About this title: The air of Eastwick breeds witches - women whose longings can stir up thunderstorms and fracture domestic peace. Jane, Alexandra and Sukie, divorced and dangerous, have formed a coven. Into the void of Eastwick breezes Darryl Van Home, a charismatic magus of a man who entrances the trio.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Fawcett Books
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780449206478ISBN:0449206475
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Very light edge and corner wear. No marks. Tight binding. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books, New York
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780449206478ISBN:0449206475
Description: Good. 343 pp; spine creasing, edge wear; "A great deal of fun to read...Fresh, consantly entertaining....John Updike remains a wizard of language and observation. "THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERIn a small New England town in the late 1960s, there lived three witches. Alexandra Spofford, a sculptress, Jane Smart, a cellist, and Sukie Rougemont, the local gossip columnist. Their supernatural gifts were intriguing, to say the least. Divorced but hardly celibate, content but always ripe for adventure, ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Fawcett
Date Published: July 1985
ISBN-13:9780449206478ISBN:0449206475
Description: Used-Very Good. Literature & Fiction: Authors, A-Z: ( U ): Updike, John. Excellent condition for age, tanned pages, with minor binding creasing, bright, clean cover with very little edge wear, clean inside with tight binding. read more
Binding: Mass market pb
Publisher: Ballantine Books (A Division of Random House, Inc. ), New York
Date Published: 07/1985
ISBN-13:9780449206478ISBN:0449206475
Description: Very Good. No dust jacket, as issued. Unknown printing. 343 p.; A Fawcett Crest Book/ Fawcett Crest Fiction It's the marvelous story of three ambitious witches living in a small New England town in the late 1960s, who find themselves quite under the spell of the new man in town, Darryl Van Horne, whose hot tub is the scene of some rather bewitching delights. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780449206478ISBN:0449206475
Description: Grade: C. Catalog: Fiction General Synopsis: 343 pages. In a small New England town in the late 1960s, there lived three witches. Alexandra Spofford, a sculptress, could create thunderstorms. J... read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Fawcett Columbine, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780449206478ISBN:0449206475
Description: Very Good. Light rubbing cover and spine edges. In a small New England town in the late 1960s, there lived three witches. Alexandra Spofford, a sculptress, could create thunderstorms. Jane Smart, .. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Fawcett Books
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780449206478ISBN:0449206475
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice Clean Copy. Binding is tight. Text is clean and unmarked. Spine is slightly cupped and contains some creasing and wear. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
"I found this book to be very OK. Last spring I decided to read some Updike when I heard he passed away. I found that book (Couples) to be fairly interesting. Enough so that I figured I would read some more of him. And after completing this book I am still left with a lukewarm feeling. I imagine at some point I will revisit Updike, but I feel neither drawn to nor repelled by him.
The story itself was mostly entertaining. I enjoyed all the main characters, although I couldn't for the life of me see what people would want in DVH. But I suppose that is not very important.
I am always intrigued by books where the protagonists are of a different gender than the author. In this case I don't think Updike did a horrible job with his female characters, but I never forgot that the author was male. Although I am a male, I think I have found more enjoyment with female authors portraying men (Jhumpa Lahiri and Jane Smiley come to mind) than I have with male authors portraying women. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding quality examples of the latter?
Still, it is worth reading if you enjoy semi-showy prose, New England in the 1960s, and an odd mix of realism and magic."
"High Hopes will almost always set a reader up for a fall. The excitement of chosing a book, THIS book, to begin my month... Witches and spells to celebrate the Halloween spirit of October. (sigh)
Having never seen the film, or read any Updike novels before, I really did not know what to expect. I only knew that I expected great things. And sadly, this novel did not deliver many great things at all. (sigh)
A little over two weeks spent trying to get into a novel that is only 306 pages long. That's an average of about 150 pages week. That's an average of 21 pages a day. That's an awful average. Wanna know what's even worse than that average? The fact that whole days went by without me even WANTING to pick this book up again when I first started it.
The characters were not really likable. I could not find anyone that I felt connected to, or at least even slightly cared about. Updike has this uncanny way of making them all ugly, even if they are supposedly attractive. Pointing out every flaw - though he went much easier on the woman. The poor men characters in this book never stood a chance. All are balding, bad breathed, hairy knuckled, sweating things. Gross!
His idea of what women want, what women talk about, and how women act around each other was completely off-base. And coarse. And he likened things about a womans body and attitude to things that didn't even make sense. To things that made me cringe and grimace. It was quite painful at times.
Imagine taking one of those eye-clops toys they sell for the kids now, that are like a microscope, and can project images onto the television screen. Updike uses the same format... placing all the knicks and warts and liver spots and hallitosis out there for the whole world to read.
At about the 2/3rds mark, I found myself finally engaged in the novel and reading through the pages much quicker, trying to find out just where Updike was going to leave these three witches and their wacky zany neighbor. 100 pages devoured yesterday. Amazing!
Will I be reading any other novels by Updike, after this slightly disappointing introduction to his work? Sadly, I may just pass. Am I happy to have read it? Eh. Jury is out on that one, at this time. Would I recommend it to someone? Well, I did give it 3 stars, after all. So, I suppose if someone told me they were looking for a book that involved horribly flawed witches and wasn't so much focused on the witchyness of those witches, then, ok, I could recommend this to them. But I would have to be certain that they weren't looking for anything great. Because then I would setting them up for a fall."
"I wish I had not seen the movie first on this one... it was completely different from the book's plot. I don't think I would have been disappointed if I had read the book first. It was very vivid, with strange details and some interesting plot twists near the end. I loved the kooky portrayals of the Eastwick villagers and the witches wreak some interesting havoc.... they are neither good nor bad witches, but a little of both. There was a lot of 80s feminist undertone, in my view. I can't say that I loved the characters, but I thought they seemed realistic in that they were honest - neither villains nor heroines. Although their little voodoo doll trick towards the end is a bit mean, the witches acted out of spite and betrayal and therefore one can understand their actions even when one cannot condone them. I found the tale amusing to say the least but I wouldn't add it to my favorites. Especially since the ending comes out of left field. I hate that, its like the "it was all a dream" cop out in the film industry."
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