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A review by jackrabbitjb
Rabbit Redux by John Updike
3.0
An improvement over its predecessor.
Redux is rougher and more firmly rooted in real life. There is much talk of Vietnam and race relations, and Rabbit finally seems a like a man outmatched by life, but one who really does love at least one thing: his son. I found myself rooting for him and there was a very real tension to just about all of the many conflicts in his life.
The book drags in places when Updike is trying to deliver a black perspective of America that only rings true in Rabbit's response of white guilt, but if you can forgive those stretches, the book pulls you along briskly.
Updike is a fantastic chronicler of social history and, ultimately, the greatest pleasure to be found here is to be immersed in another time.
Redux is rougher and more firmly rooted in real life. There is much talk of Vietnam and race relations, and Rabbit finally seems a like a man outmatched by life, but one who really does love at least one thing: his son. I found myself rooting for him and there was a very real tension to just about all of the many conflicts in his life.
The book drags in places when Updike is trying to deliver a black perspective of America that only rings true in Rabbit's response of white guilt, but if you can forgive those stretches, the book pulls you along briskly.
Updike is a fantastic chronicler of social history and, ultimately, the greatest pleasure to be found here is to be immersed in another time.