waltt@tekecs.UUCP (Walt Tucker) (04/23/85)
About a year ago, I just finished reading the first book in the "Rabbit"
triology by John Updike. Actually, this was the second book in the triology
I read, but I screwed up the sequence, since I didn't know it was a triology
when I started. The third book in the sequence "Rabbit is Rich" won a Pulitzer
prize for fiction in 1979.
Basically, the triology is an examinination of middle class values through the
eyes of Harry Angstrom (aka "Rabbit"). Harry was a star basketball player in
high school, where he earned the nickname "Rabbit" due to his quickness.
The first book in the sequence, "Rabbit, Run" was written in 1960, and takes
place the summer of that year. Harry is 24 years old, recently married
(because he "had" to), and still living in the same Pennsylvania town where he
grew up. He feels like he is going nowhere, and revels in his past glory
as a high school basketball star. Most of all, he wants to leave the mundane
life behind that he has trapped himself into and just get out of town. But
life is always more complicated than that. This book does an excellent job
of examining the social pressures Harry is facing from his wife, his toddler
son, his priest, his parents, his in-laws, his ex-basketball coach, and Harry's
innermost thoughts in dealing with the world as he sees it.
The second book in the series, "Rabbit, Redux" (which I have not read) was
written in 1970 and takes place in the summer of that year. I do know that
Harry is now 34 years old, and his son is now about 12. He is still married
and still living in the same home town, but he is having marital problems
and his wife blames him for the death of their daughter. His parents are
dead. This book is in my book drawer and I'll post a more formal review
when I read it.
The last book in the series is "Rabbit is Rich", which was written in 1979
and takes place the summer of that year. In this book, Harry has finally
"made it". He is the manager of a sucessful used car dealership in his
Pennsylvannia town and has everything he dreamed of. Or does he? While he
and his wife have resolved their differences from years past, they are taking
care of her ailing mother, who insists they live in her house to take care
of her until she dies (she says "everything will be yours then, and you then
do what you want"). His son, who he had great expectations for, has become
a college drop out and now planning to marry a girl that he got pregnant.
Meanwhile, his son is living at home with another girl. Harry sees his son
as a reflection of himself as he was twenty years ago. And, the appearance
of a girl of twenty leads him to seek out a former girlfriend of twenty years
past.
I recommend the triology highly. While you don't have to read the
triology in order (I didn't), I would suggest that you do, as the later
books tie in with events that occured earlier. Updike has done a rather
interesting thing, writing these novels in real time as his characters also
develop.
I would be interesting to hear other thoughts from people who have read this
triology. What do you think?
-- Walt Tucker
Tektronix, Inc.