Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
This topic is about
Rabbit at Rest
Buddy Reads
>
Rabbit at Rest
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Sara, Old School Classics
(new)
-
rated it 4 stars
Aug 31, 2024 12:14PM
Mod
reply
|
flag
I will be reading this one.
Mod
I'll be starting mid month as well
I'm a little over 1/3 in. I was really liking the calmness of it with the laid back Florida vibe. The scene was perfectly set. Harry seemed to have finally settled down, but Nelson clearly has issues. Then all of the sudden with the boat trip... (view spoiler)
I'm looking forward to the rest of the book. I love Updike's writing. He transports you to the time and place and scene so well even though you don't always want to be there.
Mod
I am almost to where Sue is and will finish in a few days. I may have less patience with Updike on this one since the shtick is wearing thin, but Sue gave me higher hopes. Either way, I won't be sad to be done with Rabbit.
Mod
I will have to pick it up from here next week.
Sara wrote: "Read your spoiler, Sue, since I am now leaving Rabbit at exactly that spot. [spoilers removed]I will have to pick it up from here next week."
Great points, Sarah. I am very interested to see how Harry and Nelson evolve in this one also.
I'm going slow reading other & reading other things to give people time to catch up. I'm about half way now. Back in PA Harry seems to be right back to the old Harry.
I have finished and will wait till others catch before adding anything other than Updike did manage to win me over again. Also, the one sentence that made the whole four books worth it to me comes at the end of this novel. I will see if anyone else agrees.
Sam wrote: "I have finished and will wait till others catch before adding anything other than Updike did manage to win me over again. Also, the one sentence that made the whole four books worth it to me comes ..."That's great, Sam! I can't wait to get there.
I have had a busy week. I hope to make some real progress this weekend.
Mod
Mod
I finished and agree with Sara that this one was the best. I loved them all but Rabbit is Rich was my least favorite, maybe because it wasn't as sad? I also was repelled by and felt sorry for Rabbit throughout. Janis never redeemed herself for me either. I don't think I'll go on to Rabbit Remembered since it was an afterthought and Janice will be the focus. There is a part of me that wants to though so it could change. I would definitely read more of Updike's work though. These were my 1st exposure to him.
Updike is masterful at creating scenes in a way that you feel you have lived it or are living in it even if you aren't really like any of he characters. He uses a combination of period details, cultural habits and ideas, along with realistic human interaction that make you see a full picture of why and how people like Rabbit go wrong.
I thought it was masterful the way he made his youth and his last years mirror each other with the music, the drive (the drive part in this one of the best things I've ever read), basketball etc... It made it so poignant. Of course the title told us the ending but I thought it was really well done.
Sam wrote: "Call me juvenile but I found this this line hilarious."On the evening news half the commercials are for laxatives and the other half for hemorrhoid medicine, as if only assholes watch the news."
"
So funny!
I'm not good about marking stuff down but I loved the whole paragraph in the last section that starts "Rabbit feels betrayed. He was reared in a world where war was not strange but change was: the world stood still so you could grow up in it."I could read the entire last drive scene as well as the first one in Rabbit, Run, again and again. They were brilliant.
I would like to try something like The Witches of Eastwick from Updike but in reading the Rabbit novels, my enjoyment was mostly related to the nostalgia they provided. I think they would work better were I to have read some competitors along with Updike like Roth and Vidal to better get a sense of what else was being written at the same time.
Sam, I am also interested in reading The Witches of Eastwick. What month would work for you.
Terry wrote: "Sam, I am also interested in reading The Witches of Eastwick. What month would work for you."Oh, i can't see me getting to it till January. I am pretty committed unless some commitments are cancelled.
Mod
I also loved the transition back to the ride and it made me really reflect on the entire journey Rabbit had made. Great thoughts, Sue.
I am still reading at about 65 % through the book. I may not finish until next weekend. With an airplane ride from Chicago to Washington DC on Saturday, I should be able to make progress then. I am enjoying this one, even though my progress has been slow, and it finally does seem that Rabbit has matured to a certain extent.
