RIP John Updike
For some reason Updike gets a bad rap. My feminist English professor lumps him in with Philip Roth (what?!) and then dismisses his work as “male perspective,” and my peers refuse to read the Rabbit novels thinking that they’re about middle-aged sex. But for me Updike’s talent and value often lies less in his plots and themes and more in the individual sentences, words, and metaphors he conjures over and over to describe everyday events (see “Dentistry and Doubt”). His last collection of poems (“Endpoint”) continues to showcase his funny and interesting genius:
“…Meanwhile our President Obama waits downstairs to be unwrapped and I, a child on Christmas day…”
As does his book Couples,
“Nature dangles sex to keep us walking toward the cliff.”
And for those of you who still haven’t read any of his novels let me point you again to the Rabbit series (get them here) and once and for all dispel the middle-aged rumor: Rabbit is 26 at the start of the first book! If you’re still too scared to take on a longer novel try one of his short story collections (get them here) which are entertaining quick reads.
