Rabbit, Run is the book that established John Updike as one of the major American novelists of his—or any other—generation. Its hero is Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a onetime high-school basketball star who on an impulse deserts his wife and son. He is twenty-six years old, a man-child caught in a struggle between instinct and thought, self and society, sexual gratification and family … family duty—even, in a sense, human hard-heartedness and divine Grace. Though his flight from home traces a zigzag of evasion, he holds to the faith that he is on the right path, an invisible line toward his own salvation as straight as a ruler’s edge.
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It’s definitely a period piece from 50 years ago, but it’s still a great book. Be warned that once you’ve read it, you’ll have read the next three.
I loved all the Rabbit books and can’t recommend them enough. You follow the life of Harry from a boy to an old man. I felt like I knew him by the end. It’s a book (I have them all in one volume) I go back to again and again. I love US writers and he’s genius.
It’s really John Updike’s beautiful writing more than anything else that makes me love this book. There is a great storyline about ordinary people and the lives they lead but it is described in an extraordinary way. No one writes as well as Updike.
Although it is well written, I was unable to relate to the main character. Being a fan of basketball, I expected to be able to empathize with an athlete/former star who was unable to chase his dream of playing big time ball. However, when I saw how self-absorbed he was, and how little effort he seemed to expend to understand his family and their emotional needs, I was so disappointed that I just stopped reading. Granted, his wife certainly had her own selfish issues, but the focus was on the husband and I was not motivated to read on.
It holds up surprisingly well. The writing is magnificent at times and treacly at others, but when Updike is on he is astonishing. The treatment of women and Updike’s dated views had me shaking my head at many points. And I’d forgotten how down right unlikable Rabbit Angstrom is for much of the book. But Updike nails the heart of the aging athlete and the wish for what the body will no longer provide on command.
Depressing look at the human spirit but obviously very well written. The characters are so well developed. I am sure I have met them.
Nicely written – Updike has a wonderful way with words.
Glad to see that the Rabbit is still hopping!
John Updike is one of the great authors of our time. His prose is genuine, artistic, fun to read and inspired authors to up their game. Rabbit is a likable character in the beginning, then dislikeable when he abandons his family, and by the end have empathy for him.
No other contemporary or modernist writer has or had John Updike’s ear. Rabbit, Run is the first novel in a tetralogy and precedes: Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest and to make it a quintet let me add Rabbit Remembered. I have read the lion’s share of his work and have two shelves devoted to his books in my third-floor Yokohama garret where I do much humping of the muse with a deep bow to Apollo and Dionysius who are my guiding stars. Go to Updike … Run to Rabbit, Run and you’ll be so smitten … ericmadeen dot com
First of all, I really have no business commenting on a Pulitzer Prize winning American author like John Updike. This book was beautifully written and it’s easy to see why Updike is such a revered writer, but having said all that…I hated Rabbit, Run. None of the characters, especially Rabbit (the main character) are the slightest bit likable. Rabbit leaves his pregnant wife and young child and immediately shacks up with a part-time hooker. See where it’s going? There is no one in this book worth rooting for, even Rabbit’s poor estranged wife. Maybe that’s the point. If it is, then Updike IS absolutely brilliant. Of course, I’m a glutton for punishment, so I’ll have to read the second book in the Rabbit series just to see if he gets any more tolerable. Updike won the Pulitzer for the second one, so maybe Rabbit is redeemed. We’ll see.
I really loved this book. Never knew what was going to happen next. Rabbit was a strange character for sure but John Updike sure could write!