![]() Reading a John Irving is like moving through a kaleidoscope of brightly coloured dreams. John Irving takes big themes (abortion, religion, suicide, class, the aftermath of wars) and explores them through extraordinary characters and almost lyrical language. John Irving and John Updike are very different novelists. There was a time in my life when my reading would consist of an Updike novel, followed by a John Irving novel 3, followed by an Updike novel, ad infinitum or, at least, for most people, ad nauseam. ![]() Having previously read, at various times, the first three Rabbit books, I suggested Rabbit at Rest, the fourth in the teratology and my colleagues agreed. One of our members, another John, suggested that we should read an Updike. John Updike died, earlier this year, just short of his 77 th birthday. ![]() John’s request to join any of the three was met with a succession of vetos on the ground that he was not a woman. My friend, John’s wife, Margaret, is a member of three book groups. ![]()
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