- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Hamish Hamilton (30 Oct 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0241144280
- ISBN-13: 978-0241144282
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,523,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Widows of Eastwick
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Review
'This isn't writing, it's magic. His sorcery is startlingly fresh, page upon page' New York Times Book Review 'Updike is the Master, and no fan of his will want to miss The Widows of Eastwick' Sunday Telegraph 'The facility with which Updike turns out those lovingly cadenced, alliterative sentences is an awe-inspiring spectacle' Guardian
--This text refers to an alternate
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Product Description
The sequel to The Witches of Eastwick
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
this long overdue sequel to John Updike's 'the witches of eastwick' has received not a few bad reviews... but on opening the pages, I felt like I was greeting a long lost trio of friends. Now widowed, Sukie, Lexa and Jane revisit Eastwick 30 years on, where they first gained their powers of witchcraft and met Darryl van Horne. There isn't as much magic, mystery or maleficia here as in the first novel - the witches are older, each struggling with the sense of being ageing women alone in what is still, at base, a man's world. John Updike writes with spirit of the process of growing old, stripping bare the prejudice and fear that surrounds it, of the breakdown of health, of regrets and the need to atone, of being estranged from ones family and of the feeling that the world has moved on and questioning ones place in it. And this is probably why this book has had so many negative reviews - in a society obsessed with the pursuit of eternal youth, Updike's paean to age and death is a lone voice crying in the wilderness. But for all that, he is still a master of his craft. The prose is sometimes stark, capturing the self doubt and the loneliness of the human condition, yet it is also forgiving, tender and poetic. The elderly crones of this adventure are more approachable than the freakish film of the first book - you can't imagine Cher coming back to play a forgetful, arthritic Alexandra! I devoured this book in a few hours and have both this and its precursor lined up ready to read again. Joue ici, joue la!
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Being a lifelong Updike fan, I tend to simply buy his latest title before reading any reviews of it, on the basis that even sub-prime Updike is a damned sight better than a lot of other authors best efforts. I'm not sure I'd extend that view to this novel.
I read 'The Witches of Eastwick' many times; I loved the life in it, the sparkle and vibrancy. 'The Widows of Eastwick' is dulled, the sparkle gone and the characters diminished.
In 'Witches', the witchery was understated; it was secondary to the joy inherent in the characters. In 'Widows', it's become formalised, with circles and symbols that were unnecessary in the first book. A lot of prose is spent explaining, scene-setting, describing what happened to the characters in the first novel - perhaps needed, if a reader was to pick this novel up without having read the first book. If you have read it though, this becomes irritating in the end. The dialogue is wooden too.
Although what I found to be the largest disappointment was the characters themselves. Updike uses many of the same phrases to describe them now as he did in the first novel, and instead of conveying continuety, it reads as laziness. The characters haven't moved on. They were wives, then witches, then wives again, now widows. They never seem to have mentally developed since we left them in the late Seventies. Shame. Yes, this is a sad disappointment and it saddens me to write this.
I read 'The Witches of Eastwick' many times; I loved the life in it, the sparkle and vibrancy. 'The Widows of Eastwick' is dulled, the sparkle gone and the characters diminished.
In 'Witches', the witchery was understated; it was secondary to the joy inherent in the characters. In 'Widows', it's become formalised, with circles and symbols that were unnecessary in the first book. A lot of prose is spent explaining, scene-setting, describing what happened to the characters in the first novel - perhaps needed, if a reader was to pick this novel up without having read the first book. If you have read it though, this becomes irritating in the end. The dialogue is wooden too.
Although what I found to be the largest disappointment was the characters themselves. Updike uses many of the same phrases to describe them now as he did in the first novel, and instead of conveying continuety, it reads as laziness. The characters haven't moved on. They were wives, then witches, then wives again, now widows. They never seem to have mentally developed since we left them in the late Seventies. Shame. Yes, this is a sad disappointment and it saddens me to write this.
Format:Paperback
Unless his publishers get him writing from the grave (as has happened to Robert Ludlum!) this will be the last novel we see from John Updike, one of the greatest writers of his generation - maybe the greatest. A sequel (obviously) to THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, it's a little bit disappointing, but only a little.
Alexandra, Jane and Sukie went their separate ways after their gothic encounter with Darryl Van Horne in Eastwick in the 1970s. Now, thirty-odd years later, all widowed from long second marriages, they rent an apartment together in what was the hot-tub room (scene of many a happy orgy!) in Darryl's mansion, now broken into smaller units. Eastwick is not happy to see them back and one figure from their previous sorcery returns to dispense some rough justice.
