The afterlife and other stories - John Updike

The twenty-two stories in John Updike's eleventh collection explore life beyond middle age and find it to have its own wonders, from omniscient golf caddies to prescient sexual rumours, from losing mothers togaining grandchildren. As death approaches, some of the ageing heroes find that life takes on a translucence and magical fragility,others thattravel heightens perceptions and tensions. As is usual in Updike's fiction, spouses quarrel, lovers part, children are brave and houses have the presence of personalities. His is a world where innocence stubbornly persists, and fresh beginnings almost outnumber losses.