Couples

A Novel

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Ari Fliakos

The provocative novel about sex in suburbia, striking in its complete sexual frankness and rightly praised as an artful, seductive, savagely graphic portrayal of love, marriage and adultery in America.

Critic reviews

“Couples [is] John Updike’s tour de force of extramarital wanderlust.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Trapped in their cozy catacombs, the couples have made sex by turns their toy, their glue, their trauma, their therapy, their hope, their frustration, their revenge, their narcotic, their main line of communication and their sole and pitiable shield against the awareness of death.”—Time

“Ingenious . . . If this is a dirty book, I don’t see how sex can be written about at all.”—Wilfrid Sheed, The New York Times Book Review

This book made me feel replete

I have not read any of Updike’s work before this but I will be looking for more. At times poetic, cynical, and poignant, this book to me read like a commentary on the human condition in middle class life - and I’m not sure all that much has changed. I have not read any analyses of this book but I would be interested to do so. It felt very candid and relatable despite having been written so many decades ago. Carefully crafted, and wonderfully narrated.

Could not finish

I couldn't finish this book. It was very boring and drawn out. It takes pages to get to the point of a conversation that doesn't matter for the rest of the book. I was recommended this novel by multiple friends and am very disappointed I spent money on it.