(no subject)

[decemberthirty]

I have finally finished Trust Me. All in all, I found it less compelling than the novels of Updike's that I've read. Still, there was a power in the way the stories piled up, one after another after another. A big snowdrift of stories, of characters, of lives. In a way, reading Updike is almost an absolving experience. Whatever mistakes you have made in your life and your relationships--whether you've ended up with the wrong person or can't be satisfied with the right person, whether you regret your infidelities or regret missed opportunities for infidelity, whether you've fallen in love with someone off limits or fallen out of love with your spouse, whether you ended it too early or let it drag on far too long--you can find yourself reflected in Updike. The stories read like a parade of human fallibility, and the cumulative effect is one of great tenderness toward all these poor, fucked up people who keep on making the same mistakes you do.