These are three wonderful characters, and it's a joy to be back in their company. Unfortunately, it takes Updike 100 pages to get them to Rhode Island (100 pages of mostly 'travelogue': Canada, Egypt, China) and another 100 before the witchcraft - the magic - resumes. The final 100 pages are almost as enjoyable as the first novel was, although the male protagonist is not as charismatic as Darryl (his charisma greatly amplified by Jack Nicholson's performance in the movie version!). There's more sex talk than sex action: two of these dear ladies are now in their 70s, but Sukie, the youngest, is still 'hot to trot'. Not many authors write sex as memorably and as whimsically as Updike.
It's not just Darryl's 'avenger' casting a shadow over our heroines' lives; there's a lot of talk about Death. Perhaps Updike sensed that the Grim Reaper was waiting to pounce on the author. He died in 2009, a year after WIDOWS was published.
A bit slow and short on storyline, The WIDOWS OF EASTWICK is beautifully written: a good book, if not quite a great one. VILLAGES (2004), Updike's third-from-last book, was his last masterpiece - the last of at least a dozen outstanding novels from a truly outstanding chronicler of the morals and mores of 20th-century Middle America.
The EASTWICK books are about witchcraft. You read them at the peril of your immortal soul, supping with the Devil! But to read John Updike is to dine at the high table of literature.
(Reviewer is the author of SHAIKHDOWN)
Alexandra, Jane and Sukie went their separate ways after their gothic encounter with Darryl Van Horne in Eastwick in the 1970s. Now, thirty-odd years later, all widowed from long second marriages, they rent an apartment together in what was the hot-tub room (scene of many a happy orgy!) in Darryl's mansion, now broken into smaller units. Eastwick is not happy to see them back and one figure from their previous sorcery returns to dispense some rough justice.
These are three wonderful characters, and it's a joy to be back in their company. Unfortunately, it takes Updike 100 pages to get them to Rhode Island (100 pages of mostly 'travelogue': Canada, Egypt, China) and another 100 before the witchcraft - the magic - resumes. The final 100 pages are almost as enjoyable as the first novel was, although the male protagonist is not as charismatic as Darryl (his charisma greatly amplified by Jack Nicholson's performance in the movie version!). There's more sex talk than sex action: two of these dear ladies are now in their 70s, but Sukie, the youngest, is still 'hot to trot'. Not many authors write sex as memorably and as whimsically as Updike.
It's not just Darryl's 'avenger' casting a shadow over our heroines' lives; there's a lot of talk about Death. Perhaps Updike sensed that the Grim Reaper was waiting to pounce on the author. He died in 2009, a year after WIDOWS was published.
A bit slow and short on storyline, The WIDOWS OF EASTWICK is beautifully written: a good book, if not quite a great one. VILLAGES (2004), Updike's third-from-last book, was his last masterpiece - the last of at least a dozen outstanding novels from a truly outstanding chronicler of the morals and mores of 20th-century Middle America.
The EASTWICK books are about witchcraft. You read them at the peril of your immortal soul, supping with the Devil! But to read John Updike is to dine at the high table of literature.
(Reviewer is the author of SHAIKHDOWN)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Old Devil returns
During the 1980's, Updike wrote three very odd novels about feminism. Witches of Eastwick was the first and most famous of these, Roger's Version followed and the little read S... Read more
Published 8 months ago by The Outsider
Do not read this if it is your First Updike Novel
This was my first Updike novel and I am sure it will go down as one of Updike's inferior novels. I had been recommended to read "The Witches of Eastwick" and picked "The Widows of... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Kiwifunlad
Average
Love the film, and was really looking forward to this but I was left feeling flat. Nothing really happened, lots of little interesting stories and seeing where the characters had... Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2009 by H. Blythe
What happened to Magic?
The Widows of Eastwick was, if I had to say so myself, disapointing to me. Indeed, it is "Spellbinding", as The Observer points out. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2009 by C. N. SILVA
Reabable but not enough magic
I picked this book up at the airport as I had just watched the excellent movie with Jack Nicholson amongst others. Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by Elizabeth Taylor
The final novel
How great was Updike? In terms of style he was usually highly accomplished - and on a par with Roth. In terms of substance it could vary. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by Hamsun
''Returning to their mess'' she mumbled
`Those of us acquainted with their sordid and scandalous story were not surprised to hear, by way of rumours from the various localities where the sorceresses had settled after... Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2009 by purpleheart
"People go around mourning the death of God; it's the death of sin...
(3.5 stars) Thirty years after Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie worked their black magic on their enemies in Eastwick, Rhode Island, earning the enmity of many of its citizens, they... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2008 by Mary Whipple
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