jenny jacksonauthor of pineapple street, is back with shampoo effectPublished today from Pamela Dorman/Viking Books. Below, she discusses how John Updike couple Inspired his new novel.
I grew up in Ipswich, Massachusetts, a seaside town north of Boston famous for three things: beer, clams, and John Updike.
The famous author wrote his greatest books, including Rabbit Novel, while living on East Street, a few blocks from my house. Ipswich is a small town, and Updike was very famous at the time, winning every major literary award and appearing on its cover. life magazine, and is regularly contributing to New Yorker.
But he was not a solitary star; Instead, he was enmeshed in the social fabric of the town, playing volleyball with a large group of friends, raising his young children with a dozen other couples, and having chaotic extramarital affairs with some of them.
In 1968 he published the novel couple, A tale of adultery, unplanned pregnancy, and partner-swapping in a small town in Massachusetts, and readers didn’t need to do much sleuthing to figure out what he was writing about.
The book highlighted Ipswich, portrayed the place as a center of sexual thrills, and caused a moral outrage. Also, this book was a cultural phenomenon, #1 new York Times The bestseller, the biggest success of Updike’s career…
👉 Find Jenny Jackson’s full essay at Book Riot!
