While “Separating” features Richard and Joan Maple—the same couple from his earlier classic “The Happiest I’ve Been”—you don’t need to know the backstory. This story stands entirely on its own as a masterclass in how to write about the end of a marriage. The plot is deceptively simple: Richard and Joan Maple have decided to divorce after decades of marriage. The story takes place over a single weekend as they face the most agonizing part of the process: telling their four children .
John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning chronicler of American middle-class life, had a unique gift for finding profound drama in quiet, domestic moments. Perhaps no story exemplifies this better than “Separating,” a sharp, heartbreaking, and darkly comic tale from his 1975 collection, Problems and Other Stories . separating by john updike
Absolutely. It’s short (only about 15 pages), available online and in The Early Stories: 1953-1975 , and it will change how you think about the quiet catastrophes happening behind the closed doors of your own neighborhood. The story takes place over a single weekend