• Title: In the Beauty of the Lilies
• Author: John Updike
• Genre/Subject: American literature
• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication Date: 1996
• Start date: 5/7/24
• Finish date: 5/14/24

Review:

The title of this book sounded interesting so I grabbed it off the shelf, so having said that I had no idea what to expect. That’s two random selections in a row. I see a pattern here.

But on with the review. This was good, and John Updike is a great writer, great as in winning all sorts of awards and distinctions for his writings. This great writer however, could have used a great editor for this one. The book is divided into four sections and needed only the first three. Up to and including page 360 this would have been a four star, but adding on the last section brought it down to a 3 star. Let’s start at the beginning.

The book begins in 1910 and then follows four generations of the Wilmot family through the 20th century. The first section was actually my favorite, having read America 1908 immediately prior to this I knew the references and was in the know about the fads and obsessions of that decade intimately. Clarence Wilmot is a Presbyterian minister who loses his faith, fails to find work outside of the ministry, and becomes addicted to the new medium of motion-pictures. The narrative encompasses the American involvement in the Great War, the sinking of the Titanic, and the rise of radio and motion pictures. Clarence begat Theodore and…

We pick up with a teen Theodore moving from New Jersey to a small town in Delaware, Basingstoke. After the death of Clarence the money dried up completely and the small Wilmot clan was forced to live with Clarence’s sister. Forced to, but it turned out to be a great situation for them. While not exactly bucolic Basingstoke was a fine example of Hometown, USA. And Theodore begat Esther…

Who as a child believes that all her prayers are always answered, and they continue to be. We follow Esther, now Essie as she gets “into pictures” and becomes Alma DeMott, star of stage and screen. We follow her rise from beauty pageant runner-up through the golden years of Hollywood and its decline with the advent and popularity of television. And Esther begat Clark…

And that is where it should have ended. Everything was tidy and all the ends wrapped up neatly. Instead, Updike blasts out another 130 pages of Clark’s story, a blatantly obvious take on the 1993 Waco siege. Yawn. Like, hmm, is this guy secretly an FBI agent? Yes, and oh look, a charismatic cult leader that defies the law… Give me strength man this was so contrived and specious, like I say, get an editor. Interesting Waco fact, the Waco radio station call sign is W.A.C.O. Cool huh?

So what to say in summary? This is a good book and a compelling read, John Updike is a great author, but brevity is the very soul of good writing and that’s my take.