ThreeGuys1Book has 1737 followers | By Jason Chambers   I’ve often thought of attending my High School reunion, and after a few seconds thought again. I didn’t like anyone I went to High School with and twenty years isn’t going to change that. John Updike, was a brilliant stylist, subtle and unique in his ability to change tones from a marriage gone sour or a cheating husband during a freak storm to a High School reunion that is both sweet and tender.
Elizanne is a weird name, and it speaks to a time long before Jason and Jennifer became the names of the day. Updike does something very simple with Continue reading The Walk with Elizanne – John Updike, from My Father's Tears By Jason Chambers   It’s hard not to read this story and think of Rick Moody…and his novel The Ice Storm. Imitation if the purest form of flattery, I suppose. I’ve always liked Moody, he’s a polar ice cap, and sometimes it takes a while for the sun to reach him. Cheever gives us a first class ticket to suburban terror with The Sorrows of Gin, a top notch trip to a place that is so vivid and full of life that you’ll be sorry when it’s over.
The Lawtons and their daughter Amy are your run of the mill Cheever characters, Dad takes Continue reading The Sorrows of Gin – John Cheever By Jason Chambers   The hot Three Guys discussion of Revolutionary Road has me feeling that I’m encircled by two daemons. That’s not demons in the Christian sense but the daemons of my Greek ancestors.
The first daemon wears the mask of necessity: “What people do and what they say is all that we can have…all that we can know. But if we really pay attention, it’s more than enough.” It’s the voice of realism. The second daemon wears a smile. “I am optimistic and have reason to be.”..I feel like rereading Candide…it’s the best of all possible worlds. I can prove that’s not Continue reading The Karnak Cafe by Naguib Mahfouz By Jason Chambers   I’ve tried to read Updike’s novels, Couples and Villages, both wore me out. So far it’s been a positive experience reading My Father’s Tears, and I’m finding the vernacular very easy to step into, where as the two novels I just mentioned were hard cases to say the least.
Craig Martin finds himself looking around at his own piece of land, his home and how it got to be the way it is. Looking back on what has happened in the history of his property seems like a dull way to approach telling a story, Updike pulls me in, and you might find this Continue reading Personal Archaeology – from My Father's Tears by John Updike By Jason Chambers  
How do you get a man to cheat on his wife? You turn the power off. ‘Outage‘ from John Updike is another softly piercing story about husbands trapped in the suburbs. The journey a man takes through his day can often lead to many opportunities, some good, others not so good. Evan Morris is safely tucked away at home when a violent storm hits the small New England town he lives in. Without warning he gets up from his desk to see what there is to see. At times of great calamity people often walk out into the street just to see what’s Continue reading Outage – John Updike from My Father's Tears By Jason Chambers   Jonathan Evison: Recently, DH commented on my inclination to read books which, whether due to their style, approach, subject matter, or otherwise, dwell outside of my comfort zone as a writer and a human being. Revolutionary Road is such a book. Being doggedly optimistic (as I have every reason to be), I’m not a big fan of realism, which I find in many cases to be little more than plain old pessimism dressed up fashionably in black or gray flannel. That said, Revolutionary Road is one of the finest books I’ve ever read.
Yates writes with a precision that inspires and humbles. Continue reading Rev Road – JE's take By Jason Chambers   I nearly broke a leg getting to the computer to sit down and write this post. Having just seen Revolutionary Road, it’s very hard not to trip the light hysterical.
There is acting, and then there are performances that make careers, and sometimes you see people you’ve known your entire life. and they make something as simple as pretending to be someone else look like they actually are someone else. DiCaprio and Winslet perform like there is no tomorrow, they’ve embodied Frank and April Wheeler from the Yates novel to complete perfection, beyond perfection if that’s possible. I think Sam Mendes threatened them with Continue reading Revolutionary Road, Directed by Sam Mendes By Jason Chambers JC: I know that DH is a big fan of the work of Orhan Pamuk, having pimped him for years for a well-earned Nobel Prize for Literature. On Monday, the Washington Post had a great article by Pamuk’s translator Maureen Freely, a novelist in her own right, about her translation methods and her friendship with Pamuk. Included is this observation: A novel can be a thing of such power that even judges will read it. But once that novel has been embraced in translation, judges lack the power to stamp it out. There’s a lot more, so click the link above and check it out. Here also is a nice podcast of an interview with Freely. Audio only.jc Continue reading Maureen Freely and Orhan Pamuk By Jason Chambers   As I slowly move my way around Shady Hill, I’m finding that the people in these stories seem to be very lonely. They’ve gotten what they think they wanted, and suddenly it’s all a “careful what you wish for” reality. ‘The Trouble Of Marcie Flint’ is a story about Marcie Flint and how she drives her husband out of the house they live in. In his absence, Marcie creates a lie for her neighbors benefit (strange to have to do that, I don’t even know my neighbors’ first names, one neighbor who sleeps seventy-five feet from where I do, didn’t speak to
Continue reading The Trouble Of Marcie Flint- John Cheever | |
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