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Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels (Rabbit Angstrom #1-4)

by John Updike

4.26 · Rating Details · 1,424 Ratings · 145 Reviews

Newly revised by the author for this edition, and printed together in one volume for the first time, Updike's four Rabbit novels chronicle the history of a man and a nation from the 1950s to the 1980s. Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom, athlete, is Mr Middle America. Dazzling in style, tender in feeling, often erotic in description and coruscating with realistic details which recrea ...more

Hardcover, 1520 pages

Published October 17th 1995 by Everyman's Library (first published October 17th 1994)

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Jul 06, 2011 Jan-Maat added it

Shelves: usa, novel, 20th-century

There are books that have a reputation, that many people seem to enjoy, but with which you can find no connection at all. When I finished reading these Rabbit books I wondered why I had persisted. Looking at it as a whole I have the impression that the author was writing magical realism from a strictly realistic perspective - he appears to be making broad statements about the experience of for example race, or adulthood, as felt by a certain slice of the US population specifically a white, male ...more

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Aug 02, 2010 Liza Martin rated it really liked it

Before embarking on the journey through Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom's life, I read a lot of the reviews on the first novel, "Rabbit, Run," and many readers expressed a strong dislike for the main character.

To all of those who disliked or even hated Harry: You don't know good literature when you read it!

Sure, Harry is no hero, but he's not an anti-hero, either. You don't like him throughout the series, but you can't hate him, either. He's just a normal man who makes mistakes, with minimal accomplishm ...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Steven rated it it was amazing

After a particularly unengaging two years of study I promised myself an extravagance – a big novel, for no reason. Something that I had been meaning to read for ten years or so, something american now. (Living in a colony, most of my novels have been british.) The last American novels were more than twenty years ago, Moby Dick and Lolita (American?). I picked the Rabbit Tetralogy.

Individually the books are enjoyable, immersionable even. But reading in a continuous uninterrupted sequence amplifie ...more

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Jan 26, 2009 Bronwen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fiction-and-memoir

Updike's Rabbit Angstrom novels really got to me. When I finished the last one, I put it down and burst into tears. I wrote to Updike to tell him that, and he wrote back.

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Jun 10, 2010 Stacie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, favorites, classic, american-lit

Although it took me five months to complete, I've enjoyed every minute of it. Following the life of Rabbit Angstrom has become one of my favorite literary experiences. The themes of sex, ego, race, religion, family, and drugs influence the character through every part of this four-book series. Updike's writing is best displayed in these works; his descriptions of suburban life in Pennsylvania are easy to picture and relate to, especially as someone who grew up in the area as I did. Yet there are ...more

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Nov 24, 2008 Brendan rated it it was amazing

Fifteen-hundred-and-sixteen pages later and I wish John Updike had written more. This is an amazing achievement of a story and I love every page of it.

Backstory:
In 2005 I was staying in Italy with a recovering professor of mine. I think when you are twenty-three and you're touring Italy with a girlfriend you should have a grand old party. But I ended up staying at Unsworth's house for a week solid. They even insisted that we return the rental car and they would arrange to get us to Assissi and ...more

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Sep 05, 2015 Greg Z rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed

