SOURCE: Bronson, Daniel R. Review of John's Wife, by Robert Coover. World Literature Today 71, no. 2 (spring 1997): 385.

In the following review, Bronson criticizes Coover's weak characterization and loose plotting in John's Wife.

With the opening line of Robert Coover's latest novel, “Once, there was a man named John,” the reader enters a prairie town wherein resides John, a native son “whose considerable resources matched his considerable desires.” A successful builder/developer, John has looks, luck, the cocky assurance and total self-absorption of a former high-school football star, and the town's most beautiful woman as his wife. His is a fairy-tale existence.

John develops things to fit his vision, from the new shopping mall or recreation center to his fellow citizens. Beneath a smooth exterior, he is a ruthless manipulator, crushing any disagreement. That is rarely necessary, because John has something on everyone, both lifelong residents and college friends he...