Melt-in-the-mouth stories., 10 Sep 2007
Cheever is one of the best American short story writers of the 20th century, along with Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway, Richard Yates and Carver. He is not just a "poet of the suburbs"; he is describing YOU, wherever you live, breathe and have your being. His work is easily available and should be read by anyone who professes to be at all interested in writing.

American fiction at its best..., 16 Feb 2007
John Cheever projects such a strong vision of a particular time and place in American history that i think it would be hard not to like these stories. They are, as individual stories, great achievements but as a collection these stories become something much more, they transport the reader into the heart of the post war American suburb, describing societies lonliest and most vunerable characters. Those for whom achieving their 'American Dream' is not an option but a necessity, it is their sheer belief that against all odds they will succeed, which keeps them going.

My personal favourites are those which describe Cheever's fictional 'Shady Hill' suburb, in particular, 'O Youth and Beauty' which tells the story of the once great sportsman Cash Bently who spends his weekends hurdling over the furniture in his neighbours houses, as a desperate attempt to win back some of his former glory.

This is a great collection, one which you will come back to time and again.

A Poet of the Suburbs, 27 Nov 2002
Ten years ago when I packed in my job in London and moved back to my mother's place, my first project was to read John Cheever's stories from start to finish. Nobody does what Cheever does - he is romantic, spiritual and funny all at once. He loved the Bible and the atmosphere of a provincial church on a Sunday morning, but he also loved sex, gin and cigarettes. The stories follow the order they were published, beginning with his early New York tales of little people "making it" - or more often not making it. The scene gradually shifts to the suburbs, in which businessmen flounder in debt and lust, although they are often saved by something as simple as a vision of light through the trees. In "The Pot of Gold", an early story, a husband waits years for the moment when he will get rich, realising after many disappointments that his riches - his pot of gold - is his marriage. From another writer such a plot might just be sentimental, but Cheever is very good at describing the degradation of poverty in a society as money-oriented as America's. Most of these stories were written for the New Yorker, and like his hero Scott Fitzgerald, Cheever quickly developed a magazine style that could handle the big themes but is never ponderous.
The stories mainly deal with ordinary men who live ordinary lives, but the solutions to their problems are often extraordinary and miraculous. My own favourite is "The Country Husband", in which Francis Weed survives a plane crash and falls in love with his babysitter on the same day. Anyone who is looking for Updike without the politics, Hemingway without the macho stuff and Fitzgerald without the glamour will love these stories. Since I first read them ten years ago in my mother's house, I have reread them countless times and they have never lost their power.

Melt-in-the-mouth stories., 10 Sep 2007
Cheever is one of the best American short story writers of the 20th century, along with Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway, Richard Yates and Carver. He is not just a "poet of the suburbs"; he is describing YOU, wherever you live, breathe and have your being. His work is easily available and should be read by anyone who professes to be at all interested in writing.

American fiction at its best..., 16 Feb 2007
John Cheever projects such a strong vision of a particular time and place in American history that i think it would be hard not to like these stories. They are, as individual stories, great achievements but as a collection these stories become something much more, they transport the reader into the heart of the post war American suburb, describing societies lonliest and most vunerable characters. Those for whom achieving their 'American Dream' is not an option but a necessity, it is their sheer belief that against all odds they will succeed, which keeps them going.

My personal favourites are those which describe Cheever's fictional 'Shady Hill' suburb, in particular, 'O Youth and Beauty' which tells the story of the once great sportsman Cash Bently who spends his weekends hurdling over the furniture in his neighbours houses, as a desperate attempt to win back some of his former glory.

This is a great collection, one which you will come back to time and again.

A Poet of the Suburbs, 27 Nov 2002
Ten years ago when I packed in my job in London and moved back to my mother's place, my first project was to read John Cheever's stories from start to finish. Nobody does what Cheever does - he is romantic, spiritual and funny all at once. He loved the Bible and the atmosphere of a provincial church on a Sunday morning, but he also loved sex, gin and cigarettes. The stories follow the order they were published, beginning with his early New York tales of little people "making it" - or more often not making it. The scene gradually shifts to the suburbs, in which businessmen flounder in debt and lust, although they are often saved by something as simple as a vision of light through the trees. In "The Pot of Gold", an early story, a husband waits years for the moment when he will get rich, realising after many disappointments that his riches - his pot of gold - is his marriage. From another writer such a plot might just be sentimental, but Cheever is very good at describing the degradation of poverty in a society as money-oriented as America's. Most of these stories were written for the New Yorker, and like his hero Scott Fitzgerald, Cheever quickly developed a magazine style that could handle the big themes but is never ponderous.
The stories mainly deal with ordinary men who live ordinary lives, but the solutions to their problems are often extraordinary and miraculous. My own favourite is "The Country Husband", in which Francis Weed survives a plane crash and falls in love with his babysitter on the same day. Anyone who is looking for Updike without the politics, Hemingway without the macho stuff and Fitzgerald without the glamour will love these stories. Since I first read them ten years ago in my mother's house, I have reread them countless times and they have never lost their power.

Great prison literature, 28 Nov 2002
I first read this book ten years ago when I was squatting in Kentish Town, and it seemed true then and it seems even truer now. Cheever knew that a novelist's job was to do several things at the same time, but he never managed it quite so sweetly until this book. Like its contemporary, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Falconer" is set in an American prison in the early 1970s. Just as Ken Kesey went to work in a prison to find an outlet for his vision of an alternative America, Cheever went to his local jail, but the results are startlingly different. All of Cheever's beautiful obsessions - with addiction, failed marriages and sexy men - come out in this book. Farragut, the hero of the novel, is an otherworldly guy for whom life has been a series of seminars and skiing trips. Confronted with himself in prison, he accepts his bisexuality and in real rhapsodic style embraces Jody, the man he hooks up with. Cheever captures the sordidness and loveliness of American life with wit and elegance and charm, and we are led through a series of bizarre scenarios to the hero's eventual redemption. It is hard to think of a more cover-breaking moment in a writer's life than "Falconer" - it is a novel that is literally lit up with the author's honesty. Hearteningly, it was also the moment when Cheever achieved visible success, won the prizes and was recognised for what he was: the natural heir to Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Melt-in-the-mouth stories., 10 Sep 2007
Cheever is one of the best American short story writers of the 20th century, along with Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway, Richard Yates and Carver. He is not just a "poet of the suburbs"; he is describing YOU, wherever you live, breathe and have your being. His work is easily available and should be read by anyone who professes to be at all interested in writing.

American fiction at its best..., 16 Feb 2007
John Cheever projects such a strong vision of a particular time and place in American history that i think it would be hard not to like these stories. They are, as individual stories, great achievements but as a collection these stories become something much more, they transport the reader into the heart of the post war American suburb, describing societies lonliest and most vunerable characters. Those for whom achieving their 'American Dream' is not an option but a necessity, it is their sheer belief that against all odds they will succeed, which keeps them going.

