Product Description

Eight essays on the ultimate temptations of humankind include Thomas Pynchon on Sloth, John Updike on Lust, Gore Vidal on Pride, A. S. Byatt on Envy, and Joyce Carol Oates on Despair. Reprint. LJ.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #912775 in Books
• Published on: 1996-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 125 pages

Customer Reviews

Pynchon, Gordon, Updile, Vidal, Trevor, Howard, Byatt, Oates
Eight essays on Sloth, Anger, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Avarice, Envy, and Despair (yes that's 8 sins). To be honest I bought it because of Pynchon, (whose essay -if you are even a slight fan- makes the buy worth it) but read on to the back cover. I quickly discovered that these authors compiled around the topic of sins is a great way to see inside these writers styles and appraoch to a similar idea. Some I'd read before, and others introduced themselves in this novel. All were unique and interesting in their own right, especially for someone -me- who isn't terribly interested in sins. Highly reccomended!

Lightweight
This book is a collection of eight essays. The first seven are each written on the subject of one of the "deadly" sins of sloth, anger, lust, gluttony, pride, avarice and envy. The eight is on despair. Each of the famous authors ruminates on the sin, looking at it from his or her unique perspective.

Overall I found the essays well written, and the book to be easy to read. This book makes for some lightweight reading, short and simple, but without much substance. Overall, I don't recommend it.