Licks of Love: Short Stories and a Sequel (Hardcover)

by John Updike (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
If John Updike had never published anything but short stories--if the novels, essays, verse, and reams of occasional prose vanished into thin air--he would still be a presence to reckon with in American letters. Having said that, it's only fair to point out that his 13th collection, Licks of Love, is one of the master's patchier efforts. He has lost none of his notorious fluency, and even the duds are enlivened by lovely stabs of perception. But in several tales ("The Women Who Got Away," "New York Girl," "Natural Color"), Updike seems perversely bent on proving his detractors right, serving up familiar narratives of adultery and '60s-era swinging. There's no reason why lust and rage shouldn't dance attendance on this randy genius's old age. But he's already written about the art of extracurricular canoodling at such length that these entries are bound to seem like retreads.

That's the bad news. The good news is that the rest of the collection is a sheer delight. "My Father on the Verge of Disgrace" explores some fascinating Oedipal outskirts, even as the narrator's first cigarette takes on a theological accent: "It was my way of becoming a human being, and part of being human is being on the verge of disgrace." In "How Was It, Really?" Updike unveils the real dirty secret of old age, which is not the persistence of erotic appetite but the inevitable, appalling failure of memory. Best of all, he returns to two of his longest-running franchises, with admirable results in both cases. "His Oeuvre" revives that Semitic doppelgänger Henry Bech for one more lap around the track, and finds the author making intermittent fun of his own fancy prose style. Harry Angstrom is, needless to say, beyond hope of resurrection. But in a 182-page novella, "Rabbit Remembered," Updike brings back his survivors for a superb, surprising curtain call. The author's present-tense notation of American life (whose paradoxical epicenter is, as always, Brewer, Pennsylvania) remains as mesmerizing as ever. And despite his death, the putative hero is everywhere, as his illegitimate daughter returns to the unwilling bosom of the Angstrom clan: "A whiff of Harry, a pale glow, an unsettling drift comes off this girl, this thirty-nine-year-old piece of evidence." Wallowing in this unexpected bonus, Updike fans should steel themselves for a single pang of regret: this is likely to be the last Rabbit he will pull from his hat. --James Marcus

From Publishers Weekly
Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom has been dead for a decade in Rabbit Remembered, the novella that closes this latest, richly evocative Updike collection. His widow, Janice, is married to Ronnie Harrison, the widower of Thelma, with whom Harry had a long-time liaison. His son Nelson's wife, Pru, whom Harry also briefly bedded, has left Nelson, who has kicked the coke habit and still lives in the old Springer house with Janice and Ronnie. The past surfaces unexpectedly when Annabelle Byers, Harry's illegitimate daughter, makes herself known to the family. The ramifications of Harry's legacy include a strained Thanksgiving dinner that degenerates into political argument and acrimonious insults, and a mordantly funny flashback to a scene in which Harry's cremated remains were inadvertently left on a closet shelf in a Comfort Inn. While Updike explores the dark territory of bitterness, resentment and guilt, he also includes his trademark ticker-tape of current events (Hillary's candidacy, etc.), a typically muddled millennium New Year's Eve and a surprisingly upbeat denouement. For Rabbit fans, this is a must-read. In addition, the 12 short stories collected here present a kaleidoscope of Updike settings and themes. One element is common to nearly all the tales: the protagonist is a libidinous married man, ever on the lookout for adulterous adventures. In all of them, nostalgia is pierced with insight and regret. This is a treasury of Updike's craft, each story a small gem. 60,000 first printing; first serial to the New Yorker. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st trade ed edition (November 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375411135
• ISBN-13: 978-0375411137
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #236,533 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rabbit is Back, February 27, 2001

By	Paul McGrath (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Tom Wolfe recently said of John Updike that he knew that there were 275 million people living in the United States, and that he didn't believe there was a one of them who was looking forward to a new John Updike novel. To this I would say he is only about half right. I would agree that news of the first half of this book, the short story collection, left me mostly unmoved. But I can guarantee you that I, along with dozens of other people I'm sure, was delighted to see yet another installment in the Rabbit series, and scooped it up eagerly.

It doesn't disappoint. Of course, everybody familiar with the series knows that Rabbit died a long time ago, but contained in here are all of the other familiar faces: Janice, now married to Ronnie Harrison; Nelson, separated; Pru; Billy Fosnacht; and Annabelle Byer, the mover and shaker of the plot this time around. Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom's presence, though, looms over all, figuratively, and eventually as we shall see, literally.

Yes, as the lion is noted for his ferocity, the elephant for his size, and the giraffe for his height, Rabbit is known for, well, what rabbits are known for. I don't believe I've ever seen this pointed out in any reviews of these books that I have read, and am at a loss to explain why. (I apologize if I have missed something.) Even Mr. Updike seems to be curious about this, throwing us a not so subtle hint in this one.

