Perhaps Updike has read too many adulatory reviews of his work proclaming things like 'Updike is a master, he can do anything he wants'. He took a short trip to Brazil and wrote a novel about it. Unfortunately, this is a challenge too far for the granddaddy of American letters. His use of the Tristan and Isolde myth to create a tale of two young lovers: a lithe, poor street boy and a privileged girl is full of wistful cliches about glistening sand, Marxist politics and mahogany tight skins entwining in feral sex. Updike's Brazil fails to convince as his portraits of East Coast America do. The reality is far more complex and wilder than can be done justice by Updike's polished pen.