In the Beauty of the Lilies

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Summary: In the beauty of the lilies...
Review: ...Christ was born across the sea.... . So goes the Union's Civil War marching song. Analogous to Woody Allen's descent into the need for psychotherapy coreresponding to his lack of belief in anything but "quarks", a Calvinistic preacher loses his faith and the sins of the grandfather are visited upon a sequence of generations, albeit with enough sexual satisfaction and frustration along the way. In the Rabbit series there was a separate book for each phase of Rabbit Ångström's miserable life, but here the exciting genealogy of three generations is traced, ending in disaster. Updike's preoccupation with his Glied, expressed vividly enough in Brazil, continues here.

One wants to read cover to cover without pause, so well is the novel written.

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Rating:
Summary: In the Beauty of the Prose
Review: John Updike is more intelligent and can spin out beautiful prose like no other living author I know of. His retrospective look at 4 generations of an American family growing up with America in the topsy-turvy 20th Century, is wonderful reading. (I am biased in feeling that on his worst day Updike is worth 50 of any other American authors.) Updike's plot (as usual) is not the highlight, although the four generation structure does raise questions of nature, nuture, inheritance of tragic flaws and hidden strengths. The characters, both major and minor, never fail to engage the reader, and the offhand aphorisms and sharp (and frequently bittersweet) observations about life are not to be missed. Beware, at the outset there is a thick mass of detail about Presbyterian criticism, mush on, and later some detailed descriptions of the contents of drug stores, but hang in there. Updike usually has an experiment in mind, this time God is a character, who acts on the lives of the everyday folks in ways large and small. I say don't miss it because Mr. U. is truly a great author, and if you don't hurry up and read this one, he will publish another one soon, and you will fall farther behind

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Summary: A Book that's Better Than Therapy
Review: This book was my introduction to Updike's work, and I must say I was impressed. "In the Beauty of the Lilies", the title of which is taken from a verse in the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", is, at least superficially, an examination of the role of religion in American life. The plot spans the whole of the 20th century and chronicles the lives of four generations of the Wilmot family. The history of American film is woven into the novel and used an effective metaphor for the personal and societal upheavals that beset the characters. The reader can't help but pick up some interesting facts about the history of film, but I found that sometimes the author allowed historical details to detract from the flow of the story. It is difficult to explain the psychological subtleties of the novel without being a "spoiler". The scope of the book is not limited to organised religion per se. The book is really about the basic human need for some kind of faith or committment, be it religious or not. Updike seems to be talking about the intimate link between personal integrity and a belief in something, or someone outside of oneself. "In the Beauty of the Lilies" is a powerful allegory which helped to bring my own existential beliefs into sharper focus. Since Amazon does not welcome explicit discussion of authors themselves, I will not reveal Updikes' own metaphysical stance. (Those who are interested can do a literature search and find out for yourselves.) I was impressed, however, that the author did not allow his work to become mere propaganda for his own metaphysical beliefs. The subtlety and complexity of the book is one of its greatest strengths. The characters are well-developed and plot is engageing enought to interest even those who prefer to gloss over the philosophical aspects of the book. I welcome any email discussion from people who have already "In the Beauty of the Lilies".