John Updike describes his story, especially everyone in it, very clearly. He described their personality in a way that no one has ever read before. “She came down a little hard on her heels, as if she didn’t walk in her bare feet that much, putting down her heels and then letting the weight move along to her toes as if she was testing the floor with every step, putting a little deliberate extra action into it. You never know for sure how girls’ minds work (do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?) but you got the idea she had talked the other two into coming in here with her, and now she was showing them how to do it, walk slow and hold yourself straight.” ([p. 1] A&P by John Updike) By describing every single detail of the story, “She had on a kind of dirty-pink—beige maybe, I don’t know—bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down. They were off her shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of her arms, and I guess as a result the suit had slipped a little on her, so all around the top of the cloth there was this shining rim. If it hadn’t been there you wouldn’t have known there could have been anything whiter than those shoulders, with the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light. I mean, it was more than pretty.” ([p. 1] A&P by John Updike) it makes the story realistic.

The story is described in a way we see the world, which might have happened to us in the pastime. The author wrote the story as if he was telling it to us. The story is concise, but it is enough to catch any young or adult reader and make them read it till the end. John Updike was not embarrassed to make himself the main character and talk about his feelings, which might amaze you. The story was published in June 1961. The story takes place in summer and it seems that the time of the story is taking place in 1961. John is telling his story as if he was telling you the story that happened in the pastime including his opinion on his story and what his parents thought of his action.

The engaging voice in the story makes the story even more interesting to read. The other is telling his story from two perspectives. Although the story is short and the outline might be obvious, there are still some parts that the engaging voice tells us by a little. The voice is really engaging as the entire story its self; which really suits the style of writing. A&P by John Updike was an enjoyable story, and written in a way, that people might like to read.