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The Early Stories: 1953-1975
by
John Updike
“He is a religious writer; he is a comic realist; he knows what everything feels like, how everything works. He is putting together a body of work which in substantial intelligent creation will eventually be seen as second to none in our time.”
—William H. Pritchard, The Hudson Review, reviewing Museums and Women (1972)
A harvest and not a winnowing, The Early Stories preser...more
—William H. Pritchard, The Hudson Review, reviewing Museums and Women (1972)
A harvest and not a winnowing, The Early Stories preser...more
Paperback, 864 pages
Published
December 18th 2007
by Ballantine Books
(first published April 1st 2003)
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Although there are many amazing short stories in Updike's collection most of my favorites come from the section titled, "The Tarbox Tales" A&P is by far my favorite because Sammy is such a honest character and Updike perfectly depicts the mind of a teenage boy in this story. Instead of critiquing the book as whole, I decided to focus on one specific story.
“IN WALKS these three girls in nothing but bathing suits,” is perhaps one of the best opening lines to a story I have ever...more
“IN WALKS these three girls in nothing but bathing suits,” is perhaps one of the best opening lines to a story I have ever...more
You know that feeling you get when you eat something, say, orange juice, and it just has this powerful "tang" to it, that seems to stick with you, even hours after you can't taste it anymore? The sort of thing where, even just thinking about it, you get that sensation all over again? Well, that might be a terrible summary of this collection of short stories, but that's what it's like for me. The stories in it will stick with you for days, and even the shortest ones are dense. If you th...more
Shown below are the last sentences of "The Madman", about a crazy Oxfordian of the intellectual sort who keeps the American author and his wife from finding accommodation, despite their being warned ("I'd beat it now, in your shoes."). Eventually they have the madman's number, and he yields with a last whine.
His short stories are lessons in finishing a short story, though some last sentences leave one clueless. The last sentence of "Dentistry and Doubt" is suc...more
His short stories are lessons in finishing a short story, though some last sentences leave one clueless. The last sentence of "Dentistry and Doubt" is suc...more
Tony
rated it
What can you say about the writing of John Updike that hasn't already been written or awarded to him? He's one of the best short story writers that ever put pen to paper and for proof look no further than this absolutely wonderful collection of his early stories (ranging from the beginning of his writing career to 1975).
Updike's way with words is akin to Ozu's touch with a camera. You won't find the human spirit so beautifully written anwhere else with such heartbreaking (or uplift...more
Updike's way with words is akin to Ozu's touch with a camera. You won't find the human spirit so beautifully written anwhere else with such heartbreaking (or uplift...more
I bought this on my Kindle in order to have short stories available for travel reading (perfect for airplane). I had read the Rabbit Run trilogy years ago, but had largely left Updike alone except for New Yorker stories and his critical writing - which I find fascinating. I heard him speak a few years ago at a conference and was reminded to re-read his 1970's - 1980's books. I did, and was struck by how much more they told me with 20 years distance. Maybe it because I am now the age of Antrim in...more
Enjoying it so far, especially the earliest of the Early Stories, entitled "Ace in the Hole." Updike's tales aren't exactly full of geographic variety, most of them taking place in New England; however, he truly is the master of his domain.
Marc
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who like short stories written in English.
I've been working my way through this for years now. It's never on top of my "current reading" stack, but whenever I turn to it I read something beautiful and keenly-observed.
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A few of these stories are five star--and this coming from a person who doesn't usually care for the short story medium. Read all together in such volume they tend to run together tiresomely, treading and retreading the same themes of marital dischord and disenchanted suburbia. Despite the unpleasant aspect of reading far too many of one author's short stories in nearly one sitting, this book raised my (previously abysmal) opinion of Updike. Some of the stories are on par with the best I've read...more
I regret not reading these stories sooner. Truthfully, I've not finished this and likely will never finish all of it. I keep all of my collections of short stories on a shelf in my bedroom and dip into them whenever I'm between things to read. After reading all of the profiles and remembrances of Updike the one thing that really struck me was how in almost every picture of him he's smiling. Anyway, there are some moments in his early stories that I don't entirely jive with but overall his storie...more
If I have to read about adultery ever again, I'm going to vom.
After I read one of these stories, my wife sometimes asks, "So, what was it about?" "Well," I respond, "This guy came home from work," or "a couple had a friend over for dinner."