I read these four novels in July and August of this year. Of the four, I think "Rabbit Run" is the best with the final "Rabbit at Rest" a close second. I could feel outside influences at work with the middle two; therefore they seemed more reactive in nature than original visions. Originally, the publishers refused Updike's first "Rabbit Run" submission as too graphic: readers apparently were deemed too sensitive in 1960. But by the mid-60s, Updike was allowed to publish his original vision. Per I read these four novels in July and August of this year. Of the four, I think "Rabbit Run" is the best with the final "Rabbit at Rest" a close second. I could feel outside influences at work with the middle two; therefore they seemed more reactive in nature than original visions. Originally, the publishers refused Updike's first "Rabbit Run" submission as too graphic: readers apparently were deemed too sensitive in 1960. But by the mid-60s, Updike was allowed to publish his original vision. Perhaps profits from "Valley of the Dolls" indicated to the publishers that readers could indeed handle Updike's edgy, raw, brutal, disturbing vision of a man who, like millions of other people, were trapped into the "1950s-Happy-Days-Dream-World" that never existed. 1970's "Rabbit Redux" takes "Run" to extremes: I could feel Updike typing away whatever came to mind, just because he could. "Redux" was almost unreadable for me, not because "Redux" approaches porn, it's just that there was no need for the "c" word to appear relentlessly, over and over, just cause. Then, ten years later, Updike gives us "Rabbit is Rich" which isn't the sledgehammer of "Redux", but Rabbit oddly gives us endless descriptions of what he thinks guy's genitals might look like. Is Updike now responding to criticism of his use of the "c" word in the previous book? "Didn't like it, readers, well, on the other hand..." Then at last we get "Rabbit is Rich" which to me seems like an original vision outside of the thoughts of critics or readers. These four books together do constitute a great read, it's just that only the first and last seem to be the writer's true, singular vision of Rabbit Angstrom. I've read Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time" from the 1950s, I've read two books of Knausgard's "My Struggle" and I'm now reading Proust's "Swann's Way". These are huge, brilliant one-of-a-kind works, separated by about 25 years or so. Arguably, "Rabbit Angstrom" is among the best fiction of the past century. And let's not forget that the final two, "Rich" and "Rest" won Pulitzers. Sometimes painful, relentlessly raw, this is "can't miss" writing, a vision like no other.
...more

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Oct 31, 2014 Charles rated it it was amazing

I spent half a year with John Updike’s characters, reading other novels between each instalment and eventually coming back to Harry Angstrom and his family. With absolute delight, I should add. Other reviewers on Goodreads have complained about Rabbit’s lack of morals. While I can see how the protagonist can rub off people the wrong way, at the same time I can’t imagine how a reader wouldn’t feel privileged to gain so clear an insight into the mind of your average middle-class neighbour in Ameri ...more

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Nov 12, 2014 Eileen Dooley rated it it was amazing

Absolutely worth the re-read thirty years after the original read.
Language is a vivid second time around, and what was new then is history now. Misogyny even creepier now, no female imperfection misses the gimlet eye. Occasioned a re-read of his bio and a driving trip through Updike-land to see his house, school, graveyard and the dreaded farm - all still there and a lot of familiar secondary character names on tombstones - no RIP there.

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Oct 20, 2007 Melissa rated it really liked it

If I met Rabbit Angstrom, I'd probably want to punch him in the face, and I hated every minute of reading about his internal life. But I loved all the details of his changing America, his crumbling family, and his slow dissolution. As frustrating as these books were emotionally, I put every one down praising Updike as a writer.

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Mar 16, 2009 Andrew rated it it was ok

Good writing is not enough.

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Apr 04, 2012 Meinarva rated it it was amazing

Shelves: everyman-s-library

Probably four of the very best modern novels i have ever read.

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Jan 14, 2011 Jessie Young rated it really liked it

I read books 1 and 2 in a different volume, but picked this one up because it was used and it ended up being $10 cheaper to buy this used volume than to just pick up the paperback versions of 3 and 4. Since finishing, I've switched to reading on my new Kindle. The juxtaposition of this 1500 page mammoth and the Kindle makes reading on a Kindle feel almost like cheating.

But perhaps the weight of this novel is a good thing. Makes you work for closure on Rabbit's life, rather than breezing through ...more

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Dec 15, 2007 Jim rated it it was amazing

Rabbit Run

The technical style of the book is hard to beat. There is a clear plot, minor characters that come to life, settings that are at once natural and resonant, and a deeper meaning to the story that comes out without long philosophical expositions. In short, this is as good as the realistic novel gets.

Reading the reviews on Goodreads, I am amazed at the number of people who see Updike as a misogynist. I suppose it must be because Rabbit treats women so badly and Updike tries to understan ...more

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May 14, 2014 Jay Hawk rated it it was amazing

Having read these 4 novels one after another, I couldn't have even considered picking up another novel until I had finished. I don't believe it matters whether you like or dislike Rabbit; the writing is what it is all about.

