Product Description

The trilogy comprises of "Rabbit, Run", "Rabbit Redux" and "Rabbit is Rich". It is intended as an amusing, sympathetic study of a man, Rabbit Angstron, putting up a fight against the inevitable.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #291433 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 720 pages

Customer Reviews

One of America's finest novelists in prime form
It's not difficult to see why Updike's Rabbit tetralogy has been so well received. True, the life of Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom is sometimes humdrum and his actions often of dubious morality, but Updike treats his hero with such humanity that it's impossible not to feel some sort of sympathy towards him; many writers have indeed admitted a sneaking admiration for the character. Quite apart from this subtle treatment of his characters, Updike's writing is a delight. His use of metaphor is always apt and yet somehow understated: it never screams 'look at me' as some other writers in this mould tend to. Arguably the most important achievement of this work, however, is the magnificent encapsulation of middle America that it achieves. Each of the books is closely linked to its period in American history, and it accurately portrays the hopes, aspirations and ultimately cynicism of two generations of Americans. It's as much a work of social history as an engrossing tetralogy of novels.

20th Century America in a novel
In this trilogy, John Updike manages to chronicle a man's role in average American society from the late 1950s to the dawn of the 1980s.
The stories revolve around Rabbit Angstrom and, as an average American man, relatively little happens. The stories don't build to a big climax, they simply describe how this one man interacts with those around him and reacts to the events in his life. Some of his actions aren't what a typical person would do, but this irrationality possibly furthers just how realistic the character is.

Throughout the trilogy, John Updike manages to describe the things that many other novels can't. This is partly due to writing throughout in present tense. Descriptions that would seem contrived in another style can be used here, with amazing effect. The world somehow becomes believable. Anyone that bothers to describe the sound a bottle of fizzy drink makes when opened, and actually manages to make this fit in, is someone special indeed. The way that the narrative follows Rabbit's stream of consciousness is particularly clever, with odd perceptions of things in the world around him, such as the way the back of the car lot makes him think of Paraguay. It seems to be a ridiculous link, but this is what really happens in life!

The only downside for me is that in the second book, Rabbit Redux, the narrative loses something. Big, life changing events happen seemingly often in this book, and the irrational behaviour that usually makes the characters seem human becomes too much. Rabbit's actions become confounding, and instead of documenting this normal man's life, it becomes almost like a soap opera. The true quality shines in Rabbit, Run and Rabbit is Rich.

The trilogy is a must for anyone interested in 20th Century literature and society. It will certainly make you want to read the fourth book and should confirm that the author is truly a great.

Just a great read.
..I was totally absorbed and read this and 'Rabbit at Rest' over a weeekend. All probably down to a substantial amount of Rabbit being in pretty much all of us mediocre folks. For the reader who is fed up being swindled by OTT cover reviews written by people who seem to have forgotten that books are also intended to be enjoyable, other books which made me feel good after reading them (there have been a few but these spring most readily to mind) are 'Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady' (Florence King), 'Nicholas Nickelby' (Dickens), 'War and Peace' (Tolstoy) and 'The Idiot' (Dostoeyevsky). Ripping good reads with a double helping of substance!