Rabbit Is Rich

RABBIT IS RICH
by John Updike

 Awards: National Book Critics Circle Winner 1981, National Book Winner 1982, Pulitzer Winner 1982

 Dates Read: August 21, 2007 & August 22, 2017

 Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, in my opinion, is everyman USA. He has matured from a high school basketball star to an average man, living an average life in his average fictional hometown. Having never left Brewer, PA and marrying his high school sweetheart, Janice, Harry has settled into a solid middle class lifestyle that offers few surprises, yet money can't insulate him from the same challenges that plague others -  his wife's drinking, his son's "failure to launch," and his waning sexual prowess. 

 I cannot argue that Harry is a likable character, simply because he is so damn real. Reading Rabbit Is Rich feels like walking through someone's house when they aren't there and rifling through their nightstand. Should you be doing that? No. Do you get a sense of what that person would like to keep hidden? Absolutely. The same holds true here. Readers are privy to the most intimate secrets and desires of middle-aged Harry that your heart breaks for him as he contemplates his own mortality.

 I feel like I have met his type before. As much as I loathe him, he has become a character for me that I love to hate. I thoroughly enjoyed both of the Rabbit novels I have read and would read them again and again.

 Looking Forward: Bech, The Centaur, The Coup, The Poorhouse Fair, Rabbit At Rest, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Run, Roger's Version

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