I picked this up at random from a secondhand bookshop, and I’m so glad I did. This is a fictionalised retelling of the real-life “Chappaquiddick incident” from 1969 involving Senator Ted Kennedy. He was driving Mary Jo Kopechne when their car went off the road and flipped into the water. Kennedy managed to escape, but Kopechne was trapped inside. He didn’t alert authorities, and the delay became a major scandal.
Joyce Carol Oates reimagines this event in her novella, shifting the story to a different time, the 90s, but it’s still the story of a Senator and a woman, driving in a car. She centres the narrative entirely on the woman, Kelly, exploring her inner world, her friendships and insecurities, her memories of childhood, and the hopeful growing attraction she’d felt for the Senator. Kelly talks about her experiences with a violent lover, how the Senator’s strong handshake reminds her of the pleasure her ex took in hurting her.
What’s powerful about Oates’ approach is how she draws connections between sexual violence, control, and the image of rising water. It’s possible to be alive inside a submerged car for a while, so Oates builds on this, placing us inside Kelly’s head, making us feel the ugliness of it all. Her thoughts of her parents are heartbreaking.
It’s a study of how power, violence, and complicity harm the psyche. It’s also story of a hope that takes awhile to extinguish.
There are allusions to the political context of that era, showing how power dynamics and public narratives were evolving—or perhaps, how little had really changed.
This is a thought-out and resonant novella. It’s both deeply personal and public in its examination of Kelly’s experience.
One word: deafening.
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