Think about it: in the first book he cheats on Janice, and indirectly causes the death of his daughter. In the second book, he is separated from Janice, but cheats on his girlfriend, and while gone she is killed in a fire. In the third one, he is prevented from consumating his lust (by Nelson, no less, hilariously), and nobody dies. But in the fourth one, after cheating on Janice yet again, and with Nelson's wife this time, he indirectly causes his own death. Yes, boys and girls, the age old theme: sex equals death. Or in this case, illicit sex equals death, sooner or later. Or maybe, everything eventually equals death.

But I am being simplistic. These books encompass way more than this; in fact, one could argue that these books encompass everything that is human about all of us. Yes, Rabbit's life can be read as a tawdry, melodramatic, almost tragic soap-opera, but to do so would be missing the point. These books are also slyly, wickedly funny. How ridiculous, we think. Look at these bumpkins, struggling to find happiness through self-gratification. But how tragic. And how sad. Because we are contained in here too. It is Updike's magnificent intelligence which allows us to see the pathos and humor in all of it.

Is Rabbit Everyman? No, he is not every man. But he is also not uncommon either. We all know people like him. The stumbling good guy, buffeted around by life, taking what comes his way without much thought or introspection or faith. He doesn't really love anybody and is not really sure how to. In Mr. Updike's hands, though, this thoroughly mundane person is fascinating, and probably the most fully-realized character in American literature. We have been following him, and the America he lives in, for four decades now. There is no doubt in my mind that several hundred years from now people will be studying these novels in order to get a complete and thorough picture of American culture in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Is it a pretty picture? No, not really. Is it accurate? Yes, to the degree that it captures the life of one individual--no more, no less--it is. At the end, Harry is in Florida, lost, feeling like he has been swimming underwater. His life has been a void.

This book, Rabbit Remembered, allows us to see his accomplishments, through those he left behind, and ends with the characteristic brilliance typical of the entire series. It is New Years Eve, the end of the century, the end of the millenium. Four well-dressed, clumsy, drug-addicted, divorced, molested, depressed, middle-aged youths--Nelson, Pru, Annabelle, and Billy--are going out for the evening. Janice looks at them, her children--Harry's children--and tears come to her eyes. She is moved, but incapable of understanding why.

It is Harry. He is the father of illegitimate Annabelle and legitimate Nelson, the one-time lover of Pru, his daughter-in-law, and the one-time lover of Billy's mother. This is his connection to them, and what, inexplicably, has moved Janice. These children are his legacy. The legacy of the Rabbit.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rabbit Rules!, November 14, 2000

By	Eustacia Vye "Eusatcia Vye" (Encino, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Licks of Love is worth buying just for the novella featuring our old favorite hero Rabbit Angstrom...however, in addition to Rabbit, this book contains marvelous short stories by the wonderful John Updike. There is a delcious story about a one night stand and a gorgeous one about cats! If you want to be touched by love and feel its power, buy this book, read this book and cherish this book. God bless John Updike!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Updike offers up One More Rabbit for the Fans, May 4, 2005

By	Dave Deubler (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Licks of Love: Short Stories and a Sequel, "Rabbit Remembered" (Paperback)

When future historians try to understand the Sexual Revolution of the latter twentieth century, they will probably find no more useful documents than the fiction of John Updike, whose obsession with sex, particularly the adulterous variety, is unparalleled in modern literature. In Updike's world, pick any four couples and you've got yourself seven adulterers and one weirdo - quite a different Pennsylvania from the one this reviewer lives in.

In this mixed volume of fiction, "The Women Who Got Away", "New York Girl", "Natural Color", the Bech story "His Oeuvre" and the surprising "Scene From the Fifties" all revolve around marital infidelity and the burgeoning sexual revolution. Updike's obsession with adultery leads one to suspect that the writer suffered from post-coital remorse, and tried to come to grips with his own indiscretions by implying that they are symptomatic of the culture, and so not really his fault. The stories invariably show how tawdry these encounters are, how irresponsible he recognizes them to be, and how paranoid the perpetrators become, all to convince someone (His family? His mistress? His readers? His Maker?) that it really wasn't all that much fun. "Let me off easy," he seems to be saying, "I've already suffered enough."

"Rabbit Remembered" is the real class of this collection, and a worthy capstone to the Rabbit series, but readers unfamiliar with the four novels preceding shouldn't expect to get much out of it. Recapitulations of the events from the prior novels are often pretty brief, giving the barest review of the facts and skipping all the emotional fallout. The focus is on the late Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom's son Nelson, and the changes that take place in his life when his unbeknownst half-sister Annabelle shows up at his mother's house.

Fans of Updike's work will surely appreciate this one last entry into the Rabbit franchise, even if there isn't much else to recommend this volume. Those new to Updike should start anywhere but here; the adultery-go-round of the first dozen stories is sure to leave a bad taste in the mouths of most readers, and the redeeming qualities of "Remembered" will be wholly opaque to the uninitiated.