Rabbit, Run

Rabbit, Run (1960) by John Updike. Tour-de-force novel by Updike concerns the life of twenty-something Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, a former high school athlete who is now unhappily married. Rabbit has been forever stamped by the effects of his high-school success as a basketball player, which leave him feeling a little entitled and encourage him to do whatever he feels like. In this book, he leaves his wife, Janice, and takes up with a floozy named Ruth, whom he proceeds to take advantage of. Updike's writing is dense and virtuosic, crammed solid with references to contemporary culture and plays on words. It's a compulsively readable book, and I found myself racing through it to see what would happen to Rabbit next. It turns out to be the first in a four-book series which continues with Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, and Rabbit at Rest. I am currently reading Rabbit at Rest and it is great. Updike is one of the great American authors, and it is a pleasure to read his books. Grade: A