My personal favourites are those which describe Cheever's fictional 'Shady Hill' suburb, in particular, 'O Youth and Beauty' which tells the story of the once great sportsman Cash Bently who spends his weekends hurdling over the furniture in his neighbours houses, as a desperate attempt to win back some of his former glory.

This is a great collection, one which you will come back to time and again.

A Poet of the Suburbs, 27 Nov 2002
Ten years ago when I packed in my job in London and moved back to my mother's place, my first project was to read John Cheever's stories from start to finish. Nobody does what Cheever does - he is romantic, spiritual and funny all at once. He loved the Bible and the atmosphere of a provincial church on a Sunday morning, but he also loved sex, gin and cigarettes. The stories follow the order they were published, beginning with his early New York tales of little people "making it" - or more often not making it. The scene gradually shifts to the suburbs, in which businessmen flounder in debt and lust, although they are often saved by something as simple as a vision of light through the trees. In "The Pot of Gold", an early story, a husband waits years for the moment when he will get rich, realising after many disappointments that his riches - his pot of gold - is his marriage. From another writer such a plot might just be sentimental, but Cheever is very good at describing the degradation of poverty in a society as money-oriented as America's. Most of these stories were written for the New Yorker, and like his hero Scott Fitzgerald, Cheever quickly developed a magazine style that could handle the big themes but is never ponderous.
The stories mainly deal with ordinary men who live ordinary lives, but the solutions to their problems are often extraordinary and miraculous. My own favourite is "The Country Husband", in which Francis Weed survives a plane crash and falls in love with his babysitter on the same day. Anyone who is looking for Updike without the politics, Hemingway without the macho stuff and Fitzgerald without the glamour will love these stories. Since I first read them ten years ago in my mother's house, I have reread them countless times and they have never lost their power.

Great prison literature, 28 Nov 2002
I first read this book ten years ago when I was squatting in Kentish Town, and it seemed true then and it seems even truer now. Cheever knew that a novelist's job was to do several things at the same time, but he never managed it quite so sweetly until this book. Like its contemporary, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Falconer" is set in an American prison in the early 1970s. Just as Ken Kesey went to work in a prison to find an outlet for his vision of an alternative America, Cheever went to his local jail, but the results are startlingly different. All of Cheever's beautiful obsessions - with addiction, failed marriages and sexy men - come out in this book. Farragut, the hero of the novel, is an otherworldly guy for whom life has been a series of seminars and skiing trips. Confronted with himself in prison, he accepts his bisexuality and in real rhapsodic style embraces Jody, the man he hooks up with. Cheever captures the sordidness and loveliness of American life with wit and elegance and charm, and we are led through a series of bizarre scenarios to the hero's eventual redemption. It is hard to think of a more cover-breaking moment in a writer's life than "Falconer" - it is a novel that is literally lit up with the author's honesty. Hearteningly, it was also the moment when Cheever achieved visible success, won the prizes and was recognised for what he was: the natural heir to Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Unexpected Events Happen to Unusual Characters, 06 May 2004
Caution: The Wapshot Chronicle makes many coarse references to sex for hire. This language and the scenes described would probably earn this book an R rating if it were a motion picture.

The Wapshot Chronicle is one of those big family stories that details parts of the lives of three generations, while providing a sense of those who came before. This is a family of sea-faring New Englanders who explored the far reaches of the Pacific and also produced missionaries who served in Hawaii. If you have read James Michener's Hawaii, you will have a picture in mind that will be accurate about the Wapshot forebearers. In the current generation, there's plenty of money in the hands of eccentric, elderly Cousin Honora. She provides for her cousin Leander, his wife Sarah, and their sons, Moses and Coverly. Cousin Honora does this in the spirit of honoring the family heritage, and she is quite interested in seeing the family continue on. The book focuses in on her efforts to encourage this continuity, and what resulted.

John Cheever's greatest strength is his ability to conceive of highly original and interesting characters. In The Wapshot Chronicle, you will find two of the 20th century's most original fictional females, Cousin Honora and Justina Wapshot Molesworth Scadden. The men, by comparison, are pretty bland. They are so obsessed with their sexual desires and wanting to have a superior, independent position that they become predictably limited.

His second greatest strength is that he is able to weave a novel out of a series of short-story-like episodes that have unexpected twists and cliff-hangers near their ends. Each is a gem, and glitters shiniest with understatement. A few words, a few concepts sketch out the beginnings of a pregnant circumstance. Then, he moves on . . . leaving you as the reader with plenty of room to imagine the actual circumstances. No two readers will describe what happens in this book the same way, because each will perceive the action to be quite different from everyone else. It is sort of like having The Lady or The Tiger continue on to a further story, but without resolving clearly which one lay behind the chosen door. Ambiguities pile atop ambiguities.

The book's third greatest strength is an ability to use imagery to turn the same object into expressing its opposite meaning. This Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde quality imbues the book with a very deep irony seldom found in modern novels. Mr. Cheever uses names to good effect to reinforce this nuance. Clear Haven becomes anything but. The Wapshot name is traced to its Norman French roots as Vaincre-Chaud (loosely, defeating others in hot blood). The latest generation of Wapshot males is anything but that, so the name has had to change to reflect their humbler role.

While the writing shines with rare beauty, the themes will often feel too trivial to be worthy of the attention lavished on them. What does it mean to be a man in a society in which women are strong, capable, and independent? Cheever seems to suggest a drone-like role like that in the beehive. Are we nothing more than our genes, our parents' child-rearing methods, and our environments? The characters seem to suggest that we are precisely and merely the sum of these influences. Can we accept help? The very generosity of the sharing seems to create shackles, rather than bonds of love and caring. In short, Mr. Cheever has a very jaundiced eye concerning modern humanity, and that leaves the book with a very downbeat feel. Unlike the existentialists who left us with nobility of spirit in facing meaningless events, Mr. Cheever sees nothing at all uplifting going on. You could think of this book as describing the emergence of the bland, disconnected, dependent modern city dweller. I wasn't persuaded by this view, and if you are like me, neither will you. I graded the book down accordingly, despite its stylistic genius.

Be open to the potential of what supportive cooperation can accomplish!

The human condition through the eyes of a smalltown family., 23 Aug 2001
Perhaps this look at the peculiarities of a smalltown American family is becoming a little dated, it can occasionally seem a touch quaint, but it is still a rich wise and funny look at the human condition. The narative ranges over several generations of the Wapshots at home and trying to make their way in the world. There's plenty of humour - eccentric characters, odd little episodes, but there is some tragedy in the mix too. You find yourself wanting Leander Wapshot and his family to come out alright in the end because, for all their unwarranted arrogance and over-estimation of their own importance they seem basically decent people. As an exercise in character drawing this book is a real achievement and not to be missed.

