Customer Reviews

Pigeon Feathers

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If there is, you have my attention. Maybe Isaac Babel's Collected Stories or Fitzgerald's Selected Stories. I've been writing for 27 years; I may have written three sentences that compare with the average in an Updike story. In "Flight" he captures more in several sentences about family than I've disentangled through an entire career. Sorry for being self-referential; it's a measure of my awe. Updike's magic is that he can tell a story in a single sentence. If you only know Updike through his novels, you're in for a treat. By my lights, this is one of the greatest living story writers and this is the book that made that clear.

These stories are sublime. Read "Flight" and try not to grunt with pleasure! And let Archangel take you on a trip through the magic of words. Updike is at his best here. "Pigeon Feathers," the story for which the book is named, will astound you. Each story is a gem. If you want to read fiction that is beyond the assembly-line garbage...far, far beyond...read this book. See for yourself that America is still producing world-class literature. If you are a writer of short stories, make this your Bible.

The images in these stories are so lyrical, so sadly ethereal, I'd not be surprised to find the pages of Pigeon Feathers flap invisibly from my hands and into those of a Pennsylvania native, whose land, childhood and eventual disillusionment are so heart-wrenchingly documented in this collection. "A&P," a staple of contemporary American fiction anthologies, is a companion piece to longer, stronger stories, like "Flight" and the final two episodic stories, showcasing the defining moments of adolescence and young adulthood; moments when the voice inside assuring us of our own greatness and immortality grows fainter and fainter. Philosophically, this collection is held together by the idea that beauty, love and fame are tenuous phenomena, no more substantial than shapes of light skating across a room, or the images of a film projector (see "Flight"). This motif is always at the forefront of Updike's poetry and diction. ("The Persistance of Desire," which plays upon the indispensible role of eyesight, literal and figurative, ingenuously spins a pun out of the optical effect of the persistance of vision for its title.) This philosophy rarely overshadows Updike's gift for an unorthodox, reflective style of narration. Conflicts figure prominently in every story, but almost always the battle is staged in the heart and mind of its protagonist. Updike is a Cicero and Keats blessed with a unique penchant for American storytelling.

I'm a budding short story writer, myself; and no course, no workshop, no amount of instruction can subsitute for the lessons one learns leafing through and ingesting these exquisite paragraphs of John Updike. I find myself, in this volume, more than other Updike works, reading and re-reading the prose, even emailing sections to friends. Like a fine restaurant I want to tell people about, like a band that plays exceptionally well live which you get to catch on a great night, Updike, here, is "on"; he is at the absolute peak of his craft. I only wish there were more collections of short stories written as well as these.

There is little, if anything, one is able to say that can possibly capture the beauty or majesty of a great Updike story. The gentle yet exact measure of his sentences, the bewilderingly complex yet infinitely fluid (and eventually near-epiphanic) weaving of narratives, his control of internal characterization--few are masters in the manner that John Updike is a master.

And this volume contains his greatest story--possibly what I feel to be the greatest piece of literature in all of latter-half 20th century American literature (and we're including it all here, not just short stories). The last story of the volume: Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, A Dying Car, A Traded Car.

Enough with the theoretics and generalities here. This story can change your life. Or, at the very least, it can alter the way in which you interact with literature--what you can expect out of literature.

One piece of advice, though: read it in one sitting.
Seriously.
Don't get up, even just for a little while to fix something to eat. Don't read it bit by bit (it's long, so you may be tempted). And, whatever you do, don't look at the last page before it's time.

It may seem disjointed. It may seem an odd accumulation of narratives. Don't stop reading.

Two years, and a hundred readings later, I still haven't gotten over that first experience. What I wouldn't give to have it again...

This book is my introduction to John Updike, and I confess I haven't finished reading it. So I will try not to make comments that are likely to seem false to me later.

