The Witches of Eastwick
by John Updike

I picked up The Witches of Eastwick because I was lucky enough to receive an Early Reviewer copy of The Widows of Eastwick, and I always enjoy a sequel so much more if I am familiar with the original story in the series.

I’m probably going to be in the minority on this, but I did not enjoy this book. I found it a definite struggle to get through, and it took me so much longer than it normally does to read a book of this length. The story itself is good – it follows the lives of three divorcées in a small town through three different chapters in their lives and their relationship with each other. Considering that I’ve seen the movie and loved it, I knew going in that the story would be good, and that’s likely the contributing factor that kept me fighting my way through this novel. Because while the story was good, it also could have been told in about 100 pages as opposed to the 307 that the book actually takes. The extra 200 pages are spent inside the wildly rambling minds of the various characters, and none (or very little) of this actually adds to the story in any way. Once I realized this, I could thankfully skip whole pages of these pointless ramblings in order to get through the book. That said, the characters are all well developed, and if it weren’t for the pages and pages of rambling thoughts, I probably would have enjoyed getting to know each of them. Here’s hoping the sequel is a more enjoyable read.

The Widows of Eastwick
by John Updike

While I’m still not a big fan of John Updike’s writing, I definitely enjoyed The Widows of Eastwick much more than I did The Witches of Eastwick. I’m glad I took the time to get through Witches though, because I do think it made a huge difference in how much I enjoyed Widows.

The Widows of Eastwick picks up 30 years after Witches left off, with Jane, Alexandra and Sukie each having lost their second husbands, and attempting to make new lives for themselves on their own. After leaving Eastwick and going their separate ways, the ladies have lost touch over the years, but they reconnect when – in an attempt to add some adventure to their solitary lives, they decide to travel together.

I found the book very slow to get going, as it starts off following just Alexandra, the eldest of the three witches who embarks on a journey to the Canadian Rockies. With really only one character in this portion of the story, we spend most of the time inside Alexandra’s head, and the long-winded rambling thoughts are what I don’t enjoy about Updike’s stories. Once Jane, the ‘bitter pill’ of the trio joins Alexandra for an excursion to Egypt, the story begins to pick up pace. But it’s not until they are finally joined by Sukie, their younger and more optimistic sister witch, that The Widows of Eastwick really becomes interesting. After a fun filled adventure in China, the three women eventually return to their old home of Eastwick for a summer, in order to get back to their roots and potentially try and right old wrongs. This is where the bulk of the story takes place, and many things that happened in the first book are addressed, which I’m sure increased my enjoyment of the second novel.

While I don’t care for his wordy writing style, John Updike creates extremely layered characters, and with less time spent on the rambling musings of the various individuals, I found Widows mostly engaging and thought provoking. We are offered a peek into what seems to be a realistic portrayal of coming to terms with aging and the possibility of your own demise, as well as a frank opinion on family relationships. Not to say I still didn’t find myself skimming some portions of this book, but the conclusion to these three widows stories was definitely a more enjoyable and engaging venture than I expected.

*This book was provided for review by Random House Canada via Library Thing.