I finished today. Am I the last one? can we discuss spoilers now?
Terry wrote: "I finished today. Am I the last one? can we discuss spoilers now?"I think we were a small group that were reading the book and I am interested in what you have to say.
Mod
I felt a kind of sadness I wasn't expecting at Rabbit's going. It seemed to me he had spent most of his life searching for something he never found. It seemed if he had made other choices he might have had some true meaning and not always been seeking to prove himself through memories of the sports and pursuit of sex. His relationship with Janice was toxic and she destroyed any hope he might have had of having some self-worth. It struck me that his most genuine relationship was with Thelma. How sad is that?
Updike brilliantly conceived and structured this novel with echoes of Rabbit’s past. Yes, Harry was constantly seeking validation through sex. I was stunned when Harry hit a new low having sex with his son’s wife. It took me totally by surprise and as I read I kept saying to myself, “Oh Harry, don’t do this!” He could never achieve peace or contentment through his relationships with his work, his wife, his sex partners, his son or his grandson. The other women in his life, even Thelma who loved him, never brought him to rest. The men in Harry’s life are competitors or they disappear. He is endlessly competing with his son — their conversations are like a game of Horse. His granddaughter did bring him some joy — thank goodness he had that at least. It was like she embodied the daughters he lost. In another of Updike’s echoes, she almost drowns.
When everything blows up, Updike put Harry back on the run from Pennsylvania to Florida once more. Harry feels forced by his wife and family to run away, but it tears him away from the one female, Judy, who does bring him happiness. He tries to keep his contact with her, after his failed attempts to connect with Ruth’s (his?) daughter.
And sadly then, Updike finally puts him on the basketball court again, trying to relive his triumph of youth in some small way. It is a very sad novel.
Mod
I think a question is whether the four books accurately capture the spirit of the time and I think there is an argument for that, but Updike appears to have left out some of the more positive themes from the period, leaving me with the thought that we got more of Updike's cynicism and his slanted look at the period, but in defense, that pov was much the trend of the time. I wish Updike had brodened his perspective past that to make the reading more pleasant today.
Do you think Updike is trying to make some larger point about life and the human condition? Is life a series of frustrations?Would it ever be possible for Rabbit to make a connection with anyone? Is he saying something larger about possible communications between men and women? (the Mars and Venus theory). Does Harry represent the flaws of human nature?
Death is a theme throughout all of the books, as is religion. It seemed like Harry’s clock was ticking from the first pages of the first book, but really picked up the pace in this one. We knew he was going to die by the end of the book, but I didn’t want him to die until something in life would satisfy him. He can’t quite believe in God, but he also doesn’t disbelieve. Harry’s last words are a bit hopeful. What do you think about this?
Why do we root for Harry? He continuously disappointed us. Why do we want him to figure things out? Maybe this is it — Despite his early triumphs (which precede the first book), he seems like such an ordinary Joe. This is not an American dream of achievement. He’s something of an anti-hero, a flawed person who makes bad decisions. What makes us be invested in him through four books?
It is not the gorgeous descriptions of the ordinary “stuff” that fills the novels, but that prose is like a spice. It seasons the story so perfectly. That road trip is just amazing.
I don’t know if I want to read the novella, Rabbit Remembered. I may wait awhile.
Great comments Terry! I will get back on them a little later today, one thing I wanted to note was the angst in "Angstrom," and ask how we would have defined it when the book was written since I think it is central to how we perceive what Updike was doing.
I would define “angst” as nervousness, I suppose. Not quite worry. But I just looked up the definition online and came up with “a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general.”And I think “strom” means storm.
And certainly in the 1950s we were headed for a storm of anxiety in the 1960s. People think we live in anxious times now but they don’t recall how tumultuous those days were.
When I was reading the first novel, I interpreted the meaning of his name as being much like an actual rabbit, a nervous awareness of what was happening around him, with a tendency to bolt when reaching a certain pitch of concern. That anxiety or dread did continue throughout the series, up until the end.
And, of course, Rabbits have active sex habits. In Harry’s case, I think he fears death and engages in extramarital sex to feel alive, take some control of his life, and affirm his self worth.
