Foxfire

Confessions of a Girl Gang

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Jane Gabbert

New York Times bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates’s strongest and most unsparing novel yet—an always engrossing, often shocking evocation of female rage, gallantry, and grit.

The time is the 1950s. The place is a blue-collar town in upstate New York, where five high school girls join a gang dedicated to pride, power, and vengeance on a world that seems made to denigrate and destroy them.

Here is the secret history of a sisterhood of blood, a haven from a world of male oppressors, marked by a liberating fury that burns too hot to last. Above all, it is the story of Legs Sadovsky, with her lean, on-the-edge, icy beauty, whose nerve, muscle, hate, and hurt make her the spark of Foxfire: its guiding spirit, its burning core.

At once brutal and lyrical, this is a careening joyride of a novel—charged with outlaw energy and lit by intense emotion. Amid scenes of violence and vengeance lies this novel’s greatest power: the exquisite, astonishing rendering of the bonds that link the Foxfire girls together. Foxfire reaffirms Joyce Carol Oates’s place at the very summit of American writing.

Critic reviews

"Brilliant Foxfire burns brightly exhilarating."
New York Times Book Review

"Wonderful, beautiful, a vivid novel."
Washington Post

"Profound a riveting whirlwind of a novel."
Los Angeles Times

One of the best books

One of the best books. Books books books. Books books books books books books books.

Good book, poor abridging

I loved this book as a teen, so listening to it as an audiobook seemed a treat, but not sure who thought it was a good idea to leave out some of the stylistic choices that made it so memorable. Where are the relentless mottos and phrases? You get the jist of the story, but not the beating, pounding heart. Don't forget- FOXFIRE BURNS AND BURNS.

this is abridged

this is abridged which I didn't see noted anywhere. an unabridged version doesn't seem to be available