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Frankly, I read Updike's Rabbit series many years ago and, as you can see from review below, he evoked strongly dissonant responses within me. Today, however, I heard Fresh Air's Terry Gross's retrospective on Updike that convinced me to try some more of his works [Toward the End of Time (Penguin Modern Classics)].
The Updike episode: Remembering John Updike, Literary Legend
The Fresh Air® with Terry Gross web site.
My Amazon review:
Rabbit, Run
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
I hated it so much I read the sequels, June 6, 2006By Douglas S. Wood "Vicarious Life" (Monona, WI) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rabbit, Run (Hardcover)
This is a Great Book - it must be - the NYT and other literary experts say so. Rabbit's life is awful - his wife's a drunk, his job sucks, nothing is really what he thought life would be. He tries to run away and fails at that too. According to Time magazine, Rabbit Angstrom is "an unflinchingly authentic specimen of American manhood". Yikes! Let's hope not - but maybe there is more truth in it than one likes to admit.
It's hard not to recommend reading this book even though reading it is really not an enjoyable experience. Rabbit evoked powerful emotions in this reader - especially anger and depression; maybe a little anxiety. You are almost guaranteed to feel worse after you read this book - especially if you can identify with any part Angstrom's angst. On the other hand, the mature reader (er, middle-aged) who has experienced the fullness of life's sorrows may sort of shrug at Rabbit as if to say 'what did you expect from life? Pull yourself together, son.'
Read at your own risk.
John Updike possessed a truly beautiful mind; he didn't just write well, he wrote wisely
ReplyDeleteMany readers took issue with his female characters.
ReplyDeleteReading of his death I reordered his 'Rabbit' books from the library,
ReplyDeletebut could not get beyond the first few pages. I remembered Updike as a caricaturist and I found that opinion only stronger in the rereading. Rabbit's wife was not even a caricature...it was misogynistic and cruel.
Alas for nostalgia!
I agree, but I am going to try Toward the End of Time.
ReplyDelete