The first sub genre is literary. We can all agree that Ms. Oates has a tremendous vocabulary and is very apt with description and turns of phrases. The book moves at a more leisurely pace as a result because the text is so rich. She chooses words carefully to get the best results and readers who like language have much to discover by her writing style.
Secondly this book is historical. She appears to have done quite a bit of research on certain characters in the novel that are drawn directly from history, Woodrow Wilson, Upton Sinclair, and Mark Twain all make appearances and the works of Aurthur Conan Doyle are discussed at length. Woodrow Wilson's days at Princeton University are discussed, and his ultimate disgrace at being asked to leave Princeton. I don't know all that much about Woodrow Wilson, so am at a loss as to what is true in her account and what is embellished, but there is a lot of history in the novel, taking place in 1905-1906.
Oddly enough, this is also somewhat paranormal horror. There is a curse on the main family of the book, the Slades, and there is a mysterious devil type character who can shape shift, and almost create illusions. At one point in the novel, one of the main characters runs off with the devil character and ends up in a horrific locale with strange an unknown creatures. The legend of the Jersey devil is brought up more than once and appears to be a thread in the novel.
I can only imagine that Ms. Oates wanted to write a horror novel, but ultimately this is too literary with too much historical detail and to this reader, it makes the thrill or the "fear factor" as it were, to suffer. I think this title may have a hard time finding an audience, but it cerrtaily is a mashup of several genres, and I do applaud Ms. Oates for trying something new.
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