Book Review: Rabbit, Run by John Updike

[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”0449911659″ locale=”us” height=”500″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IZ9TfDPsL.jpg” width=”334″][simpleazon-link asin=”0449911659″ locale=”us”]Rabbit, Run[/simpleazon-link] by John Updike
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When you appreciate skilled, lyrical writing, but despise the main character and the plot, writing a review is tricky. Rabbit, Run is not a book I would’ve read if not for the fact that my book club chose it. It is good literature but an unpleasant story which pretty well sums up the majority of literature I was required to read in college. Updike is a very skilled author. He captures mood and character in describing everything from clothing to setting. Nothing is random. Every word has a purpose. The story is provocative, quite sensual(Rabbit seems obsessed by sex and constantly confuses sex with love), tragic, and ultimately frustrating. Rabbit is pathetic, self-obsessed, disgusting, and selfish, even delusional. I had no compassion for him whatsoever. The minister, who I liked the most because he was a straight-talker, let me down in the end. I didn’t like the book, but it was good. I gave it four stars, but I can’t recommend it. If it were a painting, I’d admire the form, the texture, and the artistry, but I definitely wouldn’t buy it and hang it on my wall.