|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
Review
“Brilliant and poignant . . . By his compassion, clarity of insight, and crystal-bright prose, [John Updike] makes Rabbit’s sorrow his and our own.”—The Washington Post
“The power of the novel comes from a sense, not absolutely unworthy of Thomas Hardy, that the universe hangs over our fates like a great sullen hopeless sky. There is real pain in the book, and a touch of awe.”—Norman Mailer, Esquire
“A lacerating story of loss and of seeking, written in prose that is charged with emotion but is always held under impeccable control.”—Kansas City Star
Book Description
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
sad suburban story of sin and indecision,
By
This review is from: Rabbit, Run (Paperback)
For people back in 1960, when the American Dream was alive and well and everyone believed in unlimited progress and The Future, young John Updike's novel must have come on like a bombshell. Yet, for those of us who lived through the Sixties and continue to watch the ebbing away of those primary values that once underlaid our country, reading RABBIT, RUN today is small potatoes. Similarly, the sexual 'explicitness' that had everyone talking back at the time of publication, would hardly raise an eyebrow today. Various sexual acts that have become part of US national lore, for better or for worse, were still not given a name in this novel. Rabbit Angstrom, a former highschool basketball star, is stuck in a boring, tawdry marriage and a dead-end job. His lower middle-class parents expect him to follow in their footsteps; his in-laws look down on him as a no-hoper. A few years later, the answer would have been obvious---tune in, turn on, and drop out ! But in those more serious times, a mere five years before the tidal wave of change began, Rabbit's flight can draw no social or political sympathy. There is no Haight-Ashbury in view. He drives into the night, only to return sheepishly. He soon takes up with Ruth, a "loose woman", who, again five years later, could have been seen as a "hip chick doing her own thing". Everyone condemns him, the woman condemns herself. She gets pregnant, but does not tell Rabbit, even when he runs from her to rejoin his wife in the hospital as she gives birth to his second child. Family grudgingly accept him back, but things have not really improved. A do-good minister with a bored, flirtatious wife tries to help Rabbit resolve his inner conflicts, but is too weak to accomplish much. A final tragedy occurs. Rabbit runs off to Ruth yet again. The ending is a little predictable. In my opinion, Updike hovers always on the edge of greatness. He is forever caught between the desire to write supremely well and to be popular. I love how he catches the feel of a small American town or city in the late '50s, the mores and expectations of the people, their goods and habits. But as a young man, perhaps, Updike loved his own skill rather too much, he loved to sit back and watch himself create these verbose passages, these descriptions of old ladies on porch gliders, of upper class gardens, or of Pennsylvania country gas stations. He revelled in those descriptions that somehow ring a mite "over-literary". His reach for the perfect word sometimes extends too far. I feel, as an older man, that Updike before 30 could see beauty only in very young women, perhaps thanks to Hollywood and the printed media. Each description of an older woman is tinged with disgust, discoloration, and deterioration. That said, Rabbit Angstrom is an unforgettable character. Updike's choice of name is very clever. If you sympathize with him at first, his utterly brainless selfishness and weak indecision, his lack of any backbone whatsoever, tend to make you despair. He is a real antidote to the American dream, to the "log cabin to White House story" that we love to love. At times, this novel annoyed me with its wordiness, but it grips you like a crazy ride on a downward spiral. There is a bit of Rabbit in everyone, but most people face the music, most people form some idea of where to go next.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Go, Rabbit, go!,
This review is from: Rabbit, Run (Paperback)
Literature can't get better than this. John Updike is one of my favorite authors and Rabbit, Run is one of my favorite novels of all time. The first page is the most mesmerizing I've ever encountered, it snakes a hand gently around your throat and squeezes. When you come to, you have not only finished this book and its marvelous sequels, each deliciously darker than the last, you have devoured Couples, The Coup, The Centaur, Marry Me, The Witches of Eastwick, S., A Month of Sundays, In The Beauty of the Lillies, and everything else this man has written. You don't just read an Updike novel, you join a cult.Harry Angstrom is delicious -- so deeply flawed, a black diamond. He is sexist but not unusually so -- he perfectly reflects our culture. And yet I don't consider Updike a man's writer, for women, too, could relate to his beautifully crafted work. I can't recommend this book enough. Read it!
2.0 out of 5 stars
always running,
By
This review is from: Rabbit, Run (Paperback)
This is the story of Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom. Even though he is married and his wife is expecting their second child, he has not settled into adult life. He still relives his success at highschool basketball and is trying to figure his place in life. Not knowing what else to do, he run, he runs from the kids on the street, he runs from his job, he even runs from his wife and child.I didn't like Harry. How could I, he ran away from his pregnant wife without a look back and then hooked up with another woman who he refused to let use birth control. Eeks. It made me want to run away from him. This book is filled with imagery. The story is set in the neighbouring towns of Mt Judge and Bower. They would have been one town with the exception of Mt Judge splitting the two. Rabbit lives with his wife in Mt Judge and with his mistress on the other side. This separation of the two groups of people in his life shows up frequently. It is a long and diffucult walk from Bower to Mt Judge, when Rabbit choses to undertake it. Running, always running, whether it's a physical activity or a mental one. Rabbit is never where he thinks he wants to be or where he thinks he should be. He runs away from his wife, from responsibility and from making a commitment to God, or Ruth or even his new job. The other image that stuck with me throughout was that of Rev. Eccles always wanting/needing a fresh cold cup of water. While he says that he likes Harry and that he feels he's a good man, to me this drinking of water could represent washing away what he finds distasteful. This is a short book of 255 pages, yet it took me over two weeks to read. It failed to capture my attention. I kept plugging at it optimistic that it would get me; it didn't happen. There are several follow-up books to this: Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest and the novella Rabbit is Remembered. Will I read any of these. If they happen into my hand, curiousity of whether Rabbit ever gets his act together might drive me to start reading....
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
|
