Review: Daddy Love - Joyce Carol Oates

Welcome back, faithful readers. Who is ready for Holiday Book 3? Well, if you are, buckle up because this one is traumatising. This is Daddy Love by Joyce Carol Oates, my 'O' for my A-to-Z Challenge 2015. When I was searching my library for books, I saw the name of this book and laughed... so I picked it up and read the blurb. Never has a smile been smacked off my face faster. This is not some disgusting romance or a heartfelt familial tale; this is a vile story about a man who kidnaps and abuses a young boy.
Joyce Carol Oates, I applaud you; you have irrevocably soured something I rather enjoyed with this book: the novelty of the word 'daddy'. Reverend Chester Cash calls himself Daddy Love as he kidnaps and sexually and physically abuses children, and actually tries to make them love him as a father. What an absolutely abominable character. Honestly, I wish I could jam HIM into that godforsaken box and set fire to it.
This is a double-pronged storyline: on one side is the story of the horrors committed to Robbie (who is renamed Gideon), while on the other is the horror of being the parents of the kidnapped child. I have to hand it to Joyce Carol Oates, when she wants to shock the reader, she really GOES IN. Chester Cash is a figure of evil: he is not only a vile monstrous child abuser, he is a psychopath who feels some sort of entitlement. He claims to be 'freeing' this child from the oppression of bad parenting... as he shoves the boy into a box all night so he can soil himself. The contrasting emotions evoked of intense sympathy for Robbie, the father, and the now-mangled mother and the visceral revulsion towards 'Daddy Love' are a rather impressive feat, for which the author should be commended.
However, I did only give this book 3 stars. I just did not enjoy the style of writing. It was disjointed and so out of the ordinary that it was hard to understand in parts. It was sometimes guess work as to whether this non-punctuated prose was speech or just a thought by the character, and it was all a bit confusing in general.
I wouldn't say a recommend this book because it takes some guts to read something like this. But I do intend to try Joyce Carol Oates again; in fact, I did actually buy A Fair Maiden from the book sale at my library today, which I will read soon.

Thank you for reading! Feel free to comment below your thoughts! Like, comment and follow, and until next time, so long!