{"id":2364,"date":"2014-08-07T13:29:28","date_gmt":"2014-08-07T18:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/?p=2364"},"modified":"2014-08-07T13:29:28","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T18:29:28","slug":"a-book-a-read-recommends-the-coup-and-a-saharan-martini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/2014\/08\/07\/a-book-a-read-recommends-the-coup-and-a-saharan-martini\/","title":{"rendered":"A Book & A Read recommends The Coup and a Saharan Martini"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screen<\/a>You’ve heard of dinner and a movie? Well, why not a book and a drink? That’s what led Toronto Star<\/em>‘s Bruce DeMara<\/strong> to come up with a book and a compatible drink every Thursday this summer.<\/p>\n

“Reading can be thirsty work. And so, every Thursday this summer, to acknowledge that prose can inspire our minds as well as what’s in our glass, we recommend a weekend read\u2014a book that elicits the heat, the smell, the feel of summer\u2014and a recipe for the perfect drink accompaniment.”<\/p>\n

His recommendation for Thursday, August 7, 2014? John Updike’s 1978 satirical novel The Coup<\/em><\/strong>, set in the fictional sub-Saharan African nation of Kush, and a Saharan Martini, made from Amarula cream liquor and garnished with dark chocolate shavings. The recipe is included in the article, “A Book & A Read: The Coup’s desert setting will leave you parched.”<\/a><\/p>\n

“This is a novel that will have you feeling parched from the opening pages,” DeMara writes. “Updike’s description of desiccated trees and animals, sun-blasted rock, blistering desert and withering heat is relentless. Although the protagonist is a devout Muslim and therefore an abstainer, the novel makes passing reference to Russian vodka, palm wine, guinea-corn beer and Kaikai.”<\/p>\n

And why is it worth the read?<\/p>\n

“As grim as the setting may be, the novel has much to recommend it, including an array of interesting characters\u2014among them Ellellou’s four very different wives\u2014and a comically absurdist tone. There’s an archly satirical streak throughout, skewering colonialism, consumerism, religion and Cold War geopolitics. Updike’s prose is, as always, challenging in its detail but evocative and rewarding.”<\/p>\n

Pictured is the Saharan Martini, photo by Chris So.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’ve heard of dinner and a movie? Well, why not a book and a drink? That’s what led Toronto Star‘s Bruce DeMara to come up with a book and a compatible drink every Thursday this summer. “Reading can be thirsty … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-person-singular","category-lost-and-found"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2366,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364\/revisions\/2366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}