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

Apr 19, 2012 Jim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 1001-bymrbyd

Holy Hannah! I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this one. Actually, this is my first Updike book, but I'm sure it won't be the last. Not that it was a pleasant read, necessarily; it may be the only book I've ever read where all the major characters had serious flaws. Rabbit (Harry Angstrom) is immature, irresponsible, selfish and narcissistic, and those are just his best qualities! He's oversexed, his wife is a frigid drunk, and you don't need a crystal ball to see where this one's h Holy Hannah! I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this one. Actually, this is my first Updike book, but I'm sure it won't be the last. Not that it was a pleasant read, necessarily; it may be the only book I've ever read where all the major characters had serious flaws. Rabbit (Harry Angstrom) is immature, irresponsible, selfish and narcissistic, and those are just his best qualities! He's oversexed, his wife is a frigid drunk, and you don't need a crystal ball to see where this one's headed. So here I am, reading this book in which I'm feeling nothing but contempt for the main characters, and I can barely make myself put the darn thing down. It was absolutely engrossing from start to finish.

I think the only thing that bothered me about this tale is that Mr. Updike was fond of very long rambling run on sentences, paragraphs really, that were somewhat confusing. This was probably a writer's device to portray confusion in the mind of the subject but it served to befuddle me just as much. Another thing that had me puzzled was the sexual content. Now this book was apparently banned for explicit sex, among other things; how's this for explicit sex:

Rough with herself, she forces the dry other into his face, coated with cool pollen that dissolves. He opens his eyes, seeking her, and sees her face a soft mask gazing downward calmly, caring for him, and closes his eyes on the food of her again; his hand abandoned on the breadth of her body finds at arm's length a split pod, an open fold, shapeless and simple. They enter a lazy space. He wants the time to stretch long, to great length and thinness. As they deepen together he feels impatience that through all their twists they remain separate flesh; he cannot dare enough, now that she is so much his friend in this search; everywhere they meet a wall. The body lacks voice to sing it's own song. Impatience tapers; she floats through his blood as under his eyelids a salt smell, damp pressure, the sense of her smallness... You get the picture.

I don't know how that passage and others like it in the book portray explicit sex. Cool pollen? Floats through his blood? I don't even know what the heck went on there!

In spite of the very minor observations just mentioned this is a great read, a study in morality really. My favorite quote was uttered by Rabbit's old coach Tothero: Right and wrong aren't dropped from the sky. We. We make them. Against misery. Invariably, Harry, invariably

As a last note, I would like to make a mental thank you to Mr. Updike for refraining from beating the sports thing to death here. I can't abide basketball. Never could. That's the main reason I held off on starting this book for so long. ...more

15 likes · Like · see review