Bech: A Book Paperback - 1998

First line

STUDENTS (not unlike yourselves) compelled to buy paperback copies of his novels-notably the first, Travel Light, though there has lately been some academic interest in his more surreal and "existential" and perhaps even "anarchist" second novel, Brother Pig-or encountering some easy from When the Saints in a shiny heavy anthology of mid-century literature costing $12.50, imagine that Henry Beck, like thousands less famous than he, is rich.

From the jacket flap

In this classic novel by John Updike, we return to a character as compelling and timeless as Rabbit Angstrom: the inimitable Henry Bech. Famous for his writer's block, Bech is a Jew adrift in a world of Gentiles. As he roams from one adventure to the next, he views life with a blend of wonder and cynicism that will make you laugh with delight and wince in recognition.

Media reviews

“[John] Updike’s most delightful book . . . Truly entertaining.”—Harper’s
 
“Updike has written his most appealing [work].”—The Boston Sunday Globe
 
“Bech succeeds marvelously. . . . One falls into the book and through it and out the other side of it as effortlessly as one might slide through a polished aluminum table in a funhouse. . . . A deft poke at what it means to be a writer in America.”—The New York Times

Citations

• Entertainment Weekly, 02/13/2009, Page 60