Rabbit, Run (Rabbit Angstrom, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Feb 12, 2015 Steve rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Rabbit is one of the most reprehensible characters in literature. Updike is a great writer, and knew what he was doing when he created this jerk. So just what was Updike up to? I'm not totally sure, since I'm still chewing over this. I've seen a lot of comments about Rabbit being some sort of Everyman. I don't see that at all. This guy is as worthless as it gets. He's nearly the complete shit package, though he's oddly fastidious when it comes to smoking and drinking. Maybe Updike did that to un Rabbit is one of the most reprehensible characters in literature. Updike is a great writer, and knew what he was doing when he created this jerk. So just what was Updike up to? I'm not totally sure, since I'm still chewing over this. I've seen a lot of comments about Rabbit being some sort of Everyman. I don't see that at all. This guy is as worthless as it gets. He's nearly the complete shit package, though he's oddly fastidious when it comes to smoking and drinking. Maybe Updike did that to underscore what a moral monster this guy is. No alcoholic excuse. What is interesting is that a number of people close to Rabbit keep forgiving him. He even marvels at it. Perhaps the book is about forgiveness, as in 70 x 7. Rabbit needs all of it.

One aspect of this book that I've noticed to be largely ignored is the religious element. I came to "Rabbit, Run" largely looking for some sort time capsule novel. I knew there were several novels, and that Rabbit's arc would follow a big chunk of time that I happened to have lived through. Other than that, I knew little of Updike. It turns out that this particular novel was written right after Updike had suffered through a crisis of faith. Among his antidotes was Karl Barth's "To the Romans. " Theologically, that's about as heavy as it gets. And Updike brings this conflict to the novel. In one of the key scenes (and one where Rabbit is not present), the Episcopal priest, Eccles, a touchy feely type tries to consult Rabbit's Lutheran pastor, Kruppenbach (a Barth man "rigid in his creed") about their bad boy. Kruppenbach, after informing Eccles that Rabbit is a "Schussel" (scatterbrain), and that he has little use for Eccles' ministerial approach. In fact, Kruppenbach tells Eccles that such ministering is not their role. They are not social workers, but witnesses to Christ:

"When on Sunday morning then, when we go before their faces, we must walk up not worn out with misery but full of Christ, hot" -- he clenches his hairy fists -- "with Christ, on fire: burn them the force of our belief. That is why they come; why else would they pay us? Anything else we can do or say anyone can do or say. They have doctors and lawyers for that. It's all in the Book -- a thief with faith is worth all the Pharisees. Make no mistake. Now I'm serious. Make no mistake. There is nothing but Christ for us. All the rest, all this decency and busyness, is nothing. It is the Devil's work.

After this remarkable speech, Eccles leaves in anger, but also grudgingly admitting to himself that Kruppenbach is right (though he must not have been listening too closely when the Lutheran pastor accurately characterized Rabbit). Being "scatterbrained" however is no excuse. Rabbit can be quite cruel, and his jaw dropping selfishness eventually leads to tragedy. Weirdly, early on you see that Rabbit is a believer, but he can never do anything with his faith (as with everything else). And for me that's where the novel didn't click. I'm not going to say Updike failed in what he was trying to achieve. He's simply too good a writer. But seeing a character fail and fail again, without ever gaining any traction, just gets to be a sucky reading trip that I don't want to revisit at 10 year intervals in the upcoming Rabbit novels. Like Rabbit, I'd feel like a dog returning to his vomit. That's too circular for too long for me.

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Jul 06, 2024 Mike rated it it was ok · review of another edition

No idea why this book about a man-child of a pathetic main character can have received so much acclaim. There isn't a likable or respectable character in the book, which seems to be the point, we are all hugly flawed weak and horrible entities.

The writing is also so tied to its time, that this one deserves to be left behind in its dated epoch. ...more

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