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Better Together
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
As the chronicler of a certain kind of upper middle-class, sophisticated culture, Updike has few peers. The 22 stories in his new collection cover familiar ground, but always with a resonance and relevance that deliver fresh shocks of recognition. In Updike's world, fractured marriages are a condition of modern life. Ex-mates, new mates or lovers multiply in complex arrangements, "victims of middle aged recklessness." Adultery is not defended or explained; it is inevitable and routine. The children of these many-bedded partners pay the price for their parents' un- and re-coupling. A tone of nostalgia, loss and pain is pervasive; retribution is sure to be exacted. As Updike ages, so do some of his characters, men who in their 50s or 60s, who, like the protagonists of The Wallet and Death of Distant Friends contemplate "the premonition of extinction." In all of the narratives, Updike's inspired gift for imagery is employed to stunning effect. One responds to these stories with a visceral feeling of empathy, of having been exposed to the essence of life seen through a master's eye. 50.000 first printing; Literary Guild dual main selection.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
A few stories here come from magazines not found in most public libraries. Most treat familiar Updike themes (marriage, adultery, and divorce; the onset of middle age or old age; sickness and death) with familiar Updike techniques (role reversal, mirror scenes and characters, extended similes, traditional symbolism). Also familiar is the mostly high quality, even of newer material, such as an unobtrusive experiment in first-person plural narration in "Leaf Season," the relation between sex and sleep (explored more thoroughly in "Pygmalion" than in "Killing" or "Slippage"), and the use of the "f"-word in a New Yorker (!) story, "Unstuck." The two failures, "Still Some Use" and "Poker Night," are done in by bathetic imagery. More disturbing is a tendency to draw the moral, as if Updike shared with the artist of "Learn a Trade" a lack of trust in his own work. Let's hope not. Literary Guild dual main selection. Hugh M. Crane, Cambridge P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
As the chronicler of a certain kind of upper middle-class, sophisticated culture, Updike has few peers. The 22 stories in his new collection cover familiar ground, but always with a resonance and relevance that deliver fresh shocks of recognition. In Updike's world, fractured marriages are a condition of modern life. Ex-mates, new mates or lovers multiply in complex arrangements, "victims of middle aged recklessness." Adultery is not defended or explained; it is inevitable and routine. The children of these many-bedded partners pay the price for their parents' un- and re-coupling. A tone of nostalgia, loss and pain is pervasive; retribution is sure to be exacted. As Updike ages, so do some of his characters, men who in their 50s or 60s, who, like the protagonists of The Wallet and Death of Distant Friends contemplate "the premonition of extinction." In all of the narratives, Updike's inspired gift for imagery is employed to stunning effect. One responds to these stories with a visceral feeling of empathy, of having been exposed to the essence of life seen through a master's eye. 50.000 first printing; Literary Guild dual main selection.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
A few stories here come from magazines not found in most public libraries. Most treat familiar Updike themes (marriage, adultery, and divorce; the onset of middle age or old age; sickness and death) with familiar Updike techniques (role reversal, mirror scenes and characters, extended similes, traditional symbolism). Also familiar is the mostly high quality, even of newer material, such as an unobtrusive experiment in first-person plural narration in "Leaf Season," the relation between sex and sleep (explored more thoroughly in "Pygmalion" than in "Killing" or "Slippage"), and the use of the "f"-word in a New Yorker (!) story, "Unstuck." The two failures, "Still Some Use" and "Poker Night," are done in by bathetic imagery. More disturbing is a tendency to draw the moral, as if Updike shared with the artist of "Learn a Trade" a lack of trust in his own work. Let's hope not. Literary Guild dual main selection. Hugh M. Crane, Cambridge P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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