Author: John Updike

The movie, with Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michele Pfeiffer and Jack Nicholson, was so much fun I expected to really like the book. Not so.

Had I not remembered from the movie that the women had “powers” I think I would have been confused by the book. The three witches all live in a small town, and appear to have gained their power after their divorces. They all take mostly married lovers which leads, in some cases, to disastrous endings. When an eccentric gentleman comes to town the women vie for his attention, before all of them fall under his spell. When he choses to marry outside of their ranks, his new wife suffers the consequences.

I looked at the movie plot just now, and I don’t think the movie follows the book very closely. There is some disagreement (among Google posts) as to which is better.