Personally I liked Rabbit and all his failings. Updike is possibly the most honest author I have ever come across - especially when dealing with the male experience. Rabbit thinks as many men think, whether poor, rust belt American or not. Male readers who claim they haven't ...more

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Jun 12, 2015 Charles Harper rated it it was amazing

I read rabbit run and about half od redux. I'm about rabbits age in rabbit run. I decided to wait ten years to read the second, then ten more years for the third and so on

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Oct 03, 2011 WordsBeyondBorders rated it really liked it

Last week I was reading an article by John Updike and was struck (as usual) by the simplicity and lucidness of his prose. That got me thinking about his works that I have read and the result is this post on the Rabbit series of novels. The Rabbit tetralogy is a series of 4 novels written by John Updike, tracing the life of 'Harry Rabbit Angstrom', from his mid 20's to the next 4 decades. The novels were also written over a period of 4 decades with one novel being published in one decade starting Last week I was reading an article by John Updike and was struck (as usual) by the simplicity and lucidness of his prose. That got me thinking about his works that I have read and the result is this post on the Rabbit series of novels. The Rabbit tetralogy is a series of 4 novels written by John Updike, tracing the life of 'Harry Rabbit Angstrom', from his mid 20's to the next 4 decades. The novels were also written over a period of 4 decades with one novel being published in one decade starting from 1960. Updike has been one of the foremost exponents in describing the small town American middle class and his concerns are those of the average middle class American, his marital life, affairs, moving into middle age and coping with it, the final descent into old age. Though there would be disagreements on what his best work was, the Rabbit series consist of, by far his most famous books. Rather than referring one book, it would be better to give information on the whole series so that it offers a clearer view to a prospective reader. So it's going to be a big post.

Rabbit Run (1960) - This is the first novel in the series. As the novel starts, we encounter Harry (Rabbit), who is in his mid twenties, married with a pregnant wife (Janice). He already has a son Nelson. He has been a high school basket ball star, but that is all in the past and his 15 minutes of fame has been used up. Now he is a normal, one among many person trying to make ends meet. He sees a some kids playing basket ball and something snaps in him. He leaves his family and town and start driving aimlessly. He changes his mind and meets his old coach. While with him, he meets 'Ruth' a hooker and starts living with her. Janice meanwhile goes to her parents place. A church minister tries to reconcile Harry to live with his family, but has no success. Later Harry returns home, after his wife gives birth to a girl child. He pressurizes Janice to have sex with her, but she refuses. Harry leaves again to see Ruth. Meanwhile Janice gets drunk due to the fight and their new born daughter drowns. Rabbit returns for the funeral and again loses control and runs into the woods. Returns (again) to Ruth, learns that she is pregnant by him. But he does not take the step to leave Janice, nor is he willing to live with Ruth. Rabbit runs again for the last time (in this novel) and the novel ends here.
As can be seen from the above lines, Rabbit is always on the run from thing or the other. He seems to be basically a loser, a wimp one who cannot face situations and runs aways from it not thinking about the consequences. So what makes this character and the whole series compelling to continue with the other novels. For once the prose, the exquisite prose of Updike. Updike is referred to as America's man of letters and deservedly so. His preoccupation is with the mundane and everyday life is so rich in its prose and imagery that you cannot help be sucked into it. (He can be too flowery at times). And as the series proceeds, the reader can see the characters evolving so that what you finally see are 3 dimensional characters who have their own smooth and rough edges. The first few pages of this novel where Updike describes a small American town is incredible, there is no description of the people, just the landscapes, buildings, the woods are so evocative that you feel a connect with the story immediately.

