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Villages
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
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Villages
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Publisher's Summary
Owen's education (Bildung) is not merely technical but liberal, as the humanity of his three villages, especially that of their female citizens, works to disengage him from his youthful innocence. As a child he early felt an abyss of calamity beneath the sunny surface quotidian, yet also had a dreamlike sense of leading a charmed existence. The women of his life, including his wives, Phyllis and Julia, shed what light they can. At one juncture he reflects, "How lovely she is, naked in the dark! How little men deserve the beauty and mercy of women!" His life as a sexual being merges with the communal shelter of villages: "A village is woven of secrets, of truths better left unstated, of houses with less window than opaque wall."
This delightful, witty, passionate novel runs from the Depression era to the early 21st century.
What the critics say
"Updike still writes lovely sentences and creates a believable portrait of the American village." (Publishers Weekly)
"As is usual for Updike, this novel is elegantly styled." (Booklist)