A&P started rather slowly I felt. It took a fair amount of time to get into the actual meat of the story. That being said the long lead-up was entirely worth it. The subtle and slow-moving wiring style matched perfectly with the story that was being told. The writing style also seemed to fit the time period extremely well, it also suited the setting of the story. The story was set in the 80’s from what I can gather in a quiet suburb. It is far more likely that it takes place even earlier than the 80’s. The feeling I got from reading the story and the reactions of people in the story leads me to believe it is from the 70’s. I love the fact that the story had a rather depressing and sad ending. It had an amazing amount of build-up, Updike could have achieved any ending he desired from the way the story was written. The way he chose to end it was superb.
In particular the description used is fabulous. His writing when describing the people and characters in the story was simply amazing. His use of emotionally loaded words sears the images he is attempting to create into the readers mind. Also, his ending was purely marvelous. The utter and complete despair felt by the main character is palpable. This was truly a demonstration of wonderful writing.
The majority of this story is description, description housed within the narrative of the author.
Everything is given a vast amount of detail. With this he moves from writing a simple story into painting a vivid picture for the reader. We are almost able to see the bathing suits and dismal check stands. We are able to feel the stern aura surrounding the manager. A small amount of dialogue is added to pepper meaning into the truly important parts of the story. All of this is wrapped with the beautiful descriptive writing Updike uses.