Rabbit Redux (1971)- This is the second novel in the series. Harry is his 30's now, approaching middle age and stuck in staid matrimony and job. Janice who was pretty much a minor character in the first part is much evolved here. She is now working in her father's office. She has an affair with her co-worker and leaves him. Rabbit, true to form indulges in his own way of coping with it, but shacking with a afro-american veteran of the Vietnam war (Skeeter) and Jill a runaway white girl. They stay together, with Nelson who is now a young boy. Harry does not seem to care for the impact his lifestyle could have on Nelson (comes in the next novels). They live a decadent sort of life style, debating about race (60's were the period of Martin Luther King, race riots in America), doing drugs without a care. During one such orgy a fire breaks out killing Jill. There is no news of Skeeter. Finally at the end, Harry starts to live with Janice again. The novel ends here.
One could ask again what is so good about this part of the novel too. Adultery, a decadent life style, so what's there for the reader. Rabbit too does not seem to be a much better person, so why continue with the series. Well, for one, well defined morally right characters is not a pre-requisite for good literature (where would Madame Bovary be if this rule is applied). The other thing is, the detailing that Updike invests in these characters, in their actions which show another light to them. Lets consider what happens when Rabbit comes to know of his wife's affair. There has been some rumors, but he has not thought much of it. When Janice accepts it, what happens? No angry arguments, tears or blame game. He slaps her and they have sex. Nothing erotic in it, just 2 persons probably for whom the tension they have been under the past weeks or months is now over, since the truth is out and sex is just an outlet for the emotions coming out due to it. It is moments like these that elevate the novel.
The first 2 parts in the series are probably the best in my personal opinion. But the next 2 were the ones that were awarded the Pulitzer prize. Well, there is no accounting for taste right :). BTW, I think Updike is the only person to have got 2 Pulitzers for fiction. (Not 100% sure)

Rabbit is Rich (1981) - Rabbit is rich, well not quite so. Janice has inherited her father's Automobile dealer ship and is now a more mature and confident person. She has also got into drinking habit which worries Harry. Nelson is now grown up and is having his own problems. (It is implied these could be due to what he saw and experienced as a kid, as mentioned in the first a parts). Harry is becoming conscious of middle age and of losing his libido. Rabbit and Janice go to a resort with 3 other couples and indulge in wife swapping. Here too, Updike does not do anything for titillation, but mirrors the sexual freedom that came into being in the 60's and 70's overriding the moral pores of the previous decades. It also serves as attempts by Rabbit to reassert his libido and his desirability to women. We see a man who has come to a position where is well to do (thought it is his wife who owns the dealership), but still not satisfied with what he has, worrying about falling into the morass of middle age. He starts thinking about Ruth (from the first part) and wonders about what happened to her and the kid. Nothing actually gets resolved in this part and personally seems to be the set up for the final part. Updike's prose though is as good as ever and incisive in decoding the mind of the various characters. Rabbit's relation with Ronnie, a former school basket ball classmate comes into focus here. Ronnie is a minor character in the first part, but here he has also done well in life and is part of the circle the Harry moves in. Harry has always been the star the basket team and Ronnie resents him for that and that is understandable. But Harry too seems to have a grouse against him, no more than a grouse, it could be a sneaky feeling that maybe Ronnie was the better player. Harry has an affair with Ronnie's wife, though it is not something he actually wants. (He desires a much younger wife of a person, who is also his club member and is unhappy when he does not get her during the wife swapping).

Rabbit At Rest - 1990
Harry is old, overweight and perennially gloomy. Nelson has married Pru, but has got into drug addiction and substance abuse. Rabbit spends a lot of time with his wife at Florida, with Nelson running the business. But Nelson goofs up due to his addictions and the dealership is lost. This affects Harry more. He has a heart attack. While at hospital, Rabbit meets a woman who he thinks could be his daughter from Ruth. He travels to the place where the woman lives thinking of meeting her and Ruth, but true to his character, leaves the place without facing up to the facts. He never knows if she was indeed her daughter. This is probably the best part of the novel comes, Harry's thoughts on the woman, his indecision on whether to go to her home, and finally running away from the confrontation. Another poignant moment is the funeral of Ronnie's wife, where Ronnie confronts Harry about having an affair with his wife. At the end, both of them form some sort of reconciliation, not out of affection or respect, but maybe due to the fact that death is a great leveler and beyond that there is no worth in recriminations or ages hold misunderstandings. It is a symbol of the old age they are into where most things that seemed important earlier seem trivial now. But then Harry goofs up again. In an act of insanity, he has a one night stand with Nelson's wife Pru. Janice and Nelson come to know about it. Harry runs again (for the last time) to Florida. There, in a cyclical turn of events he plays a one-on-one basket ball game with a young man and suffers a heart attack. He is admitted to the hospital where Janice and Nelson see him. The cycle has come full.

