked power men historically held and still hold over women.
The author doesn’t shy away from the descriptive ways in which men wield their power over our female characters who are, although resilient, ensnared within a culture that both devalues and exploits them.
Feminist overtones permeate the plot and the tension between men and women isn’t just a backdrop - it’s the very essence of the novels heart.
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