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The Witches of Eastwick

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

“John Updike is the great genial sorcerer of American letters [and] The Witches of Eastwick [is one of his] most ambitious works. . . . [A] comedy of the blackest sort.”—The New York Times Book Review
Toward the end of the Vietnam era, in a snug little Rhode Island seacoast town, wonderful powers have descended upon Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie, bewitching divorcées with sudden access to all that is female, fecund, and mysterious. Alexandra, a sculptor, summons thunderstorms; Jane, a cellist, floats on the air; and Sukie, the local gossip columnist, turns milk into cream. Their happy little coven takes on new, malignant life when a dark and moneyed stranger, Darryl Van Horne, refurbishes the long-derelict Lenox mansion and invites them in to play. Thenceforth scandal flits through the darkening, crooked streets of Eastwick—and through the even darker fantasies of the town’s collective psyche.
“A great deal of fun to read . . . fresh, constantly entertaining . . . John Updike [is] a wizard of language and observation.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Vintage Updike, which is to say among the best fiction we have.”—Newsday

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Alexandra, Sukie, and Jane are real witches who cast spells, cause thunderstorms, transform objects, and are the twentieth-century embodiment of their seventeenth-century New England sisters. When the devilishly charismatic Darryl van Horne moves into Eastwick, the magical mischief and sexual high jinks move into high gear. Kate Reading's narration creates another era, allowing Updike's lush prose and keen sense of satire to sketch the background, which includes the Women's Movement, the Vietnam War, and the suburban hypocrisies of provincial Eastwick. In addition to solidly delivering their preternatural philosophizing, Reading's intelligent narration revels in the women's wicked antics yet manages to take the sting from their more diabolical practices. Listening to Updike's careful craftsmanship is pure pleasure for this listener, but if his writing and Eastwick's witches don't seduce you, Kate Reading's performance will. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

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  • English

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