John Updike’s “The Maples Stories” are a collection of eighteen short stories, written over Mr. Updike’s career, that chronicle the marriage, separation, and divorce of Joan and Richard Maples and their four children. The writing is superb, at times frighteningly honest and other times frighteningly surreal. The author has captured the dissolution of a marriage brilliantly, so brilliantly that if anyone is thinking of getting married I would recommend not reading this wonderful collection.
It has been a long time since I have read any of Mr. Updike’s works. Actually, the last time was 1996 on an airplane ride, on Thanksgiving Day, from Los Angeles to New York. After reading this collection of stories, I definitely see more of Mr. Updike’s works in my future. He is one of a few writers whose use ‘of a stream of consciousness’ heightens the narrative and who James Joyce I think would happily approve.
Joseph Sciuto was born and raised in New York City, where he spent his early years listening to his Italian-American grandmother’s vivid stories about how their family was responsible for building much of the impressive Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State Building. The rich flavor of her stories about their family’s heritage still works its way through his writing.
Sciuto holds degrees from both John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Stony Brook University and a certificate in film studies from New York University. After studying psychology, film, theater, literature, and English as an undergraduate, he relocated to Southern California to attend graduate school at Loyola Marymount University, where he studied writing and film.
Sciuto's next novel, SOFIA, is available on June 27, 2019, following the success of HOLLYWOOD RIPTIDE, TARGETED DEMOGRAPHICS and PER VERSE VENGEANCE.
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A Curious View 