A Month of Sundays (Penguin Modern Classics)

A great book from beginning to end

Tom Marshfield is a married clergyman and father-of-two. Over the course of a month at a desert retreat for disgraced clerics, he recounts his fall from grace. His energetic adultery in the parish was found out, and he was despatched by his church superiors to a Californian resort where he can reflect on his sins. This novel is the result of his introspection. He plays golf and poker and drinks beer, and tells the story of his philandering, without much remorse, as he explores topics such as religious philosophy, and seeks to justify his destructive actions. This is vintage Updike, containing all of the familiar ingredients: mainly adultery and sex, and acute observations of village life. The footnotes are fun, but a bit irritating, and fiddly on a Kindle. I had to reach for the dictionary and translator quite a lot, maybe too much. This novel is in the same terrain as Roger’s Version, but much slighter. Marshfield’s voice is convincingly done, but maybe overdone; a third-person rendering of the story might have been more satisfying. But even if it isn’t always the easiest of reads, this is erudite and priapic prose that won’t disappoint Updike fans. For anyone who hasn’t read Updike before, don’t start here: read the Rabbit novels.

Updike's ear for language remains acute, but the highly stylized language becomes tiresome before I was halfway through the book. Although an interesting take on "The Scarlet Letter," too many of the allusions fall short of their mark. Quick read, not recommended for readers like me who think that "The Scarlet Letter" is the first great work of American fiction. Everybody else, have at it.

I really enjoyed this one. But: I am an Updike fan. He is masterful at getting at the interior life of a character. In this story a minister "goes off the rails morally" and is assigned to a month at a retreat center where only job is to use the mornings to write whatever comes to mind. The book is his daily "diary", with every Sunday's entry being a "sermon". I am not a minister, but as a psychotherapist I've done therapy with many over my long career. Updike seems to be able to really "get at" the issues of loss of faith, or at least the struggle with faith, and human weakness. So for a minister: what to do? The bright shining optimism nurtured in seminary slowly melts... questions become harder. Life intrudes. What to do if you lose faith? Where else do you go for another career when you're mid life? Just stick it out and hope you don't get caught? Face up to it and live in poverty/sense of failure? The best of this book (and some others) is Updike's deep understanding of theology and human struggle. So, if you like, and know a bit about theology (and theologians) and if you want to have an "inside out" look at what many ministers face, this book is fascinating. But: don't expect this book to have a fast paced story with clear beginning/middle/end... just not like that.

As usual, John Updike does not disappoint. This book will slowly draw you in and at times you wonder if you are disgusted with the protagonist or do you feel sorry for him (much like Humbert in Lolita). Then there are times that you feel you are being gas-lighted and seduced. The book touches deeply on human nature and the addiction to the sexual drive. I would recommend it as an easy read, especially for John Updike aficionados.