Wednesday, January 28, 2009

John Updike, I hardly knew ye

I think it's a shame that I first read John Updike while I was in high school. Waaaay too young. I've never read him since.

The novel in question was The Centaur. I hated - no, let me revise to the gentler sounding yet equivalent "loathed" - loathed his protagonist who forever seemed to be biting back belches. That's pretty much all I remember about the guy aside from a visceral dislike.

What were they thinking, giving us a John Updike novel? What was their goal? We couldn't have understood, no matter how fine the writing. And it has turned me off of John Updike for life, which is hardly fair.

I heard an interview today with John Updike - an old interview, obviously - and he was so wonderfully funny, dry and self-aware. I bet that's in his novels. Now that I'm 40, I think I'm going to try him again.

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