It has always been interesting to me that Updike wrote this novel over 4 decades, so that, while the characters aged, the author too aged. Now, how would the novel have been if it had been say, written as a single volume covering the same period of 40 years. For one, it would need to have been set in the 20s and end in 50s. Updike could not have surely incorporated in each part the essence of the decade that it represents first hand (race relations in the 60's, more sexual freedom in the 70's). Would it have been better it had been written as a single volume or does the changes and evolution in perspective that the author (or anyone for that matter) undergoes enhances what he writes. But whatever the case, this is one heck of a series and best read together. Reading one at a time, would not do justice to its content. However, if you are new to Updike and wary of getting into 4 books of an author upfront, you could start of with this short stories to get an idea of his works, themes and concerns. If you have already some of his works and like them, this series is for you.
P.S - The novels are available as a single omnibus collection (at least the first 3 are), so buying them like that makes sense both monetarily as well as lessens the hassle of having 4 different books, so if you plan to buy this series go for the omnibus edition. ...more

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Jul 19, 2017 Montcrieff rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-best-friends, american-bourbon-on-rocks, series-seriously

Updike examines three decades in the life of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, a typical American man struggling with responsibility and relationships. The novels address the issues of sex, death, parenthood, and faith in the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's.

Rabit is a former basketball star, who was so frustrated in the early years of his marriage to Janice Springer, that he runs away form his responsibilities on more than one occasion. After more than a decade of strained relationships, he and Janice settle ...more

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Dec 29, 2009 Angela rated it liked it

Since this is, essentially, four separate novels, I took it upon myself to review them separately. Now that's dedication.

Overall: Updike knows how to set a scene. The first novel takes place in an era I wasn't around to experience, but I was there. I got it. These novels teach you something about America, what we think is important and how we cope. And it's depressing. Also: even if you hate the characters, and have a dislike of the story itself, you can't deny that Updike is a fantastic writer. ...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Conroywt rated it really liked it

Rabbit Redux: In my mind, this was better than the first and third entries in the Rabbit Angstrom novels. Updike's creation of characters that seem to represent more than just an individual on the page is so easy for him. Jill a flower child, Skeeter a Vietnam War Vet, Mim an emigrant to the west to pursue a hedonistic life style and Rabbit--all rendered to make them individuals first, emblems of a disparate America second. Rabbit, untethered by but also indifferent to his wife's infidelities, s Rabbit Redux: In my mind, this was better than the first and third entries in the Rabbit Angstrom novels. Updike's creation of characters that seem to represent more than just an individual on the page is so easy for him. Jill a flower child, Skeeter a Vietnam War Vet, Mim an emigrant to the west to pursue a hedonistic life style and Rabbit--all rendered to make them individuals first, emblems of a disparate America second. Rabbit, untethered by but also indifferent to his wife's infidelities, seeks to connect to each of these disparate elements and succeeds in a way with all of them but with the price of corrupting his son, scandalizing his neighbors and ultimately seeing his home in middle America go up in flames. There is a sort of twisted hope in Rabbit, and undying optimism he sees in people and the willingness to try to connect, even if only through apathetic sexual intercourse, with all and everyone. Framed by the moon landing that Updike places on each fictional television screen in his novel, Rabbit is lost in the middle of America, but willing to try to dock with whatever else is out there, trying sometimes in vain to connect to something larger he is usually unable to articulate.

Rabbit is Rich: Rabbit has reached the stasis of middle age in this novel: rich but not wealthy, not elderly but no longer young, widening around the middle. Gone is his running of the earlier novels, his wild search for something else--now he seems to have reached the pinnacle of his life but unable to shake the malaise and frustration that defines him. He is trapped by his money, really Janice's money, and by the stasis he has made peace with. Though he claims he is happy just to be alive, he can't stop fantasizing about other sexual partners (ones he will never have), more money, his potential daughter that Ruth may or may not have had, and all the dead that have gone before him. While he spends his time trapped by his money and fantasizing about lives he never had he is doomed to watch his son repeat his own mistakes without ever being able to reach him. The book ends cyclically it seems, with Harry resting in his new but empty house, unable to go anywhere else, holding his son's daughter and claiming it as his own. Thematically there is an emphasis on being spent: Rabbit's spent youth, the energy crisis that frames this novel the way the moon landing frames Redux, spent characters like Charlie and Thelma and Peggy and Ma Springer, the spent American dream that has been replaced by a materialistic leisure class that Rabbit occupies.

