# John Updike Dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259 "2009-01-27T18:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/1 "2009-01-27T18:35:58Z")
Breaking news on [MSNBC.com](http://MSNBC.com) right now. He was 76. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/2 "2009-01-27T18:37:12Z")
I read _Rabbit, Run_ in high school. I wish he’d been around to see the TV version of _Witches of Eastwick_. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/3 "2009-01-27T18:44:57Z")
I thought he was dead a long time ago. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/4 "2009-01-27T18:46:46Z")
I always liked _A & P_. Although it was written before I was born, the setting seemed familiar to me from my childhood. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/5 "2009-01-27T18:50:39Z")
I read the entire _Rabbit_ series. Interesting, but a little ‘ick factor’ in one of the later ones where he gets drunk and boffs his daughter in law. I don’t think Rabbit ever recovered from that. I’ve read nothing by Updike other than the Rabbit stuff. Take that however you wish. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/6 "2009-01-27T19:03:52Z")
I have never liked his stuff - and I read a lot of it, and read a bunch of stuff about his stuff - but boy do I respect his contribution to…what? “American Lit” or whatever you would want to call it. Thank, John. PS: And if anyone is a big Updike fan, I would recommend **U & I by Nicholson Baker** , the guy who wrote Vox and The Fermata - U&I is about his obession with Updike (“U”)… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/7 "2009-01-27T20:30:25Z")
I’ve read a bit – **Rabbit, Run** and **Of the Farm**. Not a favorite of mine, but certainly a great writer. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/8 "2009-01-27T20:41:43Z")
Only Updike novel I ever read was _The Centaur,_ which I enjoyed but found rather perplexing. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/9 "2009-01-27T20:45:18Z")
One thing I found that helps, like with Updike is that I liked his stuff OK when I listend to a book on tape, but when I tried to read it myself, I didn’t go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/10 "2009-01-27T22:03:20Z")
Sad to hear, and a bit surprising – he always seemed a healthy guy. Also sad that despite his undoubted talent, I’ve only ever found one book of his that I could enjoy. _Gertrude and Claudius_ was an amazing read. I’ve also read the Rabbit books, _Terrorist_, _Roger’s Version_, and _In the Beauty of the Lilies_, and I can’t recall why I kept giving him chances. There wasn’t a likeable character anywhere in Rabbit or _Roger’s Version_, and _Terrorist_ was first so utterly predicatable and heavy-handed that it made the end even more ludicrous than it would have been anyway. So thank you, John, for “A&P”! Rest in Peace. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/11 "2009-01-28T00:18:08Z")
Rabbit is…dead ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/12 "2009-01-28T00:21:52Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > I thought he was dead a long time ago. Yeah, me too. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/13 "2009-01-28T00:24:28Z")
My regards to his family and fans. I’m neither, but I hope his passing was peaceful. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/14 "2009-01-28T00:25:51Z")
_Rabbit, Run_ is the only one of his that I’ve read thus far. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/15 "2009-01-28T03:21:19Z")
I’ve read the all of the Rabbit series except for the final “novella,” _Remembering Rabbit_, and enjoyed it. A friend of mine who has read other stuff of his tells me that while he liked the Rabbit series too, he could never get into any of his other stuff and thought _A Month of Sundays_ just plain bad. But RIP, John. And Rabbit. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/16 "2009-01-28T03:27:56Z")
I was in the kitchen cooking supper when I heard the news from the television in the other room. At first, I thought they said John _ **Irving** _ had died, and I said, “No SHIT?! Ahh, man, that’s terrible.” When I later found out it was John _ **Updike** _ who’d gotten his ticket punched, all I could muster was, “Really? Ehh…” ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-updike-dead/483259/17 "2009-01-28T04:06:19Z")
Krusty: What’s your name again? Man: John Updike. Krusty: Whoa, whoa! I didn’t ask for your life story!