by John Updike
First published 1996
Piet Hanema moves through the affluent suburbs of Tarbox, Massachusetts, where married couples gather for cocktail parties that blur into bedroom swapping. The carpenter finds himself drawn into a web of affairs that entangle him with his neighbors' wives. As sexual liberation collides with traditional marriage vows, Piet discovers that his own union with Angela grows more distant while his desires pull him toward other women. The comfortable veneer of suburban respectability cracks under the weight of infidelity, jealousy, and broken promises. Updike exposes the raw mechanics of desire and betrayal among educated, middle-class Americans who thought they could remake the rules of love and marriage.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, adult-fiction
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: infidelity, love-triangle
Setting: Massachusetts, Tarbox
Period: 20th-century
Paperback · Rowohlt