John Updike's first collection of new short fiction since the year 2000, My Father's Tears finds the author in a valedictory mood as he mingles narratives of his native Pennsylvania with stories of New England suburbia and of foreign travel.

Morocco (Disc 1, Track 1)
Personal Archaeology (Disc 1, Track 31)
Free (Disc 1, Track 55)
The Walk with Elizanne (Disc 1, Track 80)
The Guardians (Disc 2, Track 28)
The Laughter of the Gods (Disc 2, Track 52)
Varieties of Religious Experience (Disc 2, Track 90
Spanish Prelude to a Second Marriage (Disc 3, Track 72)
Delicate Wives (Disc 4, Track 9)
The Accelerating Expansion of the Universe (Disc 4, Track 32)
German Lessons (Disc 4, Track 72)
The Road Home (Disc 5, Track 15)
My Father's Tears (Disc 5, Track 67)
Kinderszenen (Disc 6, Track 19)
The Apparition (Disc 6, Track 62)
Blue Light (Disc 6, Track 96)
Outage (Disc 7, Track 48)
The Full Glass (Disc 8, Track 19)

In sum, American experience from the Depression to the aftermath of 9/11 finds reflection in these glittering pieces of observation, remembrance, and imagination.

John Updike passed away just a few months before the release of a collection of essays about, and dedicated to, men and fathers. MY FATHER'S TEARS AND OTHER STORIES, seductively read by Luke Daniels, tempts the listener to experience the production in one fell swoop. But the audiobook is better appreciated at a slower pace, a sip now and then, like savoring a fine wine. Daniels treats the work with reverence, with performances that are staid and reserved when it suits the character, and burning with passion when appropriate. The stories are universal and unforgettable: an old man's recollection of a schoolboy crush, the exploration of suburban lust, and more than a dozen other stories show Updike at his most human. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

 

John Updike's novels have won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the American Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Rosenthal Award, and the Howells Medal. He died of lung cancer in 2009, at age 75.

My Father's Tears and Other Stories by John Updike
Continue Browsing		View Wish List