Melt-in-the-mouth stories., 10 Sep 2007
Cheever is one of the best American short story writers of the 20th century, along with Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway, Richard Yates and Carver. He is not just a "poet of the suburbs"; he is describing YOU, wherever you live, breathe and have your being. His work is easily available and should be read by anyone who professes to be at all interested in writing.

American fiction at its best..., 16 Feb 2007
John Cheever projects such a strong vision of a particular time and place in American history that i think it would be hard not to like these stories. They are, as individual stories, great achievements but as a collection these stories become something much more, they transport the reader into the heart of the post war American suburb, describing societies lonliest and most vunerable characters. Those for whom achieving their 'American Dream' is not an option but a necessity, it is their sheer belief that against all odds they will succeed, which keeps them going.

My personal favourites are those which describe Cheever's fictional 'Shady Hill' suburb, in particular, 'O Youth and Beauty' which tells the story of the once great sportsman Cash Bently who spends his weekends hurdling over the furniture in his neighbours houses, as a desperate attempt to win back some of his former glory.

This is a great collection, one which you will come back to time and again.

A Poet of the Suburbs, 27 Nov 2002
Ten years ago when I packed in my job in London and moved back to my mother's place, my first project was to read John Cheever's stories from start to finish. Nobody does what Cheever does - he is romantic, spiritual and funny all at once. He loved the Bible and the atmosphere of a provincial church on a Sunday morning, but he also loved sex, gin and cigarettes. The stories follow the order they were published, beginning with his early New York tales of little people "making it" - or more often not making it. The scene gradually shifts to the suburbs, in which businessmen flounder in debt and lust, although they are often saved by something as simple as a vision of light through the trees. In "The Pot of Gold", an early story, a husband waits years for the moment when he will get rich, realising after many disappointments that his riches - his pot of gold - is his marriage. From another writer such a plot might just be sentimental, but Cheever is very good at describing the degradation of poverty in a society as money-oriented as America's. Most of these stories were written for the New Yorker, and like his hero Scott Fitzgerald, Cheever quickly developed a magazine style that could handle the big themes but is never ponderous.
The stories mainly deal with ordinary men who live ordinary lives, but the solutions to their problems are often extraordinary and miraculous. My own favourite is "The Country Husband", in which Francis Weed survives a plane crash and falls in love with his babysitter on the same day. Anyone who is looking for Updike without the politics, Hemingway without the macho stuff and Fitzgerald without the glamour will love these stories. Since I first read them ten years ago in my mother's house, I have reread them countless times and they have never lost their power.

Great prison literature, 28 Nov 2002
I first read this book ten years ago when I was squatting in Kentish Town, and it seemed true then and it seems even truer now. Cheever knew that a novelist's job was to do several things at the same time, but he never managed it quite so sweetly until this book. Like its contemporary, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Falconer" is set in an American prison in the early 1970s. Just as Ken Kesey went to work in a prison to find an outlet for his vision of an alternative America, Cheever went to his local jail, but the results are startlingly different. All of Cheever's beautiful obsessions - with addiction, failed marriages and sexy men - come out in this book. Farragut, the hero of the novel, is an otherworldly guy for whom life has been a series of seminars and skiing trips. Confronted with himself in prison, he accepts his bisexuality and in real rhapsodic style embraces Jody, the man he hooks up with. Cheever captures the sordidness and loveliness of American life with wit and elegance and charm, and we are led through a series of bizarre scenarios to the hero's eventual redemption. It is hard to think of a more cover-breaking moment in a writer's life than "Falconer" - it is a novel that is literally lit up with the author's honesty. Hearteningly, it was also the moment when Cheever achieved visible success, won the prizes and was recognised for what he was: the natural heir to Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Unexpected Events Happen to Unusual Characters, 06 May 2004
Caution: The Wapshot Chronicle makes many coarse references to sex for hire. This language and the scenes described would probably earn this book an R rating if it were a motion picture.

The Wapshot Chronicle is one of those big family stories that details parts of the lives of three generations, while providing a sense of those who came before. This is a family of sea-faring New Englanders who explored the far reaches of the Pacific and also produced missionaries who served in Hawaii. If you have read James Michener's Hawaii, you will have a picture in mind that will be accurate about the Wapshot forebearers. In the current generation, there's plenty of money in the hands of eccentric, elderly Cousin Honora. She provides for her cousin Leander, his wife Sarah, and their sons, Moses and Coverly. Cousin Honora does this in the spirit of honoring the family heritage, and she is quite interested in seeing the family continue on. The book focuses in on her efforts to encourage this continuity, and what resulted.

John Cheever's greatest strength is his ability to conceive of highly original and interesting characters. In The Wapshot Chronicle, you will find two of the 20th century's most original fictional females, Cousin Honora and Justina Wapshot Molesworth Scadden. The men, by comparison, are pretty bland. They are so obsessed with their sexual desires and wanting to have a superior, independent position that they become predictably limited.

His second greatest strength is that he is able to weave a novel out of a series of short-story-like episodes that have unexpected twists and cliff-hangers near their ends. Each is a gem, and glitters shiniest with understatement. A few words, a few concepts sketch out the beginnings of a pregnant circumstance. Then, he moves on . . . leaving you as the reader with plenty of room to imagine the actual circumstances. No two readers will describe what happens in this book the same way, because each will perceive the action to be quite different from everyone else. It is sort of like having The Lady or The Tiger continue on to a further story, but without resolving clearly which one lay behind the chosen door. Ambiguities pile atop ambiguities.

The book's third greatest strength is an ability to use imagery to turn the same object into expressing its opposite meaning. This Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde quality imbues the book with a very deep irony seldom found in modern novels. Mr. Cheever uses names to good effect to reinforce this nuance. Clear Haven becomes anything but. The Wapshot name is traced to its Norman French roots as Vaincre-Chaud (loosely, defeating others in hot blood). The latest generation of Wapshot males is anything but that, so the name has had to change to reflect their humbler role.

While the writing shines with rare beauty, the themes will often feel too trivial to be worthy of the attention lavished on them. What does it mean to be a man in a society in which women are strong, capable, and independent? Cheever seems to suggest a drone-like role like that in the beehive. Are we nothing more than our genes, our parents' child-rearing methods, and our environments? The characters seem to suggest that we are precisely and merely the sum of these influences. Can we accept help? The very generosity of the sharing seems to create shackles, rather than bonds of love and caring. In short, Mr. Cheever has a very jaundiced eye concerning modern humanity, and that leaves the book with a very downbeat feel. Unlike the existentialists who left us with nobility of spirit in facing meaningless events, Mr. Cheever sees nothing at all uplifting going on. You could think of this book as describing the emergence of the bland, disconnected, dependent modern city dweller. I wasn't persuaded by this view, and if you are like me, neither will you. I graded the book down accordingly, despite its stylistic genius.

