THE WIDOWS OF EASTWICK
John Updike
Ballantine Books
Fiction
Hardcover: 9780307269607
Paperback: 9780345506979
More than 30 years has passed since the three lusty, thirty-something divorcees of Eastwick, Rhode Island, romped through the bedrooms of nearly every married man in town, casting their spells and rightfully earning their reputations as wicked witches of the East. After accidentally murdering a local woman with their ill-conceived magical mischief, they left the village behind and were never heard from again.
Together, they attracted a powerful current of wickedness, but apart they were nothing more or less than normal women pursuing normal lives with husbands, careers and families. They have kept in casual contact over the years with the occasional card or phone call, but without their mysterious cone of power, their interests have diverged.
Now approaching age 70, the women are all widowed. Alexandra, the eldest and perhaps most caring of the three, has settled near Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband, who has gained fame as a potter. When he dies, she stokes her wanderlust with a trip to Canada. Upon her return she finds a letter from Jane, the dour, acidic one of the trio, who has recently lost her husband and suggests an overseas trip. In Egypt, Jane puckishly tries a small spell in a pharaoh's tomb --- just to see if the old sizzle is still there. Startled, Alexandra thinks she sees the mummy move but, not anxious to bring back the old days, ignores it. On a trip to China, another ancient artifact seems oddly alive in Jane's presence, and she suspects that her friend is up to her old tricks.
When they return from their second trip, they hear from Sukie, the younger, vivacious cellist, that she too has lost her husband. Sukie now lives in Massachusetts, and they invite her to join them on another overseas adventure. Her financial situation is not as secure as her two old friends, so she suggests that they spend the summer back in Eastwick. When they hear that the mansion where they first discovered their powers under the spell of Daryl Van Horn has been turned into a timeshare condo property, they rent a suite.
Alexandra, Jane and Sukie may have put Eastwick behind them, but Eastwick hasn’t forgotten them. Someone or something there is out for retribution, and the ladies discover that the devilish Daryl Van Horn’s experiments with electrical currents may have some lasting effects. The temptation to regenerate their old powers proves irresistible, and they lure the person they suspect is doing them harm to the scene of their former magical experimentations with unexpected and tragic results.
The Widows of Eastwick, like all mortal souls, are diminished by their years yet strengthened by their experience. As they encounter their old lovers and rivals, they are confronted with sometimes ugly and often amusing truths about themselves.
John Updike’s mastery of our language and uncanny ability to touch on women’s inner psyches holds this story of aging beauty together perhaps better than the plot. His introspective musings on the human experience of watching advancing years chip away at our still youthful desires and ambitions is at once wistful, painful and intuitive. Updike is legion among novelists who chronicle vivid characters (for example the Rabbit series) through meaningful introspection. More than just a roguishly timed publication about witches (it is almost Halloween after all), THE WIDOWS OF EASTWICK will haunt the reader’s self-awareness of time’s cruel inevitability.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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