While the plots in these stories are insubstantial, it is the detail that makes the difference. Kind of like in our own lives. As one of the stories states, "Just a piece of turf torn from a meadow becomes a gloria when drawn by Durer. Details. Details are the g...more
While the plots in these stories are insubstantial, it is the detail that makes the difference. Kind of like in our own lives. As one of the stories states, "Just a piece of turf torn from a meadow becomes a gloria when drawn by Durer. Details. Details are the g...more
I was reading the wonderful story Pigeon Feathers by John Updike this morning and the thought occurred to me that young David Kern's (the protagonist of the story) situation was not that different than the young Kamal in Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy, especially in the second volume, Palace of Desire. Not surprisingly, both texts were written within in a decade of each other (Mahfouz in the early fifties and Updike at the beginning of the sixties - of the last century) and each have, in part, the them...more
I know that I'm SUPPOSED to be impressed with John Updike, and maybe in a different spot of time I WOULD be, but not right now. I couldn't get through these short stories, and I found much of his writing rather dated. I'll try again when my life isn't so crazy and I can ponder the words a bit more. I truly think I'm just not in the right frame of mind for him, and NO book should be "plodded through" just to say "I finished it!" (IMHO).
Somehow, it seems to me that John Updike is under-appreciated. Even though the man has won numerous awards, appeared in the New Yorker countless times, and published god-knows how many books, you just don't hear his name thrown around too much in discussions about our country's greatest writers. However, this book illustrates with startling clarity just how deserving he is of a place among the masters of the form. Any collection consisting of so many stories will have some duds, but standouts l...more
Updike's short stories are what first caught me and that is the area I think he does his best work. I like his novels, but when he compresses his stories down to essentials his insight and subtle truths come through that much better.
When John Updike died recently, I realized I did not know his work. I first read Rabbit, Run and although I loved the flow of his writing, overall I was somewhat unimpressed. Next I chose this FAT book of stories. I love short stories and contained herein are some fabulous beaties. I read it each morning.
Eric
marked it as to-read
With the exception of the high school-assigned, half-forgotten 'A&P' and 'Pigeon Feathers,' the stories are in my readerly blind spot.
read a couple of stories, loved the love problem writted in a style of word problem. Updike metaphors are the best
"A&P" is one of my favorite short stories ever...
Rereading all of these is wonderful. Doesn't date really...
Early Americana Updike.
I hate John Updike. Also Philip Roth, also anyone who could be called their peers. For why I hate Updike, see David Foster Wallace's review from the NY Observer, which contempt and broad strokes (hee) DFW meant for just that last book, I think, but which sums up why I hate almost all of his work (occasionally there's a short story that makes me do a huge double take. Someday I want to find out that those were all actually written by his assistant, a la Barton Fink.)
Loved this book. It was like living John Updike's life with him for twenty years. Even though it's supposed to be fiction, so many of the stories are obviously autobiographical. I like his sense of humor and just his style. Some of these stories are really great, and they're all so short, it's a fun read.
I love love love John Updike; the Rabbit series is probably in my top five books. But there are about 200 short stories in here, and after 80 or so, I was so burned out on the same three themes (infidelity, aging, marriage) that I don't think I can read Updike again for five years. Best taken in small doses.
I heard Alec Baldwin read "Wife-Wooing" from this ollection on NPR's "Selected Shorts" and was moved to pick it up. A huge colelction, adn I picked through it. I would love to devote more time to it, because his short stories are wonderful.
I couldn't finish this book, although I tried and tried. Although Updike is a phenomenal writer, the stories just couldn't hold my focus. After almost a year, I reluctantly returned the book to our book exchange.
I loved A & P, which I read in a short fiction class in college, so I figured I should give some other stuff a try. Because it's a short story collection, I'll be reading this for the rest of my life.
great great stories. i have yet to read the rabbit novels, but i do love updike's short fiction. it's usually about things that are pretty simple, but it's written so well that you don't care.
So I'm kind of cheating. It is an anthology of John Updike stories, so I have not read all of them. But I have read at least half, and loved almost every story.
I've been known to find short stories unfulfilling, but these snippets of everyday life, bolstered by Updike's spot-on descriptions ring true.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| His son David Updike writes short stories too | 1 | 6 | Jul 21, 2009 06:48am |
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 kn...more
More about John Updike...
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