Customer Reviews

Villages

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John Updike's novels read just like his short stories, only longer. It's the same "slice of life" approach, he just gives you a broader slice. In Villages, we are presented with Updike's version of small town life, through the life of his main character, Owen Mackenzie. We're also presented with a brief history of the early decades of computer science, which is Owen's field. (This is integrated into the story somewhat more successfully than the history of postwar American art was in Updike's previous novel, Seek My Face.)

But what Villages is really about is sex. It follows Owen's sexual development from childhood to old age. Most of the book is about his many affairs with practically every woman in town. Updike has some interesting things to say about sex, some insightful things, some obvious things, some inconsistent things, and some just plain wrong things. On the whole, the attitude toward sex in this artistic portrayal of it isn't exactly healthy, but neither is it as sick as, say, Joyce's in Ulysses.

Not bad overall, but not fantastic either. Edward Herrmann's reading of this audio edition is quite good.