{
    "id": 510533,
    "slug": "butcher-joyce-carol-oates",
    "nstc": null,
    "title": "Butcher",
    "subtitle": null,
    "collection_title": null,
    "collection_part_number": null,
    "annotation": null,
    "description": "In this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr. Silas Weir, \u201cFather of Gyno-Psychiatry,\u201d as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns. There, he is allowed to continue his practice, unchecked for decades, making a name for himself by focusing on women who have been neglected by the state\u2015women he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weir\u2019s ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weir\u2019s primary experimental subject, but also the agent of his destruction.\n\nNarrated by Silas Weir\u2019s eldest son, who has repudiated his father\u2019s brutal legacy, Butcher is a unique blend of fiction and fact, a nightmare voyage through the darkest regions of the American psyche conjoined, in its startling conclusion, with unexpected romance. Once again, Joyce Carol Oates has written a spellbinding novel confirming her position as one of our celebrated American visionaries of the imagination.",
    "imprint": null,
    "language_code": "eng",
    "original_language_code": null,
    "page_count": 352,
    "duration_seconds": null,
    "publication_date_first": null,
    "publication_date_latest": "2024-05-23",
    "cover_url": null,
    "editions": [],
    "ratings_count": 0,
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    "reading_status_read_count": 0,
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    "rating_average": null,
    "ratings_distribution": {
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    },
    "created_at": "2025-09-19T14:38:42+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2025-10-28T00:42:41+00:00",
    "publisher": {
        "id": 82,
        "slug": "fourth-estate-ltd",
        "name": "Fourth Estate Ltd",
        "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:11:12+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2025-09-19T15:03:27+00:00"
    },
    "contributors": [
        {
            "id": 316763,
            "slug": "joyce-carol-oates-2",
            "key_names": "Oates",
            "names_before_key": "Joyce Carol",
            "prefix_to_key": null,
            "contributor_role": "A01",
            "readable_contributor_role": "Author"
        }
    ],
    "genres": [],
    "subjects": []
}