The Poorhouse Fair
by John Updike · first published 1958
2mentions
1recommended by
2HN commenters
2020–2026first – last mentioned
50% recommend50% neutral
"On the third Wednesday of every August the inhabitants of a mansion-turned-poorhouse in central New Jersey hold their annual fair; this novel describes a fair that occurs about twenty years from now [1958], when the United States itself is heading downhill ... While 'The Poorhouse Fair, ' insofar as it regrets the decline of patriotism, handcraft, and religion, carries a conservative message, its technique is unorthodox; without so much regard for fictional conventions, the author attempts to locate, in the ambiguous area between farce and melodrama, reality's own tone."
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John Updike. Better than average prose in all of his books, but his debut The Poorhouse Fair is outstanding. It may be too much for modern readers - not many explosions or super heroics - but even if you only get a chapter in, it shows what can be done with English. Moby Dick is unexpectedly…
on “To become a better writer, read as much as you can” ↗Florence King was briefer in the essay "Phallus in Wonderland": "Updike's style is an exquisite blend of Melville and Austen: reading him is like cutting through whale blubber with embroidery scissors." (Poorhouse Fair) Or "Having read detailed descriptions of approximately six bushels of pubic hair, nameless forces drove me to go seeking and questing through my kitchen drawer to gather up all the Twisties I've saved…
on “Eat butterflies with me?” ↗