Product Description

"Some of the most beautiful writing in contemporary American literature is between the covers of this book . . ." BOSTON HERALD

The triumphant collection of short stories by America's most acclaimed novelist.


From the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #221663 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08-27
• Released on: 1996-08-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
"A Brilliant Performance."

-- The Boston Globe

"Electricity lights his prose like a Christmas tree....So full of fire and ice that it almost breaks through to some 'fourth dimension' in writing."

-- San Francisco Chronicle

"Updike is not merely talented; he is bold, resourceful and intensely serious....We hear talk now and then of a breakthrough in fiction, the achievement of a new attitude and hence a new method; something like that seems close at hand in Pigeon Feathers."

-- Saturday Review

"Some of the most beautiful writing in contemporary American literature is between the covers of this book."

-- Boston Herald

"A sustained pleasure... A world seen and described and interpreted by a subtle, poetic, intellectual, wondering consciousness...These are wonderfully written pieces."

-- Library Journal -- Review

Review
"A Brilliant Performance."

-- The Boston Globe

"Electricity lights his prose like a Christmas tree....So full of fire and ice that it almost breaks through to some 'fourth dimension' in writing."

-- San Francisco Chronicle

"Updike is not merely talented; he is bold, resourceful and intensely serious....We hear talk now and then of a breakthrough in fiction, the achievement of a new attitude and hence a new method; something like that seems close at hand in Pigeon Feathers."

-- Saturday Review

"Some of the most beautiful writing in contemporary American literature is between the covers of this book."

-- Boston Herald

"A sustained pleasure... A world seen and described and interpreted by a subtle, poetic, intellectual, wondering consciousness...These are wonderfully written pieces."

-- Library Journal

From the Inside Flap
"Some of the most beautiful writing in contemporary American literature is between the covers of this book . . ." BOSTON HERALD

The triumphant collection of short stories by America's most acclaimed novelist.


From the Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews

Is there a better book of stories anywhere?
If there is, you have my attention. Maybe Isaac Babel's Collected Stories or Fitzgerald's Selected Stories. I've been writing for 27 years; I may have written three sentences that compare with the average in an Updike story. In "Flight" he captures in several sentences more about family than I've discovered through an entire life. Sorry for being self-referential; it's a measure of my awe. Updike's magic is that he can tell a story in a single sentence. If you only know Updike through his novels, you're in for a treat. By my lights, this is the greatest living story writer and this is the book that made that clear.

Ecstatic prose; magic from the end of a pen.
These stories are sublime. Read "Flight" and try not to grunt with pleasure! And let Archangel take you on a trip through the magic of words. Updike is at his best here. "Pigeon Feathers," the story for which the book is named, will astound you. Each story is a gem. If you want to read fiction that is beyond the assembly-line garbage...far, far beyond...read this book. See for yourself that America is still producing world-class literature. If you are a writer of short stories, make this your Bible.

Top of his craft
I'm a budding short story writer, myself; and no course, no workshop, no amount of instruction can subsitute for the lessons one learns leafing through and ingesting these exquisite paragraphs of John Updike. I find myself, in this volume, more than other Updike works, reading and re-reading the prose, even emailing sections to friends. Like a fine restaurant I want to tell people about, like a band that plays exceptionally well live which you get to catch on a great night, Updike, here, is "on"; he is at the absolute peak of his craft. I only wish there were more collections of short stories written as well as these.