Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates

I hadn't read a Joyce Carol Oates novel in about ten years, but when I read about Mudwoman (published by Harper Collins), somewhere, I wanted to read it.  Maybe it was because of the academia in it and because I had a hunch Oates would be critical of some aspects of the world of the university from the point of view of a professor.  And maybe it was more than a hunch because I know that Oates is not afraid of exploring the dark side of anything. And Mudwoman is dark. And creepy. Haunting. And I was drawn into the story and really, really enjoyed it. The "present"part of Mudwoman takes place just a couple of years after 9/11, and the world in Mudwoman is dealing with issues that concern us right now, and the story telling itself is a mixture of present, past, and the imaginary-- nightmares, actually. And her prose is poetry.  If you want the anti-beach book, this is it.