About this title: In RABBIT REDUX (1971), John Updike's poignant sequel to RABBIT, RUN, he explores the tumultuous transformations of the late '60s as they affect the traditional American values on which Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom--like so many other Americans--believes his life is based. Rabbit trusts the government, supports the Vietnam War, finds blacks ("Negroes") ...
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Description: Good. Spine is well creased. Covers show wear at the edges and corners. Good Grade C average reading copy. Binding is Mass Market Paperback. Pages tanning. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
Description: Good. 100% guaranteed. Very good shape with a tight spine, creased spine, creased cover, tanning pages, clean pages, some creased pages, bent corners on cover, and light shelf wear. We work hard to make yuu happy. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Fawcett Books
Date Published: 1972
ISBN-13:9780449217535ISBN:0449217531
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Pages and binding tight and clean, previous owner's embossed seal in front, some soil to outside of pages. Cover is slightly soiled with minor edge wear, spine creasing. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: No Edition Stated
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Fawcett Crest, Greenwich, Conn.
Date Published: 1972
Description: Good. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Price sticker. Small tears at spine. Creasing and soiling to wraps. Solid reading copy with clean pages. read more
Description: Good. The assumptions and obsessions that control our daily lives are explored in tantalizing detail by master novelist John Updike in this wise, witty, sexy story. read more
"Book 2 in the Rabbit series, this one better than the first. Rabbit has aged 10 years and has become less self absorbed...in some ways. He begins to open his mind to people and ideas very different from his own white working class background in the year 1969. Besides the great story and intriguing characters, Updike interweaves the history of the times through the novel with dialogue and descriptions of televisions on in the background. Not a bad way to learn a bit more about the sixties. It must have been quite the book when publishes in 1971. The characters speak very bluntly and at length about race relations, the Vietnam War and, of course, there's lots of sex."
"I began this book almost immediately after reading "Rabbit, Run" and was disappointed with the obvious change in Updike's writing style. He really turns commercial from the first book to this one, and I am currently reading the third book in the series "Rabbit is Rich" and Updike has gone completely insane. The reader loses sight of the action/plot development because Updike goes off on tangents describing the most insignificant of things. It's sad because you do get attached to the characters and find yourself wanting to know what becomes of them, but all the extra filler kills it."
"I read this about the time it was published, and a recent mention of Updike prompted me to pick it up again.
When I first read it, Rabbit was older than I was, and frankly it was difficult for me to relate to anything in his life (except maybe the disputes about Vietnam). I could still appreciate Updike's prose, though. His imagery was/is often surprising.
This time -- what a difference 35 years makes. I have a new appreciation of Harry Angstrom's situation and attitudes, and a much less judgmental view of his actions. Plus, a renewed respect for Updike's turns of phrase.
Although parts of it are slightly tedious, and a bit dated, it's definitely worth a re-read if your memory of it was formed when you were still green..."
"Rabbit Redux is sort of a trainwreck. It's like that episode of Six Feet Under where Dexter smokes crack. There are so many wrong turns that it is almost beautiful. I could not put this thing down.
One of the main characters is Skeeter who is a black Vietnam vet who has moved in with Rabbit and Rabbit's possibly underage hippie girlfriend. They smoke a lot of pot and talk about the war, and I realize that Updike is trying to do something about race, but all of his black characters are either pimps or on drugs... So that's uncomfortable. I never felt as though the book transcended beyond the filter of a well-to-do, highly educated and accomplished white dude trying to be edgy.
In the end, Rabbit can do whatever he wants and his wife will come back to him, which considering that neither of these people really seem to like each other isn't so much a victory as just a safe way to bookend this chapter in the series.
I'd read DFW's essay on Updike's misogyny without having actually read Updike, and in this book it is in full display. There is a passage where Updike describes Rabbit's weenis as almost too big to fit inside of his girlfriend. He also describes Rabbit as this late-30s, kinda overweight, conservative jerk... yet the ladies can't get enough of him. It's also OK if he punches them. He beats up his wife and also his girlfriend and also Skeeter and this violence is never really dealt with, just mentioned matter of factly.
There are a lot of important issues that this book brings up, and I am far too stupid to properly try to address what they mean, but I will say that really fine writing and a willingness to venture into dangerous emotional waters is what ensures this book will last, even though its exploration of the values middle-of-the-road 1960s dudes hold is woefully dated.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and will read the next one as I know eventually this series will end with Rabbit dead."
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