Rabbit, Run

by John Updike

Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom is twenty-six years old and already unhappy with his life. He demonstrates kitchen gadgets for a living and has a wife and son at home. His wife, Janice, spends her days drinking and watching TV. Obviously, none of this lives up to his glory days of being a basketball star in high school. In fact, nothing since high school has compared to his perfection on the court and the adulation that always followed a game.

Rabbit gets the opportunity to run away when his wife sends him out for cigarettes. Oh, the cliche! But the twist on the cliche makes it the perfect exit for Harry. And run he does! What follows is the all too real description of what despicable heels do when they leave their pregnant wives and children.

Rabbit is not a sympathetic character. At all. He is the most callous and selfish literary character ever created. It is hard to believe that Updike wrote 3 more books starring Rabbit. Why would anyone want to read about him again?

3/2/09