Stylistically, Updike shows mastery in these two novels. His description of middle America, PA, while seriously overwrought at some points, is so spot on at others it's almost discouraging. With Rabbit he is able to weave interior musings, gut instinct, exterior reality and memory into cohesive paragraphs that contain, at times, insight that make his at-times longwinded style definitely worth paying attention to. He also is a really great descriptor of small personal detail, able to pinpoint the personality of a character in the movement of their face or eyes, or the tone of their voice--especially as he ties these details to the way Rabbit interprets them, revealing both the precise detail and a corresponding facet of Rabbit's brain. He strings along the stories one very long scene after another, sometimes spending pages and pages describing one party, sometimes skipping over months with a single page break. By doing so though, he is able to focus intently on the scenes of interest in Rabbit's life and summarize the more mundane details not crucial to see in scene. His dialogue is sharp for most characters, especially in Rabbit, Redux, where it felt like Updike had less disdain for the character's he was creating. The best line of Redux is when Skeeter is asked his opinion of a black political figure and he simply responds: "I don't much cotton to establishment niggers." Not only is that line comically great but it idiosyncratically pegs Skeeter exactly--he certainly wouldn't ever cotton to establishment niggers. His precise descriptions of the internal workings of his characters and his use of memory mixed with setting, much like Joyce, give his novels an emotional heft at times that is striking and unexpected throughout these novels. Much to learn from Updike. ...more

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Feb 20, 2009 Charles Stahl rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Well I finally finished the 1st book in this Tetralogy, Rabbit, Run. It wasn't an easy read, for a few reasons. For one, there were numerous sections written in a stream-of-conciousnes style which required particular focus. But more importantly, the subject matter was far from pleasant. Human frailties and foibles are exposed with brutal, unflinching clarity. Updike shows us the worst of human nature. The title of the book illustrates the theme that is a constant throughout, that is Rabbit's des Well I finally finished the 1st book in this Tetralogy, Rabbit, Run. It wasn't an easy read, for a few reasons. For one, there were numerous sections written in a stream-of-conciousnes style which required particular focus. But more importantly, the subject matter was far from pleasant. Human frailties and foibles are exposed with brutal, unflinching clarity. Updike shows us the worst of human nature. The title of the book illustrates the theme that is a constant throughout, that is Rabbit's desire to run away from conflict and difficult relationships, whether with his wife, parents, in-laws, or anyone else for that matter. This desire, acted on, leads to devestating, tragic consequences, that of the accidental drowning death of his daughter as a result of his wife drinking herself into a stupor after one of his departures. This part of the book was particularly disturbing and difficult for me to get through.

I'm not yet sure if I'm going to take a break or continue with the next in the series, Rabbit Redux.

So, I've finally gotten around to reading the 2nd Book in the series, Rebbit Redux. Updike really loves to go off into stream-of-conciousness, relating the seemingly unrelated, sometimes utter nonsense. And the hero, Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom evolves more and more into a despicable human being. I can forgive transgression, we all transgress, but when it involves children a line is crosseed. The things Harry did in front of his son, Nelson, were truly degenerate, harmful, unforgivable. The worst monsters in this world are those who harm a child. And when it's your own child? Not to mention indirectly causing the death of a young girl de facto entrusted to his care. Very difficult to read. But somehow I trudged through the filth. I think it's important to somehow relate to the hero of a novel, there must be something in common to maintain an interest... I am not sure how I will keep reading, but I will try. There are certain themes Updike wants us to view through the eyes of Rabbit, race relations, sexual relations, family relations, and he uses symbols and events such as the Moon Landing and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the Vietnam War through which to illustrate and bounce off against these themes. Updike is very fond of using such symbols.

Next in Line - Rabbit is Rich.

Ok - just finished Rabbit is Rich. It's like I'm in the home stretch now and I am sprinting to the finish. I just noticed that I added this book in February 2009 - I've been reading it for over a year! Well, Rabbit is Rich is like a car wreck - ugly and horrifying but impossible to look away from. Nelson, Harry's (Rabbit's) son is a young adult now, and we see the results of his father's upbringing and influence - Nelson is a rotten little bastard, a sniveling whining coward who (perhaps) intentionally pushes his pregnant wife down a flight of stairs. Nelson is definitely his father's son. I know we all have a bit of rottenness inside us, but the Angstrom's are filled to the brim...