He writes with such compassion that it makes you want to reach out to the characters. Since you can't do that, it makes you reach out to your friends, and people in general. It helps you see past the antagonizing surface of mankind, and into their lovable weaknesses. He also abandons many conventions of the typical narrative, and to me, it just helps to point out the stories aren't as important as life.

This is an incredible book, which features many of Updike's earlier stories. The title story is amazing in its meaning and moral complexity. FIVE STARS!!!

Updike's abilities as a short story writer are best exemplified in _Pigeon Feathers_. His narratives often focus on the philosophies of the protestant middle class, in which the protagonist struggles to either accept or escape from the shackles of religion and society. Updike's narrative voice is so strong in these stories that the reader has the feeling that each one is in a sense autobiographical.

There is a lot of variety in these short stories. Seven of these stories take place in the fictional Pennsylvanian suburb of Olinger, in which Updike pays homage to his adolescence. While each story in this collection is unique and special in its own right, there are some that I found to be particularly strong:

"A&P": This is one of the shortest and straightforward stories in the collection, but was my favorite. Sammy is a 19-year-old cashier working at the A&P when he becomes infatuated with three girls who come into the store wearing bathing suits. When the manager scolds the girls for being indecent, Sammy is brought to a moral crossroad of conformance or to reject the values that A&P represents.

In "A&P," the manager is the voice of parental authority (friend of Sammy's family), pastoral authority (Sunday school teacher) and a business leader. Sammy represents the middle class conformist, who works behind the third register eating HiHo crackers. The girls represent the unattainable, with their sexual promiscuity and Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks. Great symbolism and struggle is packed into this condensed narrative that is truly rewarding.

"Flight": Allen Dow's mother predicts that her son will fly -- escape the destructive hold of ordinary life that has plagued their family. When Allen develops a relationship with the Olinger girl Molly Bingaman, this prediction is compromised and the relationship between Allen and his mother soon changes. "Flight" is about relationships and the conflict of deciding between young love and the yearning to escape.

"Pigeon Feathers": The title story reflects on David Kern, who is approaching his fifteenth birthday and ponders on death and theology. He is in search of reassurance in God's existence and eternal life, but is continually misdirected, and is even discouraged by his minister when he inquires in Sunday School. Later in the story, David is asked shoot the pigeons in the barn so they will not harm the Olinger furniture that is stored in there. Through this experience, David comes to terms with God, creation and death.

"Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, A Dying Cat, A Traded Car": This story seems to be a favorite by many readers. For me, the structure was a bit loose; however, the story and prose still show why Updike is one of the more talented writers in recent history. "Packed Dirt. . ." continues from "Pigeon Feathers" with David Kern as an adult. His struggles with faith are looked at from a different perspective as an adult in four episodes. He receives news that his father is ill and returns to his home. The traded car that David will soon exchange becomes representative for his writing and life itself, which is "dismissed without a blessing, a kiss, a testament, or any ceremony of farewell." This story is fittingly placed at the end of the collection and strongly represents Updike's views.



For any fan of John Updike or for someone interested in getting a taste of his writing, this collection is strongly recommended. I do not place these stories as highly as I place the Rabbit Angstrom tetralogy, but from what I have read of Updike, they stand the closest.

Updike is a poet,and poetry rings with fresh clarity in his short stories.Some are about lost youth or realization of one's self.About the acceptance of misfortune,but all told beautifully.The best would have to be A&P,the story of a teenager who works in a grocery store,and decides to risk his job for the girls that walk in,they get told to leave by the manager,but he tells the manger he's going to quit because of the way he treats the girls,so he leaves,while the girls don't even notice.Updike,the calculater of our innocence in the face of emotions.E - I = U and pigeon feathers..........

The reason the book was good, is that it allowed me to step outside myself to see myself. It was very revealing in a way that it showed how life is really ironic in a weird sort of way! It also revealed that sometimes you have to go against the grain so that you can really live life. I really liked this story and I would recommed it to anyone who is open to new ideas