Be open to the potential of what supportive cooperation can accomplish!

The human condition through the eyes of a smalltown family., 23 Aug 2001
Perhaps this look at the peculiarities of a smalltown American family is becoming a little dated, it can occasionally seem a touch quaint, but it is still a rich wise and funny look at the human condition. The narative ranges over several generations of the Wapshots at home and trying to make their way in the world. There's plenty of humour - eccentric characters, odd little episodes, but there is some tragedy in the mix too. You find yourself wanting Leander Wapshot and his family to come out alright in the end because, for all their unwarranted arrogance and over-estimation of their own importance they seem basically decent people. As an exercise in character drawing this book is a real achievement and not to be missed.

Great book, great writing, 13 Dec 2000
Oddly enough, I was going to work as extra in a TV film and, being very bored, I borrowed this book from a friend that was also there (this was the only other book he had in his hands at that moment). I had never read anything from John Cheever before, and I found it quite fascinating. It is very well written and the characters are wonderfully depicted, especially Hammer in his slow descent towards madness, and Nails in his movement from suburbian contentment to suburbian depression. The book manages to be at the same time a satire and a celebration of life in the suburbs of America, with sweet and sour moments alike. I plan to read more Cheever books now.

Melt-in-the-mouth stories., 10 Sep 2007
Cheever is one of the best American short story writers of the 20th century, along with Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway, Richard Yates and Carver. He is not just a "poet of the suburbs"; he is describing YOU, wherever you live, breathe and have your being. His work is easily available and should be read by anyone who professes to be at all interested in writing.

American fiction at its best..., 16 Feb 2007
John Cheever projects such a strong vision of a particular time and place in American history that i think it would be hard not to like these stories. They are, as individual stories, great achievements but as a collection these stories become something much more, they transport the reader into the heart of the post war American suburb, describing societies lonliest and most vunerable characters. Those for whom achieving their 'American Dream' is not an option but a necessity, it is their sheer belief that against all odds they will succeed, which keeps them going.

My personal favourites are those which describe Cheever's fictional 'Shady Hill' suburb, in particular, 'O Youth and Beauty' which tells the story of the once great sportsman Cash Bently who spends his weekends hurdling over the furniture in his neighbours houses, as a desperate attempt to win back some of his former glory.

This is a great collection, one which you will come back to time and again.

A Poet of the Suburbs, 27 Nov 2002
Ten years ago when I packed in my job in London and moved back to my mother's place, my first project was to read John Cheever's stories from start to finish. Nobody does what Cheever does - he is romantic, spiritual and funny all at once. He loved the Bible and the atmosphere of a provincial church on a Sunday morning, but he also loved sex, gin and cigarettes. The stories follow the order they were published, beginning with his early New York tales of little people "making it" - or more often not making it. The scene gradually shifts to the suburbs, in which businessmen flounder in debt and lust, although they are often saved by something as simple as a vision of light through the trees. In "The Pot of Gold", an early story, a husband waits years for the moment when he will get rich, realising after many disappointments that his riches - his pot of gold - is his marriage. From another writer such a plot might just be sentimental, but Cheever is very good at describing the degradation of poverty in a society as money-oriented as America's. Most of these stories were written for the New Yorker, and like his hero Scott Fitzgerald, Cheever quickly developed a magazine style that could handle the big themes but is never ponderous.
The stories mainly deal with ordinary men who live ordinary lives, but the solutions to their problems are often extraordinary and miraculous. My own favourite is "The Country Husband", in which Francis Weed survives a plane crash and falls in love with his babysitter on the same day. Anyone who is looking for Updike without the politics, Hemingway without the macho stuff and Fitzgerald without the glamour will love these stories. Since I first read them ten years ago in my mother's house, I have reread them countless times and they have never lost their power.

Great prison literature, 28 Nov 2002
I first read this book ten years ago when I was squatting in Kentish Town, and it seemed true then and it seems even truer now. Cheever knew that a novelist's job was to do several things at the same time, but he never managed it quite so sweetly until this book. Like its contemporary, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Falconer" is set in an American prison in the early 1970s. Just as Ken Kesey went to work in a prison to find an outlet for his vision of an alternative America, Cheever went to his local jail, but the results are startlingly different. All of Cheever's beautiful obsessions - with addiction, failed marriages and sexy men - come out in this book. Farragut, the hero of the novel, is an otherworldly guy for whom life has been a series of seminars and skiing trips. Confronted with himself in prison, he accepts his bisexuality and in real rhapsodic style embraces Jody, the man he hooks up with. Cheever captures the sordidness and loveliness of American life with wit and elegance and charm, and we are led through a series of bizarre scenarios to the hero's eventual redemption. It is hard to think of a more cover-breaking moment in a writer's life than "Falconer" - it is a novel that is literally lit up with the author's honesty. Hearteningly, it was also the moment when Cheever achieved visible success, won the prizes and was recognised for what he was: the natural heir to Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Unexpected Events Happen to Unusual Characters, 06 May 2004
Caution: The Wapshot Chronicle makes many coarse references to sex for hire. This language and the scenes described would probably earn this book an R rating if it were a motion picture.

The Wapshot Chronicle is one of those big family stories that details parts of the lives of three generations, while providing a sense of those who came before. This is a family of sea-faring New Englanders who explored the far reaches of the Pacific and also produced missionaries who served in Hawaii. If you have read James Michener's Hawaii, you will have a picture in mind that will be accurate about the Wapshot forebearers. In the current generation, there's plenty of money in the hands of eccentric, elderly Cousin Honora. She provides for her cousin Leander, his wife Sarah, and their sons, Moses and Coverly. Cousin Honora does this in the spirit of honoring the family heritage, and she is quite interested in seeing the family continue on. The book focuses in on her efforts to encourage this continuity, and what resulted.

John Cheever's greatest strength is his ability to conceive of highly original and interesting characters. In The Wapshot Chronicle, you will find two of the 20th century's most original fictional females, Cousin Honora and Justina Wapshot Molesworth Scadden. The men, by comparison, are pretty bland. They are so obsessed with their sexual desires and wanting to have a superior, independent position that they become predictably limited.

