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Bech At Bay
  
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Bech At Bay (Hardcover)


4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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4 used from CDN$ 37.62

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10 Reviews
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4.1 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars Quizzical Quiddities, Jun 17 2001
By "bibliomane01" (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bech at Bay: A Quasi-Novel (Hardcover)
"Bech at Bay" presents five comic stories about the novelist Henry Bech, starting out with a visit to Communist Czechoslovakia when he is 63 and ending in his acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Literature when he is 76 years old (with his infant daughter held struggling in his arms). Through these Bech stories, Updike takes a satirical look at the the Manhattan literary scene, pokes fun at the absurdities of the big city life and even takes a moment or two to ponder the Eternal Verities (but not too seriously). As his life enters its last phase, Bech finds himself in some interesting new situations: president of the The Forty, an intellectual society hopefully modelled on the French Academy but without its sense of self importance; as a caped avenger "ridding literary Gotham of villains" (read critics); as a septuagenarian father. Through all this absurdist comedy, the old Updike magic is constantly with us. Bravo!
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2.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Mixed Bag, Dec 29 2000
By Eric Krupin (Salt Lake City, UT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Bech at Bay (Paperback)
As a big fan of the first two Bech collections, I carefully rationed my reading of this one, limiting myself to one story per day. All was well until I reached "Bech Noir" in which our hero takes murderous (yet flippant) revenge on his literary enemies. This was so ludicrously out of character that I kept waiting for the authorial signal that it was just the protagonist's fantasy. Unfortunately, it never came. I don't know whether Updike was being contemptuous or just plain stupid. But not only did his trashing of my suspension-of-disbelief ruin this book for me, it cast a retrospective pall over the previous ones.

Ironically, a new first-rate Bech story appeared in The New Yorker some time later. Presumably, it will be included in the omnibus Bech edition being published in 2001. I only pray that Updike, who is known for his post-publication tinkering, will come to his senses and leave "Bech Noir" out.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Humor and Critic, Jul 11 2000
By Ms. A. De Paula "Ale" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Bech at Bay: A Quasi-Novel (Hardcover)
Henry Bech is the burlesk representative of the North American writers. Bech is a confused New Yorker writer. While the romance series with the character "rabbit" Armstrong pictures the obscure and simple suburban life, Updike brings us, now, in a comic approach, the adventures of a medium reputation writer that is always struggling with critics, friends and love affairs. Good, but if this is your first Updike book, go for Brazil.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars James Markus, you are a dolt
John Updike is NOT Nabokov's equal in any sense, let alone in the realm of the metaphysical novel, in which Nabokov is and will forever remain God. Read more
Published on Jul 30 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and entertaining collection of 5 stories.
Henry Bech, Updike's fictional writer, is back in five story length segments. Bech ages from mid-sixties to mid-seventies in the course of the book. Read more
Published on Dec 11 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Lively and entertaining. An excellent book
Bech at bay consists of five stories about the life of Henry Bech. He ages from mid-sixties to mid-seventies in the course of the book. Read more
Published on Dec 7 1998

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique feelings..
An absolute great read. Totally engrossing. And well worth the paper.
Published on Nov 20 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Bech At His Best
As usual Ms. Kakutani is wrong again. Bech at Bay dishes out the humor as well as the strange paradoxical karmatic fate that is Bech's doom and salvation.
Published on Oct 25 1998

4.0 out of 5 stars Intermittently terrific
Updike does seem a bit weary as Michiko Kakutani noted for The Times in this book...still, weary Updike is better than most other authors at their liveliest. Read more
Published on Oct 17 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
This is a collection of five more interelated stories in thelife of Jewish writer Henry Bech, while in his sixties and seventies.Bech remains a yo-yo. Read more
Published on Oct 16 1998

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