timgreenard's review
fast-paced
4.0
These collected short stories follow a typically Updike semi-autobiographical character, here focusing on a writer.
I enjoy Updike's style, and the episodic format suits his writing.
I enjoy Updike's style, and the episodic format suits his writing.
jayrothermel's review against another edition
5.0
Hilarious fun with a series of linked stories about that great midcentury cliche: the U.S. Jewish novelist. Updike is very nimble here: real joke is that Jewishness has little to do with the sorrows of Bech the artist, an insular and self-suffocating moper.
charliemudd's review
5.0
I have read most of Updike's novels, and this is one of his best. Autobiographical in the sense that the main character is a writer from New England that objectifies women and is confused about how to live his life right. However, Bech is Jewish and seems to be what you'd get if you mashed up Updike and Bellow or Updike and Roth. The book is written in entries that feel like short stories but is in fact a novel with chronological chapters all centered around Bech. I hadn't read any classic Updike fiction in awhile, mainly reading his memoirs and most recent novels, and this was a much needed treat to remind me why I loved Updike in the first place.
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