Customer Reviews

Bech at Bay: A Quasi-Novel (Quasi-Novels)

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Bech at bay consists of five stories about the life of Henry Bech. He ages from mid-sixties to mid-seventies in the course of the book. The first story has Bech visiting Prague before the comunists have been thrown out. He visits Kafka's grave, hangs out with the ambassador, and talks with the local literary celebs who are still intimidated by the Bolshies. This story is aimless, and the weakest of the five entries. The second is Bech Presides.HB is talked into heading a NY literary organization. It's a brilliant study of cultural trends and hidden motives. It's brilliant, the best of the book. Third, Bech is sued in LA for libel. HB's conflicting feelings about himself and his accuser make this story appealing and engaging. Updike releases rage at unappreciative critics in Bech Noir.(JU, I'm praising the book, no need for vengeance with me.) It's wonderful fantasy at getting back at those who have harmed us. Tip! Use a sponge to seal your mail. Bech wins the Nobel prize in story number five. Bech doesn't know what to say, and uses a Giuliani-like technique at the podium. It's a good story, not great. Overall, stories 1 & 5 are very good. 2,3,4 are brilliant. Please read. Thank you.

"Bech at Bay" presents five comic stories about the novelist Henry Bech, starting out with a visit to Communist Czechoslovakia when he is 63 and ending in his acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Literature when he is 76 years old (with his infant daughter held struggling in his arms). Through these Bech stories, Updike takes a satirical look at the the Manhattan literary scene, pokes fun at the absurdities of the big city life and even takes a moment or two to ponder the Eternal Verities (but not too seriously). As his life enters its last phase, Bech finds himself in some interesting new situations: president of the The Forty, an intellectual society hopefully modelled on the French Academy but without its sense of self importance; as a caped avenger "ridding literary Gotham of villains" (read critics); as a septuagenarian father. Through all this absurdist comedy, the old Updike magic is constantly with us. Bravo!

How does one best review a literary genius? This is not going to be easy. Updike is an author I discovered in college, but haven't been seriously reading him since a couple years ago. I devoured "Roger's Version" and his latest short stories, and I didn't know what to expect with the latest Bech book. This is the first of the Bech books I have read. What an amazing book. Updike has a way of describing reality that makes it feel more important..almost surreal.

Bech, Updike's alter-ego, runs loose in this one, even resorting to murder of his least liked critics. If you are looking for very DARK humor, here is where to find it. In this pathetic yet somewhat brilliant character, we find some autobiographic hints about Updike himself I'm sure. Some of his dislike of critics is probably projected into Bech's harsh words. And at one point Bech wonders if he is polluting the world with subtle pornography, maybe something the author wonders about from time to time too.

Perhaps the best part of the book is the end when Bech gives a rambling but very interesting Nobel Prize acceptance speech in Sweden. This is something only Updike could write. He rambles on about mortality, religion, relationships and birth and death. Vintage Updike. He is a world class writer of the highest order.


Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

In this, the third (and final?) installment of books about the imaginary novelist Henry Bech, John Updike has departed from the closely observed 'realistic' social satire of the first two volumes and drawn closer than ever before to a mode of fantasy writing more like Brazil or The Witches of Eastwick. Things happen (Bech kills people, is blackmailed into producing a baby, wins the 1999 Nobel Prize for Literature) that go beyond the normal limits of credulity. I am very glad of it. Normally Updike is religiously (in every sense of the word) faithful to 'reality'; but, as the book's epigraph suggests, 'Something of the unreal is necessary to fecundate the real' (Wallace Stevens). And, in the end, Bech at Bay does not feel any less 'real' than Bech: A Book or Bech is Back. It feels more whimsical, more holidaying, perhaps, but all the plugs are still in their sockets and electricity courses through these pages abundantly. Updike is never funnier than in these Bech books - here, he is also florid, sweeping, capricious, startling and very warm.

As a big fan of the first two Bech collections, I carefully rationed my reading of this one, limiting myself to one story per day. All was well until I reached "Bech Noir" in which our hero takes murderous (yet flippant) revenge on his literary enemies. This was so ludicrously out of character that I kept waiting for the authorial signal that it was just the protagonist's fantasy. Unfortunately, it never came. I don't know whether Updike was being contemptuous or just plain stupid. But not only did his trashing of my suspension-of-disbelief ruin this book for me, it cast a retrospective pall over the previous ones.

Ironically, a new first-rate Bech story appeared in The New Yorker some time later. Presumably, it will be included in the omnibus Bech edition being published in 2001. I only pray that Updike, who is known for his post-publication tinkering, will come to his senses and leave "Bech Noir" out.

Henry Bech, Updike's fictional writer, is back in five story length segments. Bech ages from mid-sixties to mid-seventies in the course of the book. In the first story, Bech travels to Czechoslovakia. He visits Kafka's grave, hangs out with the ambassador and his wife,and talks with local writers who are still under the Soviet regime. This story is meandering and the weakest effort in the book. In Bech Presides, the second story of the collection, he criticizes the end of this first story. Bech Presides is the best story in the book. Bech is pressured into heading an old NY literary society. The story is a brilliant combination of hidden motives and a reflection of changing cultural tastes. In the third story, Bech is sued for libel in LA. Bech's conflicting feelings for himself and for the plaintiff make this story succeed. 'Vengeance is mine.' Sayeth the writer, 'I shall repay' is the theme of story number 4, Bech Noir. HB gets back at unfriendly critics in a variety of ways. It's very amusing. Bech wins the Noble Prize in the fifth story. He contemplates Faulkner, but comes closer to Rudy Giuliani when he brings his baby daughter to the podium and lets her say hello. Bech's inability to think of a great speech is complemented by Updike's bland story. Stories 1 & 5, are weaker than 2,3 and 4. But overall Bech at Bay is enjoyable and highly recommended.

Updike does seem a bit weary as Michiko Kakutani noted for The Times in this book...still, weary Updike is better than most other authors at their liveliest. If you haven't read any of the Bech books before, don't start with this one. Read the earlier ones in order and you'll enjoy this one better. Has its moments.

John Updike is one of those names I had always heard of but had never checked out. Finally, a few weeks ago, I decided that it was time for me to get acquainted with Mr. Updike. I must say that the first work I chose to read of his did not disappoint me.

Bech at Bay is the last in a series of books that feature Henry Beck, and aged writer who still manages to find himself in precarious adventures. Bech at Bay is a series of short stories that loosely make up a larger story. At times hilarious, at times insightful, and at times rather disturbing, I found myself quite pleased with Mr. Updike's work. I look forward to reading more of it.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

An absolute great read. Totally engrossing. And well worth the paper.

As usual Ms. Kakutani is wrong again. Bech at Bay dishes out the humor as well as the strange paradoxical karmatic fate that is Bech's doom and salvation.