Mod
I think you are right that we cannot wholly dislike Harry because he is an average Joe. He is too much like all the other human beings flailing about in the 1960's trying to "find themselves" to be easily dismissed. People were always trying to figure out life and how they fit into it, but I think that era ushered in the idea that you needed to find out "who you are." Most women before that time accepted that they were mothers and housewives, and most men accepted that they were breadwinners--and both groups took it very seriously.
Janice is anything but a good mother and Harry is just looking for a way to get through life without having to earn his bread. All the angst, IMHO, comes from the endless searching. Harry never stops long enough to enjoy anything in his life, except the memory of a day when he believed he meant something to others, the glory days of high school sports when people knew his name and thought he was worthy of notice.
I like your observation regarding rabbits, a nervous awareness of what was happening around him, with a tendency to bolt when reaching a certain pitch of concern. and I interpreted the name just as you did.
I'm not sure what we are meant to think about Harry's end, but I couldn't help thinking "rest in peace" applied and I liked that Harry was finally not nervous or manic, that all he had dreaded in death was absent and he could just slow down and let go.
Sam--I also think this book HAS to be considered in light of the time when it was written. He is capturing a microcosm of an America rushing headlong into change. We know where it took us, but then we did not, and there was a lot of fear for what lay ahead and a lot of sorrow for what was being left behind. I'm not sure a very young person (like my granddaughter) could really understand this series of books without the reference of having lived through it.
One more thing and then I will close, but I could not leave without saying that what kept me reading was the masterful writing. I think the initial trip, running from Pennsylvania, and the final trip, running to Florida, are some of the most perfect passages in modern literature.
Great comments and sorry for taking so much time getting back. I am going to limit my comment to angst since I am getting tired and will link the Wikpedia article on angst. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angst
The article points out we get our modern word from Kierkegaard and Freud and it is Kierkegaard's use I want to note. Given Updike's education, I would not be surprised if he was relating the term to either the philosophic or psychological underpinnings and given Rabbit's behavior, there could be an argument for the Kierkegaard application relating to freedom of choice. I will quote what wiki said and you can read for yourself if it fits at all. I think this combined with what Terry stated in post #31 and Sara in post #34 may be what is prompting Updike. I am just playing with the idea. I did not research enough to support it, but I think Updike is depicting Harry and later his son as a products of our society, time and their own intelligence.
The use of the term was first attributed to Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855). In The Concept of Anxiety (also known as The Concept of Dread), Kierkegaard used the word Angest (in common Danish, angst, meaning "dread" or "anxiety") to describe a profound and deep-seated condition. Where non-human animals are guided solely by instinct, said Kierkegaard, human beings enjoy a freedom of choice that we find both appealing and terrifying.[5][6] It is the anxiety of understanding of being free when considering undefined possibilities of one's life and the immense responsibility of having the power of choice over them.[
Mod
Sam, thanks so much for that link. What really impressed me was this: “human beings enjoy a freedom of choice that we find both appealing and terrifying. It is the anxiety of understanding of being free when considering undefined possibilities of one's life and the immense responsibility of having the power of choice over them.”So, I think this anxiety about choice aligns well with the rabbit references and might explain a kind of panic which leads to quickly made bad choices, and also aligns with a panic about affirming your life and self worth through sex. Harry longs for freedom, but to me he seems to consider his choices mostly retrospectively. Do you think Harry is aware of the power of choice at the time he makes one, or is he instinctively reacting to his circumstances?
Maybe one of the reasons I could relate to Harry and root for him is that I made a lot of bad decisions in my time, especially when I was young. I don’t know who said this, and I undoubtedly paraphrase here, but when I was young, a quote I read and I referenced went something like this — “If a man stops to consider the pros and cons, he drinks stale beer.” In retrospect, it wasn’t the best advice for me to listen to. But I also thought that no decision can be a bad decision, too.
One great thing about literature is that it puts your life in perspective — I’m just saying!
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
Rabbit, Run (other topics)Rabbit at Rest (other topics)
