Page turner: 5/10
Heart tugger: 7/10
Though provoker: 6/10
Overall: 3 stars

Returning after a holiday hiatus: Rabbit at Rest. Once again, I feel that I have a missing category for ‘language’ or ‘vividness’ as John Updike is a master at both. I was sucked into Harry ‘Rabbit’ Angstrom’s semi-retired world utterly. It just didn’t ‘wow’ me. But maybe I’m being harsh after a fun-in-the-sun vacation.

My edition of Rabbit at Rest

Rabbit at Rest is, I learned, the fourth novel in a series of books following the life of Harry Angstrom, a decade at a time. In ‘at Rest’ Rabbit is in his fifties, has heart troubles, and is facing mortality for the first time in his life. To be honest, Rabbit is a bit of an ass: a womanizer, an attention seeker. A not-so-hot father. But then, the people around him aren’t exactly ‘winners’ either, and so it is easy to empathize.  And very easy to feel like Brewer, Pennsylvania is a real place.

Much of this book is an indulgence in nostalgia. Full of poignant memories of past affairs (both sexual and innocent), triggered by simply driving down the street. Rabbit faces them to the extent his character is able – his moral code is willowy at best. And, as the nickname perhaps belies, he does have something of a tendency to flee. And to hump – almost indeterminately. But he bends rather than breaks. And he does love, in his own way.

At some point I will read one of the earlier Rabbit books (I think Updike won more than one award for the series) at which point I will be clued in a bit more on the nickname. But apart from that, I can confirm that the novel stands on its own. In fact, I think I’m rather pleased I read it first.

What I like about Updike’s work (which I had never read before) is a rawness that feels so real. It does what it does SO well … but somehow I am left wanting a little bit more from him. From Rabbit. And *certainly* from his son, Nelson, and his wife, Janice, neither of whom win family-member-of-the-year awards.

Rabbit at Rest is an excellently constructed novel. I liked it. And I liked the window in the world of Harry Angstrom. For all his flaws, I liked him too. I LOVED the way Updike wrote the book. So if nothing else, I’m going to go in search of some more Updike work and see how I get on.