An intoxicating yet sensitive novel about the sexual experiences of ten couples from Tarbox, New England. Well-to-do, sociable, articulate but dangerously unfulfilled; they play word games in the evening and adultery all year round.
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An intoxicating yet sensitive novel about the sexual experiences of ten couples from Tarbox, New England. Well-to-do, sociable, articulate but dangerously unfulfilled; they play word games in the evening and adultery all year round.
Read Less
Add this copy of Couples to cart. $4.78, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1968 by Andre Deutsch.
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This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 700grams, ISBN: 0233960740.
Add this copy of Couples to cart. $5.31, fair condition, Sold by SELL BOOKS LTD rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from London, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1968 by Andre Deutsch.
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Fair. Please see the condition note after this for details, if this is missing please consider Acceptable to mean poor quality that could include major staining, water damage, writing, missing dustjacket, etc etc. Our books are dispatched from a Yorkshire former cotton mill. We list via barcode/ISBN so please note that the images are stock images and may not be the exact copy you receive, furthermore the details about edition and year might not be accurate as many publishers reuse the same ISBN for.
Add this copy of Couples to cart. $5.35, very good condition, Sold by SELL BOOKS LTD rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from London, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1975 by Penguin Books Ltd.
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Very good. Rip to the cover (or dustjacket if hardback), or significant tearing to pages. Our books are dispatched from a Yorkshire former cotton mill. We list via barcode/ISBN so please note that the images are stock images and may not be the exact copy you receive, furthermore the details about edition and year might not be accurate as many publishers reuse the same ISBN for multiple editions and as we simply scan a barcode or enter an ISBN we do not check the validity of the edition data when list.
Add this copy of Couples to cart. $6.71, very good condition, Sold by Greener Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from London, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2001 by Penguin Books Ltd.
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Very good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! Greener Books.
Add this copy of Couples (Penguin Modern Classics) to cart. $9.20, good condition, Sold by M Godding Books Ltd rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Devizes, WILTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2007 by Penguin Classics.
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Good. Size: 19 to 25 cm tall, Octavo, (8vo); . Posted within 1 working day. 1st class tracked post to the UK, Airmail tracked worldwide. Robust recyclable packaging.
Add this copy of Couples to cart. $10.16, good condition, Sold by M Godding Books Ltd rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Devizes, WILTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1982 by Andre Deutsch.
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Good. Good Jacket. Size: 8x1x9; Foxing on the endpapers. 1982 fifth impression Posted within 1 working day. 1st class tracked post to the UK, Airmail tracked worldwide. Robust recyclable packaging.
Add this copy of Couples to cart. $12.00, like new condition, Sold by GreatBookPricesUK5 rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Castle Donington, DERBYSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2007 by Penguin Classics.
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Fine. B-format paperback. Penguin Modern Classics . In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of Couples to cart. $12.04, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2007 by Penguin Classics.
Add this copy of Couples to cart. $12.14, new condition, Sold by GreatBookPricesUK5 rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Castle Donington, DERBYSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2007 by Penguin Classics.
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New. B-format paperback. Penguin Modern Classics . In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of Couples to cart. $14.90, fair condition, Sold by Anybook rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1968 by Andre Deutsch.
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Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. Clean from markings. In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. Dust jacket in fair condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 750grams, ISBN: 0233960740.
John Updike once said that the thesis of his 1968 novel is that "sex is the emergent religion," and that point is rather heavy-handedly dramatized with the symbolic conflagration of the small New England town's church at the close of the novel.
Tarbox is the name of the town, and that too is overly freighted with symbolism as a place where exurban young marrieds come to settle, stall in their careers, feel a staleness in their marriages, and cannot escape.
Set in the early Sixties on the cusp of change, before and after President Kennedy's assassination, the novel does well as a tragicomedy of suburban manners--the bibulous dinner parties, the social cruelty of their parlor games, the afternoon basketball games, the neglect of children.
If the novel can be said to have a protagonist, it is Piet Hanema, a building contractor whose affairs are recounted with an astonishing scrupulosity. A critic has said that Couples is Updike's most Joycean book in its sexual candor, but it fails to measure up to the work of that modernist master, because Updike's vaunted prose style--part Flaubert, part Nabokov--falters at moments, and the novel feels airless and claustrophobic in a way Ulysses' encyclopedia capaciousness and prose parodies don't.
Updike's weakness, critic Wilfrid Sheed wrote, isn't too much beauty but "too much precision," and that seems right to me. At times in this novel, the author writes more like a clinician diagnosing a social malady than a novelist fully in love with his characters.
