Robert Spencer for the New York Times
Though John Updike lived a decent and a generally expected number of years, it's still a great loss when a giant of literature passes. Usually, before calling someone a giant you let decades or a century pass by since their career or life ended. It seems premature to do so when they're still alive or active in their profession. However, John Updike produced some classic works, particularly the Rabbit books (I read all of them, easily drawn into the writing and LOL quite often), was quite prolific (many essays and short stories, poetry too), and was highly regarded in the world of literature. It was easy to recognize John Updike as a special writer.
I sound like I've closely followed his career, but that wouldn't be true. I'm not a short story, essay, or poetry reader, and I've only read the four Rabbit books (Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest) and In the Beauty of the Lilies. Actually, just checking Wikipedia, there was Rabbit is Remembered novella. Totally missed that. The Rabbit books were crazy, funny, lewd, but immensely readable. Not that they were cheap page turners, but well told stories that were comfortable to read. The Beauty of the Lilies was somewhat of an epic, a novel tracing four generations of a family. I thought it was quite good up until the end which obviously drew (too much I thought) from a certain true event.
I had bought other books of Updike's which for some reason I never read, The Coup and Villages. I might still read Villages since I think it's more contemporary.
A five page (online) New York Times obituary is here. I only got through the first page before wanting to post this. It says he died of cancer. His life was cut short.
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