Rabbit Redux

Rabbit Redux (1971) by John Updike. The second in the four-part series on Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom is a less-than-stellar entry. While Rabbit's wife Janice leaves him and takes up with one of the salesmen at her father's car dealership, Rabbit opens his home to two house guests: a young white girl named Jill, and an older black man called Skeeter. Skeeter's ramblings take up a lot of the book, and I found Updike's efforts to reproduce negro patois less than convincing. Rabbit is shown to be not an especially nice person, making cutting remarks to everyone and at one point knocking Jill around -- he does not hesitate to use violence. Nevertheless, Updike is a master writer and makes the book hang together so that it makes an interesting read. Grade: B-