John Updike

Author profile

born

in Shillington, Pennsylvania, The United States

March 18, 1932

died

January 27, 2009

gender

male

genre

Literature & Fiction

influences

Henry Green, James Joyce, Marcel Proust, J.D. Salinger, James Thurber

About this author

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John Hoyer Updike (born March 18, 1932 in Shillington, Pennsylvania) was an American writer. Updike's most famous work is his Rabbit series (Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and Rabbit Remembered). Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest both won Pulitzer Prizes for Updike. Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike is well known for his careful craftsmanship and prolific writing, having published 22 novels and more than a dozen short story collections as well as poetry, literary criticism and children's books. Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems have appeared in The New Yorker since the 1950s. His works often explore sex, faith, and death, and their inter-relationships.

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John Updike's Books

Average rating: 3.78 · 115,836 ratings · 8,125 reviews · 147 distinct works · Similar authors

	Rabbit, Run 3.54 of 5 stars 3.54 avg rating — 21,668 ratings — published 1960 — 55 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rabbit is Rich 3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 avg rating — 6,965 ratings — published 1981 — 29 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rabbit at Rest 3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 6,494 ratings — published 1990 — 31 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rabbit Redux 3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 6,299 ratings — published 1971 — 27 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Witches of Eastwick (Eastwick, #1) 3.26 of 5 stars 3.26 avg rating — 7,244 ratings — published 1984 — 45 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Couples 3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 avg rating — 2,287 ratings — published 1968 — 34 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Centaur 3.68 of 5 stars 3.68 avg rating — 1,835 ratings — published 1962 — 27 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Terrorist 3.14 of 5 stars 3.14 avg rating — 2,266 ratings — published 2006 — 40 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Best American Short Stories of the Century by John Updike (Editor, Contributor), Jean Toomer (Contributor), Ernest Hemingway (Contributor) 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 1,117 ratings — published 1999 — 9 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels 4.29 of 5 stars 4.29 avg rating — 898 ratings — published 1994 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by John Updike…

Series by John Updike

Rabbit Angstrom (4 books)
by John Updike
3.699258605061938 of 5 stars 3.70 avg rating — 43,027 ratings

Eastwick (2 books)
by John Updike
3.2134006977023937 of 5 stars 3.21 avg rating — 8,313 ratings

Pocket Penguin 70's (1 book)
by John Updike
3.606060606060606 of 5 stars 3.61 avg rating — 33 ratings

Penguin 60's (1 book)
by John Updike
3.4545454545454546 of 5 stars 3.45 avg rating — 11 ratings

Quotes by John Updike

“Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face.”
― John Updike, Self-Consciousness

543 people liked it

“Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings.”
― John Updike, A Month Of Sundays

tags: life, time

171 people liked it

“The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding.”
― John Updike

tags: humor, new-york-city

83 people liked it

See all John Updike's quotes »

Polls

What frequently challenged and/or banned adult-themed book should we read in June and July? [Book were chosen from Banned Books bookshelf by random number generator:]

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

24 votes, 24.5%

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

17 votes, 17.3%

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

13 votes, 13.3%

Cujo by Stephen King

12 votes, 12.2%

The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell

10 votes, 10.2%

Ordinary People by Judith Guest

8 votes, 8.2%

Rabbit, Run by John Updike

6 votes, 6.1%

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

5 votes, 5.1%

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

3 votes, 3.1%

Private Parts by Howard Stern

0 votes, 0.0%

98 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Glens Falls (NY) ...: RIP - John Updike (1932 – 2009)	3	34	Jan 31, 2009 05:17am
Between the Lines: Nominations for March 2009 Book	32	95	Mar 03, 2009 09:59am
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL SPRING CHALLENGE - 2009	6462	8063	Jun 14, 2009 02:57pm

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