Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Hitch doesn't like Terrorist? Really...

Christopher Hitchens reviews Updike's Terrorist, and he's not pleased. Not that he often gives much credit to things that support his world view.

Powell's Books - Review-a-Day - Terrorist: A Novel by John Updike, reviewed by The Atlantic Monthly: "He looks at the quotidian crowd in Manhattan, 'scuttling, hurrying, intent in the milky morning sun upon some plan or scheme or hope they are hugging to themselves, their reason for living another day, each impaled live upon the pin of consciousness, fixed upon self-advancement and self-preservation. That and only that.' Insects, in fact. Ahmad resents them for taking away his God, and, really, one is hard put not to empathize with the poor boy. Given some admittedly stiff competition, Updike has produced one of the worst pieces of writing from any grown-up source since the events he has so unwisely tried to draw upon. "

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