Rabbit, Run (original 1960; edition 1960)

Ambiguous (but intentionally so) description of young (26 yo) man's personal tribulations as he adapts to the anonymity and banality and limitation of adult life

Technically, I would give this 3.5-stars, if the half-star rating was possible.

Wow. This story and its characters are tragic. So, so sad and lost. This was my first Updike and, initially, I was just going through the motions, reading words and turning pages. But, the last third of the story was grab you by the throat and make you pay attention good. I was skeptical about having this character arc through so many books and wondering how thin that stretch would be. By the end of Rabbit, Run enough was left unaddressed to make me want to read book two in the series. I felt that parts of the story were over-written and was doing a bit of eye-rolling at moments when Updike's descriptions were just too over the top.
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This is another book I probably read too young, even though it's the first of Updike's Rabbit series. I think I read it because I thought Updike was cute (and he was!) I have to admit that I haven't been motivated to read any of the others. Maybe it's part of that "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus" thing, but so many of the books by American male writers in the last 30-40 years sound deadly dull when I read the reviews. I'm thinking of Richard Ford, Philip Roth and others. Is it just because I can't relate? Or are they just being badly reviewed (even when being praised) and I should read them anyway? Well, maybe this Guardian project will get me to do so. ( )

Well, I thought this was monumental. Full review hopefully later. ( )

Crystal prose about shattered people. An in depth exploration of a putz. ( )