Freaky Green Eyes

by Joyce Carol Oates

Overview

"Later, I would think of it as crossing over. From a known territory into an unknown. From a place where people know you to a place where people only think they know you."

Sometimes Franky Pierson has a hard time dealing with life. Like when her parents separate and her mother vanishes, Franky wants to believe that her mom has simply pulled a disappearing act. Yet deep within herself, a secret part of her she calls Freaky Green Eyes knows that something is terribly wrong. And only Freaky can open Franky's eyes to the truth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064473484
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/15/2005
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	1,131,081
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.12(h) x 0.74(d)
Lexile:	810L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, and the 2019 Jerusalem Prize, and has been several times nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written some of the most enduring fiction of our time, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys; Blonde, which was nominated for the National Book Award; and the New York Times bestseller The Falls, which won the 2005 Prix Femina. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Hometown:

Princeton, New Jersey

Date of Birth:

June 16, 1938

Place of Birth:

Lockport, New York

Education:

B.A., Syracuse University, 1960; M.A., University of Wisconsin, 1961

Table of Contents

I.	Crossing Over	1
II.	Missing	193
III.	In the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico: December	319

Editorial Reviews

Oates builds the mounting tension masterfully, crafting a fast-paced narrative that will haunt readers long after the final page.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Moves along at the breathless pace” — BookPage

“A suspenseful story…grippingly realistic” — KLIATT

“A fast-paced, first-person thriller” — ALA Booklist

“Among this year’s most compelling fiction” — Boston Herald

“Observant family history and a developing mystery.” — Chicago Tribune

From the Publisher

A fast-paced, first-person thriller

ALA Booklist

A suspenseful story…grippingly realistic

KLIATT

Among this year’s most compelling fiction

Boston Herald

Moves along at the breathless pace

BookPage

Observant family history and a developing mystery.

Chicago Tribune

Observant family history and a developing mystery.

Chicago Tribune

In our 2003 Best Books citation, PW wrote, "The daughter of a charismatic football star-turned-sportscaster narrates this captivating novel, which bears some resemblance to the O.J. Simpson story. Oates builds the mounting tension masterfully." Ages 14-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Freaky Green Eyes, born during a drunken assault at a teen party, becomes one teen’s inner voice of resistance as her family crumbles around her. Franky’s father is Reid Pierson, former star football player and current star sportscaster; all her life, he has been the charismatic sun around which his family revolves. To make him angry is to risk losing his approval and his love, and the punishments he metes out are harsh, but just. As Franky keenly observes, "It’s hard to change how you feel. How you think is a lot easier." So warped is Franky’s perception, that when her mother, an artist desperate to assert a life outside of the family orbit, moves out, her loyalties remain with her father--until her mother disappears entirely, and Freaky Green Eyes gives her the strength to confront her life honestly. Oates crafts an unflinching look at Franky’s struggle to define herself against a backdrop of family violence, turning what could have been rendered as a sensationalistic "ripped-from-the-headlines" melodrama into a quietly gripping, beautifully written, impeccably paced psychological thriller. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews

With ever increasing horror, Franky Pierson tells the story of her father, a football hero turned sportscaster, and her beautiful, artistic mother. Narrator Stina Nielsen possesses the perfect voice to portray 15-year-old Franky, who dearly loves, yet secretly fears, her charismatic father, while blaming her mother for the disintegration of their “perfect” family. The pace quickens when Franky’s mom mysteriously disappears and her father is suspected of foul play. Nielsen’s voice captures the turmoil in Franky as she tries to figure out the truth behind her parents’ relationship. As reality becomes clearer, Franky faces her parents--and her own past--in a new light. D.P.M. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

DEC 04/JAN 05 - AudioFile