His second greatest strength is that he is able to weave a novel out of a series of short-story-like episodes that have unexpected twists and cliff-hangers near their ends. Each is a gem, and glitters shiniest with understatement. A few words, a few concepts sketch out the beginnings of a pregnant circumstance. Then, he moves on . . . leaving you as the reader with plenty of room to imagine the actual circumstances. No two readers will describe what happens in this book the same way, because each will perceive the action to be quite different from everyone else. It is sort of like having The Lady or The Tiger continue on to a further story, but without resolving clearly which one lay behind the chosen door. Ambiguities pile atop ambiguities.

The book's third greatest strength is an ability to use imagery to turn the same object into expressing its opposite meaning. This Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde quality imbues the book with a very deep irony seldom found in modern novels. Mr. Cheever uses names to good effect to reinforce this nuance. Clear Haven becomes anything but. The Wapshot name is traced to its Norman French roots as Vaincre-Chaud (loosely, defeating others in hot blood). The latest generation of Wapshot males is anything but that, so the name has had to change to reflect their humbler role.

While the writing shines with rare beauty, the themes will often feel too trivial to be worthy of the attention lavished on them. What does it mean to be a man in a society in which women are strong, capable, and independent? Cheever seems to suggest a drone-like role like that in the beehive. Are we nothing more than our genes, our parents' child-rearing methods, and our environments? The characters seem to suggest that we are precisely and merely the sum of these influences. Can we accept help? The very generosity of the sharing seems to create shackles, rather than bonds of love and caring. In short, Mr. Cheever has a very jaundiced eye concerning modern humanity, and that leaves the book with a very downbeat feel. Unlike the existentialists who left us with nobility of spirit in facing meaningless events, Mr. Cheever sees nothing at all uplifting going on. You could think of this book as describing the emergence of the bland, disconnected, dependent modern city dweller. I wasn't persuaded by this view, and if you are like me, neither will you. I graded the book down accordingly, despite its stylistic genius.

Be open to the potential of what supportive cooperation can accomplish!

The human condition through the eyes of a smalltown family., 23 Aug 2001
Perhaps this look at the peculiarities of a smalltown American family is becoming a little dated, it can occasionally seem a touch quaint, but it is still a rich wise and funny look at the human condition. The narative ranges over several generations of the Wapshots at home and trying to make their way in the world. There's plenty of humour - eccentric characters, odd little episodes, but there is some tragedy in the mix too. You find yourself wanting Leander Wapshot and his family to come out alright in the end because, for all their unwarranted arrogance and over-estimation of their own importance they seem basically decent people. As an exercise in character drawing this book is a real achievement and not to be missed.

Great book, great writing, 13 Dec 2000
Oddly enough, I was going to work as extra in a TV film and, being very bored, I borrowed this book from a friend that was also there (this was the only other book he had in his hands at that moment). I had never read anything from John Cheever before, and I found it quite fascinating. It is very well written and the characters are wonderfully depicted, especially Hammer in his slow descent towards madness, and Nails in his movement from suburbian contentment to suburbian depression. The book manages to be at the same time a satire and a celebration of life in the suburbs of America, with sweet and sour moments alike. I plan to read more Cheever books now.

Psychological Flaws Unexpectedly Unveiled, 03 Jul 2004
If you have not yet read The Wapshot Chronicle, I strongly urge you to read that novel before this one. The Wapshot Scandal is written as a sequel to The Wapshot Chronicle, and the situations and character development in the first book are important background for the second one.

Cousin Honora is back in The Wapshot Scandal, but in an unaccustomed role. She is one of the most original and interesting characters of 20th century literature, and my interest in her grew from reading this book. You will also follow Moses and Coverly through their developing careers, continuing marriages and family life. You will probably grow to be more interested in Coverly than before, because his character also receives much more development. The characters of Melissa, Moses's wife, and Betsy, Coverly's wife, are also nicely filled in from the simple sketches in The Wapshot Chronicle. A major new character is also introduced who serves as the exact opposite to Cousin Honora, Cameron, Coverly's brilliant scientist boss. The other significant new character is a young man whose life will remind you of the adolescent fantasies of teenage males.

What each character has in common is an incompleteness, a weakness so profound that it causes each to be mightily humbled. These weaknesses are exposed as the comfortable facade of social position that has surrounded and protected the Wapshots is gradually stripped away. Some of the characters find new meaning from the changed circumstances, while others find the harshness of life without protection to be unbearable. You will find it rewarding to think about what it means to have "grace under pressure" after reading this book.

Those who like lots of action in their books will find that this story gets off to a slow start, and only speeds up to a fast pace once or twice (depending on your idea of a fast pace). But this leisurely story constantly sets you up for unexpected events, that make you feel like Mr. Cheever has literally pulled the rug out from under your feet. Each time the unexpected blindsided me, I felt like I had been entertained by a master story teller of rare skill. Be especially patient in the beginning. The least amount of action occurs there.

My favorite quality in the book is its unabashed challenge to the following tenets of American life: Work hard; get ahead; have a nice family life in the suburbs; enjoy your friends and neighbors; do the right thing; and find solace in acquiring material possessions. Mr. Cheever clearly makes the case that more is needed to be a good person and to survive within one's own limitations. Some of the comic scenes where consumerism is lampooned are absolutely priceless! The satire aimed at the hypocrites who look down at those who can't cope is so sharp that their heads roll almost without showing blood.

This novel is a good one to savor . . . to read slowly . . . to discuss with others . . . and to reread.

What do you assume you should do with your life? Where do you have evidence that those assumptions may not be right? What goals would better serve you, those you love, those you care about, and everyone you come into contact with? Where is fatal complacency stealing away your opportunities to choose better directions?

If the events in this book happened to you, what would you do?

Psychological Flaws Unexpectedly Unveiled, 30 Jun 2004
If you have not yet read The Wapshot Chronicle, I strongly urge you to read that novel before this one. The Wapshot Scandal is written as a sequel to The Wapshot Chronicle, and the situations and character development in the first book are important background for the second one.

Cousin Honora is back in The Wapshot Scandal, but in an unaccustomed role. She is one of the most original and interesting characters of 20th century literature, and my interest in her grew from reading this book. You will also follow Moses and Coverly through their developing careers, continuing marriages and family life. You will probably grow to be more interested in Coverly than before, because his character also receives much more development. The characters of Melissa, Moses's wife, and Betsy, Coverly's wife, are also nicely filled in from the simple sketches in The Wapshot Chronicle. A major new character is also introduced who serves as the exact opposite to Cousin Honora, Cameron, Coverly's brilliant scientist boss. The other significant new character is a young man whose life will remind you of the adolescent fantasies of teenage males.

What each character has in common is an incompleteness, a weakness so profound that it causes each to be mightily humbled. These weaknesses are exposed as the comfortable facade of social position that has surrounded and protected the Wapshots is gradually stripped away. Some of the characters find new meaning from the changed circumstances, while others find the harshness of life without protection to be unbearable. You will find it rewarding to think about what it means to have "grace under pressure" after reading this book.

