I like the easy way that John Updike writes, the sardonic way he notices the tiniest of things that are missed by so many of us. If you are a budding writer, or have any ambitions to become one, you could do far worse than to go to school on John Updike.

They say that to become a good writer you must first become a good reader, and this series of books about the life and loves and troubles of Rabbit Angstrom is as good a place to start as anywhere. My guess is that you will come out a better writer for reading books such as this, without even noticing it.

Somehow he makes the most ordinary things, the most mundane of chores, become interesting and riveting. One word of warning though, if you suffer from heart disease of any kind, or imagine that you might do, the increasingly detailed scenes regarding Rabbit's failing heart, autobiographical one wonders, and subsequent hospitalisation may test your resolve to the limit.

Other than that, read it, and soak up the craftsmanship of a man at the peak of his career. It made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion. Though this is the last in the series, many judges say that this is a good place to start as any. I am not going to argue with that, I thoroughly enjoyed it as the, sometimes sad, story of the latter part of Rabbit's life and times slowly unfolded.

 

Postscript:

 

Sadly the writer, Mister John Updike, has now departed this world - so Rabbit really is at rest! He will be missed that is for sure, but he leaves behind him an impressive body of work that will last as long as human beings are still reading.

 

Advice for Young Writers - John Updike

 

Here is the man himself in a brief video giving some advice for young writers. What a pleasant a guy he was, and much missed.

 

 

John Updike  - 1932 - 2009  R.I.P.

 

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