The Widows of Eastwick

Updike, John

ISBN 10: 0739370790 ISBN 13: 9780739370797

Publisher: Random House, 2008

Synopsis

When the three witches - now old, remarried and widowed - decide to go back to Eastwick to spend a summer together, many things have changed. Darryl Van Horne is gone. Their husbands and lovers have gone. The lithe and supple bodies with which they wrecked marriages and wreaked havoc many years before have gone - and have been replaced with the quiet aches and encumbrances of age. But a chemistry still crackles between the three and magic still lingers in the Eastwick air, and soon it becomes clear that there are those around them who remember them, and wish them ill. The Widows of Eastwick takes the mischief and enchantment of The Witches of Eastwick and reshapes it in a new emotional landscape, resulting in a sensitive study of the passing of youth and a darkly funny novel that shines with luminous sexual reminiscences and satirical observations about modern America.

About this title

Product Description:

More than three decades after the events of The Witches of Eastwick, Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie, all now widowed, return to the Rhode Island seaside town of Eastwick for the summer after many years away and find themselves dealing with the lingering legacy of their evil deeds, the shocks of a mysterious counterspell, and the inroads of aging. Simultaneous.

Review:

"John Updike is the great genial sorcerer of American letters. His output alone . . . has been supernatural. More wizardly still is the ingenuity of his prose . . . This isn't writing. It is magic . . . Updike's asperities on age reflect back on himself, but not in the way we might expect. At 76, he still wrings more from a sentence than almost anyone else. His sorcery is startlingly fresh, page upon page . . . [Updike's subject is] nothing less than 'the whole mass of middling, hidden, troubled America.' No writer of our time has reached into it so deeply or conjured so many of its mysteries so pulsingly to life."
-Sam Tanenhaus, "The New York Times Book Review"
"If wit is a form of witchcraft, igniting sparks from airy nothingness, concocting a peppery brew of words, then John Updike's powers are undiminished . . . In wickedly glinting sentences, Updike explores the distinctly unmagical humiliations of advancing age, and the prickly temptations of sin."
-"O, the Oprah Magazine
"
""The Widows of Eastwick" might just be his best novel since 1990's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Rabbit at Rest,""
-John Mark Eberhart, "Kansas City Star
"
"There's no one quite like John Updike for a trip to New England. History, theology, period-detailed houses and frequent sex whiz by in a blur of inimitable writing . . . Thank whatever deity you happen to worship . . . because Updike has now written "The Widows of Eastwick," a frolicsome new book about the trio [of witches of Eastwick]. As with New England autumns, we witness a maturing of these women's natures-a last, hot-red, end-of-season change as rendered by this literary sorcerer."
-Celia McGee," Town & Country
""Vibrantcharacters, careful detailing, and a sense of anticipation of impending dire events leave this an absorbing read, enjoyable to its fullest even by readers unfamiliar with its predecessor."
-"Booklist
""[I]ts seamless blending of dexterously plotted narrative with penetrating characterizations . . . evoke with nearly Tolstoyan poignancy the weary, resigned clairvoyance of old age . . ."
-"Kirkus Reviews
"
"Updike hasn't only written a stunner. This serious literary novelist has also used romance fiction to supply important insights into what narrative art of any kind consists of: tons of hard work and a devotion to detail. The luminosity of "Widows" confirms the wisdom of his advice."
-Peter Wolfe," St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"
""The Widows of Eastwick "is by turns funny, philosophical, suspenseful, and sad. At 76, Updike remains America's greatest writer, invoking his distinctive brand of magical realism in an elegantly written, occasionally crabby, often moving meditation on original sin, aging, and atonement . . . Updike provides in "Widows" a penetrating and poignant portrait of the domestic lives of women, married and single, so many of whom feel disempowered or warped."
-Glenn Altschuler," Jerusalem Post"

"Ingenious . . . This isn't writing. It is magic."--New York Times Book Review
"With its fiery energy and wicked humor, The Widows of Eastwick is a truly enjoyable book to read [and] might just be [John Updike's] best novel since 1990's Pulitzer Prize--winning Rabbit at Rest."--Kansas City Star

"Dazzling Updikean prose . . . Here's a bet his work will keep fresh for generations, inciting laughter, wonder and sensuous shivers."--Los Angeles Times
"An amusing romp . . . made unexpectedly moving by the author's profundity and his renowned dexterity with language . . . [Updike is a] master of making us want to guffaw and weep in the same sentence."--Houston Chronicle

"Elegant prose and unfailing wit . . . There is moral courage in these pages. And kindness too."--Washington Times


-Ingenious . . . This isn't writing. It is magic.---New York Times Book Review
-With its fiery energy and wicked humor, The Widows of Eastwick is a truly enjoyable book to read [and] might just be [John Updike's] best novel since 1990's Pulitzer Prize--winning Rabbit at Rest.---Kansas City Star

-Dazzling Updikean prose . . . Here's a bet his work will keep fresh for generations, inciting laughter, wonder and sensuous shivers.---Los Angeles Times
-An amusing romp . . . made unexpectedly moving by the author's profundity and his renowned dexterity with language . . . [Updike is a] master of making us want to guffaw and weep in the same sentence.---Houston Chronicle

-Elegant prose and unfailing wit . . . There is moral courage in these pages. And kindness too.---Washington Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0739370790
• ISBN 13: 9780739370797
• Binding: Audio CD