Rabbit, Run
by John Updike
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Book Reviews of Rabbit, Run
Book Review: Scenes from a marriage
Summary: 5 Stars
Not only until I was near the end of "Rabbit, Run" did I notice that this novel has many similarities with Ingmar Bergman's movie "Scenes From a Marriage". Both talk about the cold feet that husband and wives have after a period of being married. This is not the only thing they share in common, they are both brilliant. Using a polished and beautiful prose, Updike wrote a novel that grabs you by your rabbit ears and never let you go. You don't have to be a young male American to feel related to Rabbit's life. I believe that most people go through his very same issues sooner or later in one's life.Sure Rabbit is selfish --who isn't? -- but his motivations are his fears, rather than his egotistical feelings. His fear of failing as a father, a son, a husband, actually, as a human being is what makes him move from one point to another; to change things is his life. His unhappy marriage, his dead-end job are just symptoms of a bigger disease, and in this angst that lies the central spine of this splendid novel.
At the beginning of the narrative when Rabbit is thinking of going somewhere --he's not sure where -- far from his family, he ask for directions in a gas station. The attendant, an old man, simply says: "Figure out where you are going before you go there." And, while Rabbit keeps that in mind, he fails to follow this advice. The fact that he goes through the motions in his life --he never seems to do anything with passion -- only proves that, like most youngsters, he is still trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. This is one of the biggest qualities of this novel, to portray someone's life so full of truth.
Updike writes with his heart and his brain, making a colorful prose and characters so believable that you don't want them to go when the book is over. Every character is believable, the wife, the parents, the in-laws. I think his idea has worked so well, that he expanded that in his more books, creating The Rabbit Tetralogy. "Rabbit, Run" is highly recommended to those who like literary and good books. And now, I'm looking forward to reading the sequels.
Book Review: No Way Out
Summary: 5 Stars
Harry Angstrom is the quintessential eternal youth, whose marriage turns out to be an albatross. The marriage not only deadens his spirit but also accelerates his descent into decadence. Harry's vital life spirit totally rejects the encumbrance of a forced marriage; however, in early 1960s working class America, quick divorces are not the common panacea that they are today. And with a young child and second on the way, Harry's only escape through a labyrinth of guilt and social mores will be a secretive and ultimately an internal one.
Everything about Harry Angstrom speaks of spring--it is no accident that Updike sets the action of the novel during spring--and he finds himself married to the dead of winter. It is this commonly experienced conflict, crystallized through the eyes of an astute Everyman, that calibrates the smoldering action in Updike's masterful study of a fallen society. There are no Hollywood endings here; Updike's mission is not to offer hope or solace but rather understanding. The internal monologues served up so plentifully in this novel are a precursor to the "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" studies that would come 40 years later.
The present-tense narration is lyrical and poignant, playing out like a 250-page prose poem, replete with unforgettable descriptions of the commonest things. While reading this novel, I was constantly in awe of how great a student of humanity and its foibles Updike kept proving himself to be, acquiring such an extraordinary amount of intimate knowledge of the mental workings of men, women, toddlers, clergymen, the elderly, the decadent, the square, the working class stiff--and all astoundingly by the age of 27. But even compared to later laureates, they just don't write them like this anymore. My favorite line in the entire book comes from the last page; it sums up the dilemma not only of Harry Angstrom but also of modern society as a whole in one simple, memorable sentence: "Funny, how what makes you move is so simple and the field you must move in is so crowded."
Book Review: Rabbit Angstrom and the Fight to Change
Summary: 5 Stars
What's so thrilling about a washed-up basketball star trying to recapture something of his former glory, in any way he can? Everything, in Updike's hands. Rabbit Angstrom coasts through his post-school life before waking up suddenly one morning and asking what it's all about. He suddenly yearns for salvation, which he confuses with greatness - and grasps for both in one of the most bumbling, destructive yet heartfelt spiritual journeys ever portrayed in American fiction. One of the signatures of this book is something I found compelling in certain filmmaking, such as Lumet's NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN: An ability to take your emotions from 0 to sixty in no time flat. Lumet suceeds by contrasting sudden bursts of violence with minutes of dead calm. Updike takes radical left turns with a long elliptical orbit - it takes you a minute to realize you've suddenly shifted direction. Rabbit's sudden interstate voyage aimed at the Florida keys, or his callous rebuke of his wife at the funeral, take you aback in their brashness, but then, suddenly, they come alive with their own inner logic. When Harry tunes into the news and wonders along with the broadcaster, "Where is the Dalai Lama?", you learn just how far gone he is from understanding both the world around and the world inside him.
