Rabbit Redux (Rabbit Angstrom, #2) in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 06, 2015 Steve rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Weirdly, as I read the last page, it struck me that this book, which is jammed with late-60s turmoil, is at heart a book about the sacredness or, perhaps better, the ongoing bond of marriage. Given all the (graphic) infidelity, that may be surprising, but I was reminded of the theological thread that ran through the earlier Rabbit, Run. In Redux, it's more muted, but early on we get a glimpse of the religious component as Rabbit admits to sometimes praying on the bus. Why not at home? I'm not su Weirdly, as I read the last page, it struck me that this book, which is jammed with late-60s turmoil, is at heart a book about the sacredness or, perhaps better, the ongoing bond of marriage. Given all the (graphic) infidelity, that may be surprising, but I was reminded of the theological thread that ran through the earlier Rabbit, Run. In Redux, it's more muted, but early on we get a glimpse of the religious component as Rabbit admits to sometimes praying on the bus. Why not at home? I'm not sure I know, though maybe he senses his marriage to Janice is falling apart, while the outside world is rapidly changing. But God, as a presence or "other" remains an important part, despite his bad behavior, of Rabbit's world.

The setting (1969), 10 years after the events in Rabbit, Run, shows an older (36), fatter, more understandable (but still often unlikable) Rabbit Angstrom. He's -- on surface at least -- reconciled with his wife Janice, they have a house in the suburbs, and their son, Nelson, now 13, and with long hair, is growing up. Rabbit works as a linotyper with his father, while Janice has started working at a Toyota dealership owned by her father. But there are discernible cracks from the first page on. Rabbit has been living a death in life existence. His relationship with Jill is largely sexless (amazing when one considers the horny character with the constantly roving eye from the first novel). It's as if Rabbit, much more self-aware, is doing penance for the death of the baby, Becky, though Rabbit is always quick to consistently and cruelly blame Jill for her death. The good news here is that Jill refuses to be baited. She fights back. She even has an affair. The sad, often drunk young woman from the first novel, has become a much richer character. Upon the affair being exposed, she is defiant up to a point, but she practically offers Rabbit, after a hot night (she's learned some new things) of seeming reconciliation, a chance to reciprocate by showing some affection and asking her to stay. Rabbit being Rabbit, tells her to do what she wants. He virtually pushes her toward her lover.

Enter Jill, a rich, 18 year old drug addict who has run away from home. Rabbit takes her in, and she provides Rabbit with some sexual healing. Jill is clean from drugs, and things seem to be going well (Nelson worships her), what with her making dinners better than Janice, playing guitar, and being so hippie dippy. Of particular interest to Rabbit is Jill's having seen God during an LSD trip. The fly in this unconventional domestic arrangement (which infuriates Janice -- who now lives with her car salesman lover) soon arrives in the person of Skeeter, a black drug dealing ex-Vietnam vet who has skipped bail, and needs a place to hide. I suspect it's the "Skeeter" section of the book (nearly a 100 pages long) that loses people. Skeeter won't shut up. He's constantly spouting revolutionary bullshit which, in Updike world, is a form of intellectual masturbation that eventually turns into the real thing. Updike, as I've said before, is a writer of remarkable control, so it's hard for me condemn this portion as writerly excess, but more as one to show Updike's dim view of the excesses of the late 60s. (In some ways he reminds me of Robert Stone here.) And on the subject of the I'm OK -- You're OK late 60s , I found Updike's treatment far more authentic than Roth's in American Pastoral. Anyway, it all adds up to a descent, a hellish one that involves degradation of Jill (a character I really liked), drug use by Rabbit, and child abuse to Nelson via exposure to all of this crap. It's no accident that this all ends in fire -- and tragedy.

The last section of the book is devoted to the visit by Mim, Rabbit's sister. Mim is a high priced prostitute from out West, and she's flown in to see Rabbit's parents, particularly Rabbit's mother, who is dying. This is the part I had trouble with, as her appearance has a real dues ex machina quality to it, though I doubt as a literary tool, at least in my reading experience, it's ever been done with a whore before. (Updike is a very puckish writer!) Anyway, Mim surveys the emotional landscape and its players, makes some calculated "moves," starts things in motion, and jets back to Vegas. The novel could have faltered here, but Updike unspools a remarkable reconciliation between Rabbit and Janice that remains true to the characters and yet shows their growth. Janice and Rabbit are no longer the children of the first novel, but we still recognize them, just as they recognize each other: older, a bit battered by experience, maybe not even liking each other so much, but still bound together for the long haul. This very believable transformation for the two demonstrates, to me, a literary skill that's quite rare. The authorial wink at the end is something only a master can get away with, and Updike is a master. ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

May 15, 2017 Kent Winward rated it really liked it

I completed all five of the Rabbit books, four of them this year. I'm busy so I'm going to cut and paste my review for all of them.

First, Rabbit dies way too young. It is hitting too close to home when characters are dying within my own age range.

Second, all five books need to be read. This is a masterful telling of a life by Updike. Rabbit's life is messy, beautiful, boring, ugly, unpredictable, and totally predictable. The life is real and universal.

We all have things we run from, but we can' ...more

1 like · Like · see review