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The Penguin Book of the City edited by Robert Drewe

by
September 1997, no. 194

The Penguin Book of the City edited by Robert Drewe

Penguin, $17.95 hb, 382 pp

The Penguin Book of the City edited by Robert Drewe

by
September 1997, no. 194

This attractive collection of short pieces – mostly fiction – reminded me of the old music-hall adage: start with a bang and leave the best acts till the end. Robert Drewe’s selection certainly begins with a bang. John Updike’s ‘The City’ is the story of a man who arrives in a unnamed city, and sees no more of it than an anonymous hotel room and the hospital where he has his appendix removed. By the end of this cunningly crafted fable, we realise that the city’s fascination for Carson, the central character, is directly related to its being unknown, unseen and as much a cipher (and perhaps a menace too) as it was when he arrived, decidedly queasy from the airline’s freeze-dried peanuts – or so he thought at the time.

Andrew Riemer reviews 'The Penguin Book of the City' edited by Robert Drewe

The Penguin Book of the City

edited by Robert Drewe

Penguin, $17.95 hb, 382 pp

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