Those who like lots of action in their books will find that this story gets off to a slow start, and only speeds up to a fast pace once or twice (depending on your idea of a fast pace). But this leisurely story constantly sets you up for unexpected events, that make you feel like Mr. Cheever has literally pulled the rug out from under your feet. Each time the unexpected blindsided me, I felt like I had been entertained by a master story teller of rare skill. Be especially patient in the beginning. The least amount of action occurs there.

My favorite quality in the book is its unabashed challenge to the following tenets of American life: Work hard; get ahead; have a nice family life in the suburbs; enjoy your friends and neighbors; do the right thing; and find solace in acquiring material possessions. Mr. Cheever clearly makes the case that more is needed to be a good person and to survive within one's own limitations. Some of the comic scenes where consumerism is lampooned are absolutely priceless! The satire aimed at the hypocrites who look down at those who can't cope is so sharp that their heads roll almost without showing blood.

This novel is a good one to savor . . . to read slowly . . . to discuss with others . . . and to reread.

What do you assume you should do with your life? Where do you have evidence that those assumptions may not be right? What goals would better serve you, those you love, those you care about, and everyone you come into contact with? Where is fatal complacency stealing away your opportunities to choose better directions?

If the events in this book happened to you, what would you do?

Psychological Flaws Unexpectedly Unveiled, 06 May 2004
If you have not yet read The Wapshot Chronicle, I strongly urge you to read that novel before this one. The Wapshot Scandal is written as a sequel to The Wapshot Chronicle, and the situations and character development in the first book are important background for the second one.

Cousin Honora is back in The Wapshot Scandal, but in an unaccustomed role. She is one of the most original and interesting characters of 20th century literature, and my interest in her grew from reading this book. You will also follow Moses and Coverly through their developing careers, continuing marriages and family life. You will probably grow to be more interested in Coverly than before, because his character also receives much more development. The characters of Melissa, Moses's wife, and Betsy, Coverly's wife, are also nicely filled in from the simple sketches in The Wapshot Chronicle. A major new character is also introduced who serves as the exact opposite to Cousin Honora, Cameron, Coverly's brilliant scientist boss. The other significant new character is a young man whose life will remind you of the adolescent fantasies of teenage males.

What each character has in common is an incompleteness, a weakness so profound that it causes each to be mightily humbled. These weaknesses are exposed as the comfortable facade of social position that has surrounded and protected the Wapshots is gradually stripped away. Some of the characters find new meaning from the changed circumstances, while others find the harshness of life without protection to be unbearable. You will find it rewarding to think about what it means to have "grace under pressure" after reading this book.

Those who like lots of action in their books will find that this story gets off to a slow start, and only speeds up to a fast pace once or twice (depending on your idea of a fast pace). But this leisurely story constantly sets you up for unexpected events, that make you feel like Mr. Cheever has literally pulled the rug out from under your feet. Each time the unexpected blindsided me, I felt like I had been entertained by a master story teller of rare skill. Be especially patient in the beginning. The least amount of action occurs there.

My favorite quality in the book is its unabashed challenge to the following tenets of American life: Work hard; get ahead; have a nice family life in the suburbs; enjoy your friends and neighbors; do the right thing; and find solace in acquiring material possessions. Mr. Cheever clearly makes the case that more is needed to be a good person and to survive within one's own limitations. Some of the comic scenes where consumerism is lampooned are absolutely priceless! The satire aimed at the hypocrites who look down at those who can't cope is so sharp that their heads roll almost without showing blood.

This novel is a good one to savor . . . to read slowly . . . to discuss with others . . . and to reread.

What do you assume you should do with your life? Where do you have evidence that those assumptions may not be right? What goals would better serve you, those you love, those you care about, and everyone you come into contact with? Where is fatal complacency stealing away your opportunities to choose better directions?

If the events in this book happened to you, what would you do?

Melt-in-the-mouth stories., 10 Sep 2007
Cheever is one of the best American short story writers of the 20th century, along with Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway, Richard Yates and Carver. He is not just a "poet of the suburbs"; he is describing YOU, wherever you live, breathe and have your being. His work is easily available and should be read by anyone who professes to be at all interested in writing.

American fiction at its best..., 16 Feb 2007
John Cheever projects such a strong vision of a particular time and place in American history that i think it would be hard not to like these stories. They are, as individual stories, great achievements but as a collection these stories become something much more, they transport the reader into the heart of the post war American suburb, describing societies lonliest and most vunerable characters. Those for whom achieving their 'American Dream' is not an option but a necessity, it is their sheer belief that against all odds they will succeed, which keeps them going.

My personal favourites are those which describe Cheever's fictional 'Shady Hill' suburb, in particular, 'O Youth and Beauty' which tells the story of the once great sportsman Cash Bently who spends his weekends hurdling over the furniture in his neighbours houses, as a desperate attempt to win back some of his former glory.

This is a great collection, one which you will come back to time and again.

A Poet of the Suburbs, 27 Nov 2002
Ten years ago when I packed in my job in London and moved back to my mother's place, my first project was to read John Cheever's stories from start to finish. Nobody does what Cheever does - he is romantic, spiritual and funny all at once. He loved the Bible and the atmosphere of a provincial church on a Sunday morning, but he also loved sex, gin and cigarettes. The stories follow the order they were published, beginning with his early New York tales of little people "making it" - or more often not making it. The scene gradually shifts to the suburbs, in which businessmen flounder in debt and lust, although they are often saved by something as simple as a vision of light through the trees. In "The Pot of Gold", an early story, a husband waits years for the moment when he will get rich, realising after many disappointments that his riches - his pot of gold - is his marriage. From another writer such a plot might just be sentimental, but Cheever is very good at describing the degradation of poverty in a society as money-oriented as America's. Most of these stories were written for the New Yorker, and like his hero Scott Fitzgerald, Cheever quickly developed a magazine style that could handle the big themes but is never ponderous.
The stories mainly deal with ordinary men who live ordinary lives, but the solutions to their problems are often extraordinary and miraculous. My own favourite is "The Country Husband", in which Francis Weed survives a plane crash and falls in love with his babysitter on the same day. Anyone who is looking for Updike without the politics, Hemingway without the macho stuff and Fitzgerald without the glamour will love these stories. Since I first read them ten years ago in my mother's house, I have reread them countless times and they have never lost their power.

