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A review by yangyvonne
Old Girlfriends: Stories by David Updike
2.0
This is a collection of short stories that all (somewhat) revolve around relationships. Some of the stories are intertwined and involve certain of the same characters. There is a story about a father and his young son who are confronted with racism. Another about a professor who falls for one of his students. Each story is full of emotion and pain-staking detail, yet never goes on too long.
I was not a huge fan of this collection. I'm not big on the short story format to begin with and these odd tales just seemed so random - until the end when you start to see that some are tied to each other, but without consequence or explanation. David (the author) is the son of famous author John Updike, which has to be quite intimidating given his father's success and daunting number of awards. Sure, David went to Harvard and then got a Master's from Columbia, but this book falls short of what you would expect from someone with such a genetic and educational advantage! Plus, he published this in his 50's, not in his 20's. Sadly, David won't match his father's abilities and should just keep teaching English - at Roxbury Community College(?)
I was not a huge fan of this collection. I'm not big on the short story format to begin with and these odd tales just seemed so random - until the end when you start to see that some are tied to each other, but without consequence or explanation. David (the author) is the son of famous author John Updike, which has to be quite intimidating given his father's success and daunting number of awards. Sure, David went to Harvard and then got a Master's from Columbia, but this book falls short of what you would expect from someone with such a genetic and educational advantage! Plus, he published this in his 50's, not in his 20's. Sadly, David won't match his father's abilities and should just keep teaching English - at Roxbury Community College(?)