2. Did Rabbit have any redeeming qualities?

[Kristel]

Did Rabbit have any redeeming qualities? Did you ever feel you understood and empathised with Rabbit? Was Rabbit just a selfish, typical young man?

[Kristel]

Very few really. He was selfish. A man who had been popular and did well in high school. He was typical in many ways.

[Tracy]

Nope.
The world revolves around his shallow, narcissistic self because back in high school he could shoot a basketball.
He is a misogynist who makes NO effort to understand any woman- they are there for him to use and discard, whether it's for sex, mothering and justification of his actions, or for sales of the gadget he sells. If a woman doesn't fit into one of his uses, she's his enemy.
Honestly, I was rooting for Rabbit to run into the path of a bus.

[Lynn]

I know I am an idiot to write this...but I have hope for Rabbit. There are two more books. Maybe he'll be like the prodigal son!

I agree Tracy...he is a misogynist. But this book also reveals a misogynist nature that exists/ed in society in general.

[Pip]

None of the male characters were very likeable. Even the Reverend Eccles was not very appealing and the High School basketball coach was as appalling as Rabbit himself. To begin with I had some sympathy for Rabbit. It had taken him quite a while to figure out that his wife was not very bright and it must be dispiriting to arrive home to find your wife sitting in front of television drinking. But he became less likeable and more boorish as the novel progressed. He had no empathy for anyone, his son, his wife, his lover or even his mother!