Great prison literature, 28 Nov 2002
I first read this book ten years ago when I was squatting in Kentish Town, and it seemed true then and it seems even truer now. Cheever knew that a novelist's job was to do several things at the same time, but he never managed it quite so sweetly until this book. Like its contemporary, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Falconer" is set in an American prison in the early 1970s. Just as Ken Kesey went to work in a prison to find an outlet for his vision of an alternative America, Cheever went to his local jail, but the results are startlingly different. All of Cheever's beautiful obsessions - with addiction, failed marriages and sexy men - come out in this book. Farragut, the hero of the novel, is an otherworldly guy for whom life has been a series of seminars and skiing trips. Confronted with himself in prison, he accepts his bisexuality and in real rhapsodic style embraces Jody, the man he hooks up with. Cheever captures the sordidness and loveliness of American life with wit and elegance and charm, and we are led through a series of bizarre scenarios to the hero's eventual redemption. It is hard to think of a more cover-breaking moment in a writer's life than "Falconer" - it is a novel that is literally lit up with the author's honesty. Hearteningly, it was also the moment when Cheever achieved visible success, won the prizes and was recognised for what he was: the natural heir to Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Unexpected Events Happen to Unusual Characters, 06 May 2004
Caution: The Wapshot Chronicle makes many coarse references to sex for hire. This language and the scenes described would probably earn this book an R rating if it were a motion picture.

The Wapshot Chronicle is one of those big family stories that details parts of the lives of three generations, while providing a sense of those who came before. This is a family of sea-faring New Englanders who explored the far reaches of the Pacific and also produced missionaries who served in Hawaii. If you have read James Michener's Hawaii, you will have a picture in mind that will be accurate about the Wapshot forebearers. In the current generation, there's plenty of money in the hands of eccentric, elderly Cousin Honora. She provides for her cousin Leander, his wife Sarah, and their sons, Moses and Coverly. Cousin Honora does this in the spirit of honoring the family heritage, and she is quite interested in seeing the family continue on. The book focuses in on her efforts to encourage this continuity, and what resulted.

John Cheever's greatest strength is his ability to conceive of highly original and interesting characters. In The Wapshot Chronicle, you will find two of the 20th century's most original fictional females, Cousin Honora and Justina Wapshot Molesworth Scadden. The men, by comparison, are pretty bland. They are so obsessed with their sexual desires and wanting to have a superior, independent position that they become predictably limited.

His second greatest strength is that he is able to weave a novel out of a series of short-story-like episodes that have unexpected twists and cliff-hangers near their ends. Each is a gem, and glitters shiniest with understatement. A few words, a few concepts sketch out the beginnings of a pregnant circumstance. Then, he moves on . . . leaving you as the reader with plenty of room to imagine the actual circumstances. No two readers will describe what happens in this book the same way, because each will perceive the action to be quite different from everyone else. It is sort of like having The Lady or The Tiger continue on to a further story, but without resolving clearly which one lay behind the chosen door. Ambiguities pile atop ambiguities.

The book's third greatest strength is an ability to use imagery to turn the same object into expressing its opposite meaning. This Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde quality imbues the book with a very deep irony seldom found in modern novels. Mr. Cheever uses names to good effect to reinforce this nuance. Clear Haven becomes anything but. The Wapshot name is traced to its Norman French roots as Vaincre-Chaud (loosely, defeating others in hot blood). The latest generation of Wapshot males is anything but that, so the name has had to change to reflect their humbler role.

While the writing shines with rare beauty, the themes will often feel too trivial to be worthy of the attention lavished on them. What does it mean to be a man in a society in which women are strong, capable, and independent? Cheever seems to suggest a drone-like role like that in the beehive. Are we nothing more than our genes, our parents' child-rearing methods, and our environments? The characters seem to suggest that we are precisely and merely the sum of these influences. Can we accept help? The very generosity of the sharing seems to create shackles, rather than bonds of love and caring. In short, Mr. Cheever has a very jaundiced eye concerning modern humanity, and that leaves the book with a very downbeat feel. Unlike the existentialists who left us with nobility of spirit in facing meaningless events, Mr. Cheever sees nothing at all uplifting going on. You could think of this book as describing the emergence of the bland, disconnected, dependent modern city dweller. I wasn't persuaded by this view, and if you are like me, neither will you. I graded the book down accordingly, despite its stylistic genius.

Be open to the potential of what supportive cooperation can accomplish!

The human condition through the eyes of a smalltown family., 23 Aug 2001
Perhaps this look at the peculiarities of a smalltown American family is becoming a little dated, it can occasionally seem a touch quaint, but it is still a rich wise and funny look at the human condition. The narative ranges over several generations of the Wapshots at home and trying to make their way in the world. There's plenty of humour - eccentric characters, odd little episodes, but there is some tragedy in the mix too. You find yourself wanting Leander Wapshot and his family to come out alright in the end because, for all their unwarranted arrogance and over-estimation of their own importance they seem basically decent people. As an exercise in character drawing this book is a real achievement and not to be missed.

Great book, great writing, 13 Dec 2000
Oddly enough, I was going to work as extra in a TV film and, being very bored, I borrowed this book from a friend that was also there (this was the only other book he had in his hands at that moment). I had never read anything from John Cheever before, and I found it quite fascinating. It is very well written and the characters are wonderfully depicted, especially Hammer in his slow descent towards madness, and Nails in his movement from suburbian contentment to suburbian depression. The book manages to be at the same time a satire and a celebration of life in the suburbs of America, with sweet and sour moments alike. I plan to read more Cheever books now.

Psychological Flaws Unexpectedly Unveiled, 03 Jul 2004
If you have not yet read The Wapshot Chronicle, I strongly urge you to read that novel before this one. The Wapshot Scandal is written as a sequel to The Wapshot Chronicle, and the situations and character development in the first book are important background for the second one.

Cousin Honora is back in The Wapshot Scandal, but in an unaccustomed role. She is one of the most original and interesting characters of 20th century literature, and my interest in her grew from reading this book. You will also follow Moses and Coverly through their developing careers, continuing marriages and family life. You will probably grow to be more interested in Coverly than before, because his character also receives much more development. The characters of Melissa, Moses's wife, and Betsy, Coverly's wife, are also nicely filled in from the simple sketches in The Wapshot Chronicle. A major new character is also introduced who serves as the exact opposite to Cousin Honora, Cameron, Coverly's brilliant scientist boss. The other significant new character is a young man whose life will remind you of the adolescent fantasies of teenage males.

What each character has in common is an incompleteness, a weakness so profound that it causes each to be mightily humbled. These weaknesses are exposed as the comfortable facade of social position that has surrounded and protected the Wapshots is gradually stripped away. Some of the characters find new meaning from the changed circumstances, while others find the harshness of life without protection to be unbearable. You will find it rewarding to think about what it means to have "grace under pressure" after reading this book.

