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Summary: The Rabbit series is the best American work
Review: Pure genius. Updike knows everything, it seems, or is close to it. He evokes emotions with relevant detail at the same time, often without mentioning a character for a few paragraphs. I've never been moved so much by descriptive writing as I have with Updike. Your intellect is left enlarged and fulfilled. The Rabbit series is also a mini history source in contemporary America, the ever present thrid person omnisicent who seems to hold sway over Rabbit's life and all his disfunctional family and common friends. A must read for the literary scholar
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Summary: Rabbit Angstrom - A true American Experience
Review: Rabbit Angstrom exemplifies the human core in ways that aren't shown enough in other popular fiction. He is nice, funny, mean, angry, selfish, well.....you get the picture. John Updike clearly portrays what a man goes through in his life from his petty grievances to his untamed lust and his hatred for people he should love. It's just so damn realistic that a lot of people don't want to believe these are normal characterisitcs of the human condition....but they are. They are! Excellent writing!
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Summary: Rabbit Angstrom - A true American Experience
Review: Rabbit Angstrom exemplifies the human core in ways that aren't shown enough in other popular fiction. He is nice, funny, mean, angry, selfish, well.....you get the picture. John Updike clearly portrays what a man goes through in his life from his petty grievances to his untamed lust and his hatred for people he should love. It's just so damn realistic that a lot of people don't want to believe these are normal characterisitcs of the human condition....but they are. They are! Excellent writing!
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Summary: Great, great books
Review: Rabbit, Run is one of the best books of the 20th century and once you get into the tragic life of Rabbit Angstrom, you can't turn back. I dont have Updike's gifts for words, so I cannot describe the book accurately enough, but I can say that it is a mistake if you don't read the book. Read it!
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Summary: Rabit, Rabit, Rabit, you gotta love-hate the guy!
Review: Rabit can really frustrate! Some times I want to hug him, (so to speak) most times I want to grab him and shake the living daylights out of him! A great character. Purhaps one of the greatest of American characters. He speaks to ONE generation of men, but I wonder if he speaks to all?...By the way, the publisher has this beautiful edition in stock.
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Summary: These novels changed my life
Review: Say what you may about Updike, whether you think he overwrites or he's obsessed with sex, the man's power shines through in these novels. The Rabbit tetralogy represents some of the best American Literature of the century. Harry Angstrom is an unlikeable antihero, but his life holds significance for every American. Through him we see America "progress" and perceive what Americans want, need, and don't need. Updike juggles so many balls in this tetralogy it's amazing; one can look at these novels on so many different levels. Sure, Updike sometimes hits you over the head with imagery, but many readers miss much of the subtlety in the novels. The tetralogy deals with the question as to how modern man can live life without spiritual nourishment. Rabbit is questing for Grace. These novels will be resilient because when we read and reflect about Rabbit, we're really just looking in the mirror.
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Summary: The "Everyman's Edition" about an Everyman
Review: This is one of those remarkable works that presents itself as the limited tale of one limited person, geographically restricted [in this case (except for one aimless car trip) to small patches of Pennsylvania and Florida], yet utterly universal. Well, universal for men that is; I won't purport to speak for women.What you should know if you don't already: Updike wrote each of the "Rabbit" works as one decade turned to the next; and each time he was approximately the age of the main character. We watch as the author immortalizes little truths about our nation at fixed times in history -- presidentially, these times are late Ike, early Nixon, mid-Carter, and Bush the First. Another thing to know is that there is no film made from any of these 4 works to screw around with the rich imagery with which the author provides us. And keep in mind the effect of binding 4 works together: the works become like the memories of a single person, all contained within one head even though some are happy and some are sad, some triumphal and some minuscule; here, each of the four works was received differently upon its own publication; National Book Awards and Pulitzers were won or not; sales were good or not; reviews were glowing or not. But the whole bound volume is about one individual from 1959 to 1989. The process of nearing the end of a book about the late 60's and knowing you can immediately follow all the same characters into the 70's was one that enthralled me, just as the stupendous writing did. As for the writing, I won't add much to the other reviews. For myself, I know that I continue at odd moments to "see" my own mental image of Rabbit or Nelson or the young women who shared the house with them at different intervals; or to envision the country club in Pennsylvania or the sailing incident in Florida or Nelson's wife and her painful confession. Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom (his first name utterly anglo-american, his last name indicative of a microscopic physical distance, and his nickname reminiscent of an animal known for reproductive prowess that is sometimes kept as a lovable pet and sometimes shot for food or otherwise) is not likable and his acts are sometimes unforgivable. People cheat and people die and it may be his fault. But our author shows us the people in his life liking him and forgiving him. The paradox is presented beautifully. Think about it.
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Summary: A Twentieth-Century Everyman
Review: Why IS this book so resonant? Updike superbly captures the 20th Century male dilemma in these four books: How should a guy be true to himself YET a caring lover YET an effective father? How can he survive in a continuously and subtly hostile world of work so that he can still hold his head high? Rabbit's answer is to take everything one step at a time, to react, sure, but also to control when it is important to do so. As the ad for "The Tao of Pooh" says, (something like) "Piglet frets and Eeyore resigns himself, but Pooh just IS." Rabbit Angstrom is like Pooh. A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. Sometimes you're right and sometimes you're wrong. Updike's straightforward, almost bland, language in his Angstrom tales is a perfect match for the job.
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