The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike

This is a very weird book. I had seen the film years ago and of course could not get Jack Nicholson out of my mind, and I recalled he was clearly cast as the devil himself but I really didn’t pick this up strongly from the book. There were hints at it but I didn’t come away with a strong sense of it. Yes he was devilish in his behaviour, but again he could be almost any man if you want to look at this as a feminist novel. What I did come away with was a strong sense of witchcraft itself. Updike sees it totally tied up with being female, a sensual sexual powerful thing that comes with age and freedom and menstruation, almost a mantle of female power. And then when you get a couple of witches together you end up with a cone of power, a spirally energy that transports them in a way. I’ve had friends that he would have cast as witches, indeed any woman who comes into her own with maturity and strength could end up casting spells. His writing in this book is absolutely Updike, leaping off into convoluted asides and observations that take great concentration. The reader must be engaged in this book, pay attention, because if not stuff slips through and you find yourself asking, what?? So, the story… about three women living in Rhode Island, in the small inward looking town of Eastwick. Their powers have become strong with divorce and they are promiscuous, dangerous women, “bad” mothers, all trying to find their place in the world. Their work and their thinking is stuck in Eastwick. Along comes Darryl , an exotic and mysterious man from New York, who leads them into a life of personal challenges, wild orgies, everything life in small town America is not. I really don’t know what Updike is getting at with this book. Is he commenting on small town America? Is he paying tribute to the mysterious power of women? I understand the story but there’s a lot more to this book and I think it will take some thinking about.