Monday, November 30, 2009

Monica's Latest Read - Updike


I have just finished reading John Updike's masterful posthumous collection of short stories, "Tears of My Father." Although all of these stories have been previously published in different periodicals, reading them as a collection is illuminating. For those who have followed Updike's writing, there are familiar themes of love, aging, adultery, decrepitude, lust, life in middle America, hope and despair. For those who are new to Updike, this is a wonderful introduction to a writer who spent a long career charting the complicated inner landscape of rather ordinary people. The writing is taut and, at the same time, nuanced as are the characters that people these autobiographical stories. We've lost one of our truly great writers but he has left behind a fine memento for us to relish.

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