Rabbit is a typical American male in many respects: trapped by images of former glory, resentful of his "normal" life, unable to relate to women outside of a sexual context. But what Updike captures best in Rabbit is the universal human trait of equivocation. Bad fiction rests on a single, life-turning momentous event, after which any struggle the hero endures is external. Running back and forth between his wife and Ruth, between family and "freedom", and finally running away from the whole sordid mess born of his own indecision, Rabbit reminds us just how hard it can be to change one's oldest habits.
Book Review: Luminous Prose, Slight Story
Summary: 4 Stars
Reading Updike's sentences is a breathtaking experience. He has a rare ability to transpose ordinary experiences into rarefied grounds without falsely heightening experiences themselves. Each sentence, each event in the novel is carefully considered and calibrated, so that no sentence or description seems wasteful. The technical facility of Updike is truly something to marvel at, even surpassing the lyricism of Cheever. The way he writes about sex, adultery and guilt in this book is unparalleled in 20th century American fiction, and I haven't seen any other writer come close.Taken as an individual novel, however, it fails to rise to the status of a 'great american novel.' Although the writing is unsurpassingly beautiful, the plot is a bit thin, and ideas it expresses, commonplace. Minus the prose, the story tracks the wanderlust and guilt of Harry Angstrom, a man who still wants to hold on to his glorious boyhood, and seeks to escape his oncoming adulthood and life of ordinariness. It's a well-traveled premise for a novel, but executed and polished to a hilt.
As we see Rabbit Angstrom struggle to keep apace with his given life, we are meant to see the social milieu that he lives in. Readers do get an acute sense of time and place, but what of it? Not that all fiction should strive for the Meaning of Life (how dreadful would that be?!), but the feeling you get after reading 'Rabbit, Run' is that of caffeine rush which you know will fade. And it does.
I don't mean to slight Updike's legacy - he is one of the best writers we have in the States. And read as a tetralogy, the Rabbit books do encapsulate four decades of Americana with a sprawling and lyrical sweep. It truly is an accomplishment. As an individual novel, 'Rabbit, Run' is emotionally involving and a hell of a good read. But it moves us tantalizingly close to showing us what literary greatness is, then ultimately leaves us short.
Book Review: Jarring
Summary: 4 Stars
This is not your typical portrayal of life in the late 50's. This was a time of formality, politeness and heavy moralizing. This novel is jarring and shows the desperation of a man trapped in his life.
Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom is a sad character who, to date, has had his greatest moments in high school when he was a basketball star. Since then he has married a woman he doesn't really love and is trapped in a life he doesn't want. He has not lived up to the expectations he had of himself. Most men simply settle for this but Rabbit doesn't. One night, he simply walks away from his pregnant wife, 2 year old son and extended family. He begins a short life with a woman who is basically a prostitute. He probably loves her though he loves himself more. He is torn between his love for Ruth, the woman with a suspect reputation and the duty of staying with his family.
Rabbit continually makes bad choices and is completely self absorbed. He is not a likeable character.
Ultimately, I was torn between cheering and jeering Rabbit. In a way, I applauded his courage in resisting a typical life that will not make him happy. On the other hand, it is hard to cheer for someone who has no regard whatsoever on the effect of his words and actions on others.
The novel is full of tragedy and I found it very jarring and at times, very disturbing. In all, it was hard to enjoy but I was completely absorbed and found it to be a very worthy and thought provoking experience. I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Rabbit and Reverend Eccles, the Episcopalian Reverend who is obsessed with Rabbit and with saving him.
Updike's style tends to superfluously verbose in its descriptions which makes this drag a little at times.
In all, I highly recommend the jarring experience of Rabbit Run.