My Father's Tears and Other Stories Book

John Updikeâ??s first collection of new short fiction since the year 2000, My Fatherâ??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.â??Personal Archaeologyâ? considers life as a sequence of half-buried layers, and â??The Full Glassâ? distills a lifetimeâ??s happiness into one brimming moment of an old manâ??s bedtime routine. High-school class reunions, in â??The Walk with Elizanneâ? and â??The Road Home,â? restore their hero to youthâ??s commonwealth where, as the narrator of the title story confides, â??the self I value is stored, however infrequently I check on its condition.â? Exotic locales encountered in the journeys of adulthood include Morocco, Florida, Spain, Italy, and India. The territory of childhood, with its fundamental, formative mysteries, is explored in â??The Guardians,â? â??The Laughter of the Gods,â? and â??Kinderszenen.â? Loveâ??s fumblings among the bourgeoisie yield the tart comedy of â??Free,â? â??Delicate Wives,â? â??The Apparition,â? and â??Outage.â?In sum, American experience from the Depression to the aftermath of 9/11 finds reflection in these glittering pieces of observation, remembrance, and imagination.Read More