Reviews for Villages

The average rating for Villages based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-07-26 00:00:00 Rebecca Brookes My second Updike. And a little less run for this one. The quality of writing, the fine line to identify these characters is always the same. No doubt the subject, banal, impressed me less. The treatment of reexploring one's life to an older man with all his experiences is rather interesting. The rather oriented angle of sexuality did not bother me too much, being not an extreme Puritan. It is instead the heart of the novel, where this choice of narration turns a little voyeuristic catalogue, which annoyed me a little. Perhaps also I would have preferred more development on the context of each era crossed and less narcissism on the questionings of the character. But the two ends of the novel are somewhat very successful and save without worry the whole. Updike remains an American pen to discover by those who do not know him yet.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-06-21 00:00:00 Bush Kim On the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) anytime a movie is totally preposterous, some wag on the forums starts a "100 things I learned from _____" thread. I'm a little reluctant to do so with "Villages", because it's possible, given the author's fame, that I totally missed the point of the book. (I didn't learn how to evaluate literature in high school, and failed the only literature class I took in college.) On the other hand, probably all the good things about this novel have already been written, so here goes: 100 Things I Learned from "Villages" (Warning! Spoilers!) 100. Women who talk a lot like to have sex a lot. (Who knew?) Conversely, women who major in math at MIT don't like sex much because they are always thinking about numbers. 99. If you're a middle-aged computer nerd, you can have sex with every married woman in the village. Conveniently, each will be more sexually adventurous than the last, although you will not be able to arrange a three-some. 98. The fact that most married women are interested in having affairs can be explained by evolution. 97. A middle-aged computer nerd can turn his office into a sex-den, and nobody will notice except the willing women. 96. The smartest woman at MIT won't mind that her husband has scores of affairs, because she'll blame herself (see #100). 95. A man who revels in his adultrous life will most likely end up marrying and being faithful to the minister's ex-wife (hint: she talks a lot). 94. In bitter divorces, most likely you'll be OK and your soon-to-be ex will conveniently die in a car accident. 93. If you ruin your marriage with adultrous affairs, your kids will be upset, but the only consequence for you is they will wreck your Stingray girl-magnet. Even knowing this, you'll be unable to resist their requests for the keys, due to your deep sense of guilt. 92. Whoever said, "The unexamined life is not worth living" had not read "Villages".