Rabbit at Rest - John Updike

Rabbit Run - John Updike

Rabbit Run sees author John Updike at his towering best. The first part in this life cycle of Rabbit Armstrong charts his entry into manhood and his inability to cope with the responsibilities and structure that crowd in around him as he makes the transition from star athlete to everyday Joe . The sparkle of his success on the basketball court has elevated his self-esteem to the point where Rabbit is initially incapable of dealing with the mundane and we are equally torn between our sympathy for this young man and our contempt for his obvious narcissism. As the novel unfolds, Updike describes in intimate detail the way that the ties of family, the opinion of the ...

Rabbit Run - John Updike

Rabbit Run sees author John Updike at his towering best. The first part in this life cycle of Rabbit Armstrong charts his entry into manhood and his inability to cope with the responsibilities and structure that crowd in around him as he makes the transition from star athlete to everyday Joe . The sparkle of his success on the basketball court has elevated his self-esteem to the point where Rabbit is initially incapable of dealing with the mundane and we are equally torn between our sympathy for this young man and our contempt for his obvious narcissism. As the novel unfolds, Updike describes in intimate detail the way that the ties of family, the opinion of the ...

Rabbit Redux - John Updike

The roles are reversed in the second part of John Updike s Rabbit quadrilogy as Rabbit Armstrong s wife leaves him holding the baby! After being brought to heel by the coventions of family life that he tried to avoid in Rabbit Run , Rabbit now finds himself struggling to fill the void left in their son s life by his wife s absence, as well as holding down a job and adapting to life in the late 1960s. The addition of a teenage runaway (Jill) and a young black radical (Skeeter) to this uncoventional family stretches Rabbit s resolve to breaking point, as sexual tension, suspicion and recreational drug abuse leads the cast of characters down a slippy path. Genuinely ...

Rabbit Redux - John Updike

The roles are reversed in the second part of John Updike s Rabbit quadrilogy as Rabbit Armstrong s wife leaves him holding the baby! After being brought to heel by the coventions of family life that he tried to avoid in Rabbit Run , Rabbit now finds himself struggling to fill the void left in their son s life by his wife s absence, as well as holding down a job and adapting to life in the late 1960s. The addition of a teenage runaway (Jill) and a young black radical (Skeeter) to this uncoventional family stretches Rabbit s resolve to breaking point, as sexual tension, suspicion and recreational drug abuse leads the cast of characters down a slippy path. Genuinely ...

Marry Me - John Updike

Introduction In my quest to widen the type of books that I read, I borrowed this from a friend, who strongly recommended it. I’ve read some good reviews of John Updike’s books in the past, although have never read any of his work. Realising that he wrote Witches of Eastwick did make me wonder what I’d let myself in for and to be honest, until nearly half way through the book, I nearly gave up. Luckily for me, I didn’t, because I would have missed a good novel, if somewhat irritating at times. The story Marry Me is the story of two couples, Jerry and Ruth Conant and Richard and Sally Matthias. Both couples are successful, wealthy and have three children each. However, ...

Marry Me - John Updike

Introduction In my quest to widen the type of books that I read, I borrowed this from a friend, who strongly recommended it. I’ve read some good reviews of John Updike’s books in the past, although have never read any of his work. Realising that he wrote Witches of Eastwick did make me wonder what I’d let myself in for and to be honest, until nearly half way through the book, I nearly gave up. Luckily for me, I didn’t, because I would have missed a good novel, if somewhat irritating at times. The story Marry Me is the story of two couples, Jerry and Ruth Conant and Richard and Sally Matthias. Both couples are successful, wealthy and have three children each. However, ...