Those who like lots of action in their books will find that this story gets off to a slow start, and only speeds up to a fast pace once or twice (depending on your idea of a fast pace). But this leisurely story constantly sets you up for unexpected events, that make you feel like Mr. Cheever has literally pulled the rug out from under your feet. Each time the unexpected blindsided me, I felt like I had been entertained by a master story teller of rare skill. Be especially patient in the beginning. The least amount of action occurs there.

My favorite quality in the book is its unabashed challenge to the following tenets of American life: Work hard; get ahead; have a nice family life in the suburbs; enjoy your friends and neighbors; do the right thing; and find solace in acquiring material possessions. Mr. Cheever clearly makes the case that more is needed to be a good person and to survive within one's own limitations. Some of the comic scenes where consumerism is lampooned are absolutely priceless! The satire aimed at the hypocrites who look down at those who can't cope is so sharp that their heads roll almost without showing blood.

This novel is a good one to savor . . . to read slowly . . . to discuss with others . . . and to reread.

What do you assume you should do with your life? Where do you have evidence that those assumptions may not be right? What goals would better serve you, those you love, those you care about, and everyone you come into contact with? Where is fatal complacency stealing away your opportunities to choose better directions?

If the events in this book happened to you, what would you do?

Psychological Flaws Unexpectedly Unveiled, 30 Jun 2004
If you have not yet read The Wapshot Chronicle, I strongly urge you to read that novel before this one. The Wapshot Scandal is written as a sequel to The Wapshot Chronicle, and the situations and character development in the first book are important background for the second one.

Cousin Honora is back in The Wapshot Scandal, but in an unaccustomed role. She is one of the most original and interesting characters of 20th century literature, and my interest in her grew from reading this book. You will also follow Moses and Coverly through their developing careers, continuing marriages and family life. You will probably grow to be more interested in Coverly than before, because his character also receives much more development. The characters of Melissa, Moses's wife, and Betsy, Coverly's wife, are also nicely filled in from the simple sketches in The Wapshot Chronicle. A major new character is also introduced who serves as the exact opposite to Cousin Honora, Cameron, Coverly's brilliant scientist boss. The other significant new character is a young man whose life will remind you of the adolescent fantasies of teenage males.

What each character has in common is an incompleteness, a weakness so profound that it causes each to be mightily humbled. These weaknesses are exposed as the comfortable facade of social position that has surrounded and protected the Wapshots is gradually stripped away. Some of the characters find new meaning from the changed circumstances, while others find the harshness of life without protection to be unbearable. You will find it rewarding to think about what it means to have "grace under pressure" after reading this book.

Those who like lots of action in their books will find that this story gets off to a slow start, and only speeds up to a fast pace once or twice (depending on your idea of a fast pace). But this leisurely story constantly sets you up for unexpected events, that make you feel like Mr. Cheever has literally pulled the rug out from under your feet. Each time the unexpected blindsided me, I felt like I had been entertained by a master story teller of rare skill. Be especially patient in the beginning. The least amount of action occurs there.

My favorite quality in the book is its unabashed challenge to the following tenets of American life: Work hard; get ahead; have a nice family life in the suburbs; enjoy your friends and neighbors; do the right thing; and find solace in acquiring material possessions. Mr. Cheever clearly makes the case that more is needed to be a good person and to survive within one's own limitations. Some of the comic scenes where consumerism is lampooned are absolutely priceless! The satire aimed at the hypocrites who look down at those who can't cope is so sharp that their heads roll almost without showing blood.

This novel is a good one to savor . . . to read slowly . . . to discuss with others . . . and to reread.

What do you assume you should do with your life? Where do you have evidence that those assumptions may not be right? What goals would better serve you, those you love, those you care about, and everyone you come into contact with? Where is fatal complacency stealing away your opportunities to choose better directions?

If the events in this book happened to you, what would you do?

Psychological Flaws Unexpectedly Unveiled, 06 May 2004
If you have not yet read The Wapshot Chronicle, I strongly urge you to read that novel before this one. The Wapshot Scandal is written as a sequel to The Wapshot Chronicle, and the situations and character development in the first book are important background for the second one.

Cousin Honora is back in The Wapshot Scandal, but in an unaccustomed role. She is one of the most original and interesting characters of 20th century literature, and my interest in her grew from reading this book. You will also follow Moses and Coverly through their developing careers, continuing marriages and family life. You will probably grow to be more interested in Coverly than before, because his character also receives much more development. The characters of Melissa, Moses's wife, and Betsy, Coverly's wife, are also nicely filled in from the simple sketches in The Wapshot Chronicle. A major new character is also introduced who serves as the exact opposite to Cousin Honora, Cameron, Coverly's brilliant scientist boss. The other significant new character is a young man whose life will remind you of the adolescent fantasies of teenage males.

What each character has in common is an incompleteness, a weakness so profound that it causes each to be mightily humbled. These weaknesses are exposed as the comfortable facade of social position that has surrounded and protected the Wapshots is gradually stripped away. Some of the characters find new meaning from the changed circumstances, while others find the harshness of life without protection to be unbearable. You will find it rewarding to think about what it means to have "grace under pressure" after reading this book.

Those who like lots of action in their books will find that this story gets off to a slow start, and only speeds up to a fast pace once or twice (depending on your idea of a fast pace). But this leisurely story constantly sets you up for unexpected events, that make you feel like Mr. Cheever has literally pulled the rug out from under your feet. Each time the unexpected blindsided me, I felt like I had been entertained by a master story teller of rare skill. Be especially patient in the beginning. The least amount of action occurs there.

My favorite quality in the book is its unabashed challenge to the following tenets of American life: Work hard; get ahead; have a nice family life in the suburbs; enjoy your friends and neighbors; do the right thing; and find solace in acquiring material possessions. Mr. Cheever clearly makes the case that more is needed to be a good person and to survive within one's own limitations. Some of the comic scenes where consumerism is lampooned are absolutely priceless! The satire aimed at the hypocrites who look down at those who can't cope is so sharp that their heads roll almost without showing blood.

This novel is a good one to savor . . . to read slowly . . . to discuss with others . . . and to reread.

What do you assume you should do with your life? Where do you have evidence that those assumptions may not be right? What goals would better serve you, those you love, those you care about, and everyone you come into contact with? Where is fatal complacency stealing away your opportunities to choose better directions?

If the events in this book happened to you, what would you do?

Great book, great writing, 13 Dec 2000
Oddly enough, I was going to work as extra in a TV film and, being very bored, I borrowed this book from a friend that was also there (this was the only other book he had in his hands at that moment). I had never read anything from John Cheever before, and I found it quite fascinating. It is very well written and the characters are wonderfully depicted, especially Hammer in his slow descent towards madness, and Nails in his movement from suburbian contentment to suburbian depression. The book manages to be at the same time a satire and a celebration of life in the suburbs of America, with sweet and sour moments alike. I plan to read more Cheever books now.