Next up - Rabbit at Rest.

Dear, Sweet Lord, I finally finished it! I must say, finishing this book became like a project for me, and after I would finish a passage, I would feel drained - it took an emotional toll... The betrayals, and the hurt inflicted in this family, mostly by Rabbit, was shocking - and yet, at the end, there was a sense of sadness and loss. I hope his family can overcome... :) ...more

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Sep 15, 2009 Taka rated it liked it

Shelves: japan_jul07-aug11, american_lit, contemporary

Rabbit, Run (read 10/2/09) - 3

This is a dense but concise story that's at best mediocre and cast in lavishly beautiful prose. As a writer, I cannot help but appreciate the beauty of Updike's descriptions. The story, though, isn't all that and it takes some hard slogging in the beginning to get through, but overall it's a fairly entertaining read.

Rabbit Redux (read 11/19/09) - 2.5

Rabbit Angstrom grows on you. The first hundred or two hundred pages are just meh, but once Rabbit lets in Jill and Sk ...more

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Apr 04, 2014 Dpdwyer rated it really liked it

Shelves: novels

I read Rabbit Run in the 60s probably mostly for prurient reasons. The four novels included here (Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest), as well as a separately published novella sequel, Rabbit Remembered, were written over 40 years and follow Rabbit as he moves through his life in small town Pennsylvania, based on Shillington, where Updike grew up. Rabbit Run seemed overwritten and under plotted, but I hung in there and was rewarded many times over. Each book is better than I read Rabbit Run in the 60s probably mostly for prurient reasons. The four novels included here (Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest), as well as a separately published novella sequel, Rabbit Remembered, were written over 40 years and follow Rabbit as he moves through his life in small town Pennsylvania, based on Shillington, where Updike grew up. Rabbit Run seemed overwritten and under plotted, but I hung in there and was rewarded many times over. Each book is better than the last. Perhaps I simply adjusted to his lush style. I grew to love the long descriptive passages and would often read them over again. While Rabbit is misogynistic and unlikable in many ways, I couldn’t help but pull for him. He is a compelling character, and I read nearly 2000 pages to find out what happens to him. So many perfectly written lines, of which the following is only a small sample:

“Dark youths thinking in languages of their own stare from the triangular stone porches of the old corner grocery stores.”
“Freedom, that he always thought was outward motion, turns out to be this inner dwindling.”
“On Earth, when you look up from being bored, things have changed, you’re that much closer to the grave, and that’s exciting.”
“From a certain angle the most terrifying thing in the world is your own life, the fact that it’s yours and nobody else’s.”
“...often on the highways Harry notices the dark swerves of rubber, the gouges of crippled metal left to mark where something unthinkable had suddenly happened to someone.”
“Grace Stuhl holds up a hand that when he takes it, to pull her up, feels like a set of worn stones in a sack of the finest driest paper, strangely warm.”
“What more can you ask of a wife in a way than that she stick around and see with you what happens next?”
“How can you respect the world when you see it’s being run by a bunch of kids turned old?”
“Maybe the dead are gods, there’s certainly something kind about them, the way they give you room.”
“Most of American life is driving somewhere and then driving back wondering why the hell you went.”
“Something tragic in matter itself, the way it keeps watch no matter how great our misery.” ...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Corey rated it liked it

