#18 Rabbit at Rest
EW grade: B+
Excerpt from EW review: “In the age of families: the '50s. The age of psycho-political voyages and discoveries: the '60s. The age of oodles: The Reagan '80s. The waning age: right now. These are the defining moments of John Updike's Rabbit tetralogy, and with each volume the author has seemed more determined to hold a mirror up to the age at hand. That determination is responsible for the brio with which he evokes middle-class manners in Rabbit at Rest, the newest and last of the books. It's also responsible for a diminution of moral and psychological intensity — increasing relish for the look and sound of things, declining interest in the causes and meanings”
Egotistical with low levels of guilt and empathy…just a few ways to describe Rabbit..even at the end of his life. But somehow…somehow, he is still likable. There is real depth in this story and I was sad to see it end.
Liked it….
#19 On Beauty
EW grade: A-
Excerpt from EW review: “There isn't a subject that Zadie Smith won't touch in On Beauty, her splendid and bighearted new novel: race in America; the perils of intellectualism; the culture wars; growing old; the gut-busting absurdity of glee clubs. Smith uses the plot of E.M. Forster's odd, radiant 1910 Howards End as the scaffolding for her own equally strange and sinuous tale of contemporary people trying to live good lives when everyone has a different idea of what that means. As with her messy, ambitious White Teeth, she tries to capture all the stuff of life between two covers, a virtually impossible task. But she makes such an admirable attempt you forgive her the occasional loose end.”
I really enjoyed this book...incredibly smart and funny, I lived in that house with these characters. Yet another story about a man unable to control his libido and the women he hurts, I agree with the reviewer…I wished the novel was longer.
Loved it!!!
