Reality Is (And Real Woman Are) Enough

"[John Updike’s] descriptions of,...magical doings are cringe-making in the extreme,...

It is when Mr. Updike sets aside the magical mumbo jumbo and his petulant remarks about the witches’ decaying bodies that this imperfect novel is at its most powerful. His leading ladies are more compelling not as supernatural sorceresses but as ordinary women, haunted by the sins of their youth,..."

— Michiko Kakutani, revealing why the whole NewAge schtick sucks the joy out of life, while reviewing "The Widows of Eastwick" in the New York Times.