*SPOILERS*
For all of its epic scope, I feel like I never really knew Rabbit Angstrom. I know he thought about sex a lot. He got in to drugs in the sixties, got high in his living room and screwed a teenage runaway. He left his wife in the fifties and she got drunk and drowned their newborn daughter. He got blamed, in absentia. He never was a good father, always resentful of his son's small hands ("those Springer hands," Springer being his wife's maiden name) and whiny nature. Even his wife, a "m *SPOILERS*
For all of its epic scope, I feel like I never really knew Rabbit Angstrom. I know he thought about sex a lot. He got in to drugs in the sixties, got high in his living room and screwed a teenage runaway. He left his wife in the fifties and she got drunk and drowned their newborn daughter. He got blamed, in absentia. He never was a good father, always resentful of his son's small hands ("those Springer hands," Springer being his wife's maiden name) and whiny nature. Even his wife, a "mutt." But what did he want? He seemed to have no particular ambitions, the kind of guy that life happens to, rather than vice versa. You'd think over 1,500 pages would teach you more about somebody's personality, but maybe that's just it. He was a mirror, reflecting white middle-class american males at their most average and cliched: former high school sports star marries young, has kid, quarter life crisis (cheats on wife), runs away, crawls back home. At the end of his life, thirty years and over a thousand pages later, we see the same. Cheats on wife (albeit, this time, with his daughter-in-law, yikes!), runs away, only, like any good red blooded American male, he has a heart attack and dies. The story is framed nicely: we open in 1959 with Rabbit joining a group of young kids in an alley basketball game, his 26 year old body long and lean, at ease although making the younger ones a bit uneasy. We close with Rabbit, an old fat man at the age of 56 in 1989, schooling a black teenager in a game of one on one in a hood a few miles from his Gulf Coast condo. Heart attack, dies.
It's certainly well-written, but I never cared enough about any of the characters: Rabbit is too indecisive, Janice is too dynamic to get a firm grasp on (she, more than anyone else, changes the most over the years, from a stupid young alcoholic to a sexually adventurous adulterer to a fine, flirty, frim real estate agent whose life seems limitless and malleable), his son is too absent and whiny, parents are visible for a few novels then die off, nobody else is well-developed enough to even comment upon.
But it sure is long. ...more

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Mar 02, 2008 Scarlett rated it really liked it

It took me about a year to get through all four novels, but I finally finished. I've stuck with Harry Angstrom through thick and thin (mostly thin).

Harry did a lot of really horrible things, and most of the time I hated his guts, but every so often, there were glimpses of someone who was trying to do the right thing but just didn't know how. To me, he was much more sympathetic in the first and last novels. I could understand why he did some of the things he did when he was young, and when he wa ...more

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Jan 18, 2008 Jesse rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 30, 2012 Adam Gutschenritter rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

Rabbit Run-How do you rate a book with a main character with just north of zero redeeming qualities? He is selfish, demanding, childish, mean, greedy and totally lost in trying to find what it means to live a good life. I believe he wants to succeed and to be a good man, but the life he is in justifies his actions. Despite this Rabbit is a horrible human being. On the other hand Updike's writing was amazing and for that writing I will continue. 4 of 5

Rabbit Redux-What the hell was this book? I r ...more

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May 01, 2010 Melinda rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: people who like long books

Recommended to Melinda by: New York Times Book Magazine

I read these 4 novels one right after the other last year. It's challenging getting through all of them at once, but I did it. Since I did read all 4 books without stopping, I can't really choose which is my favorite or really even distinguish between them...to me it's all one big book. Rabbit is not that likable of a character, but what roped me in was the broad scope of American history lived by this one man over his life starting in the late 50's. It's not Forest Gump, but it is a way to unde ...more

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Jun 10, 2007 Blanca rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

I highly suggest reading the collection, to make sure you read it in order and don't lose too much time between the separate novels. I read the history of young Rabbit through to his old age during the worst summer of my life. Reading about Rabbit's failures as a husband, father then business man and friend and lover really kept me in check. Perhaps because there are four novels Updike really has time to invest in all of the characters that play into the life of Rabbit Angstrom. Particularly int ...more

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Dec 30, 2015 Brahm Resnik rated it it was amazing

I'd read one Updike book: a slim masterpiece saying farewell to Ted Williams :"Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" (I recommend for the end of every baseball season). Always wanted to read Updike's Rabbit Angstrom books, even though I had only the vaguest idea what they were about. Bought the tetrology -- all four books in one -- at Changing Hands' New Year's sale Jan. 1. Started reading on vacation July 4 in Big Sur. Finished it at home today. Loved the books, but Rabbit wasn't easy to love. The story of a ...more

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About John Updike

John Hoyer Updike was an American writer. Updike's most famous work is his Rabbit series (Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and Rabbit Remembered). Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest both won Pulitzer Prizes for Updike. Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike is well known for his careful craftsmanship and prolific writing, havin ...more

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