Thoughts on Updike's Rabbits series

I binge-audiobooked all of John Updike’s Rabbit series (from Rabbit, Run through Rabbit Remembered). Here are my brief and random thoughts. (Spoilers!)

• At root, the Rabbits series is about a man who peaked in high school (as a basketball star), and is forced to navigate a life that is, in many ways, experienced as a huge disappointment.

• Reaction to Rabbit, Run: Rabbit is young, immature, erratic, thoughtless, irresponsible, adrift. He has unconsciously realized that his life is bound to be a disappointment, and doesn’t know what to do about it. It’s honestly hard to empathize with Rabbit here. I couldn’t imagine shacking up with a prostitute for a summer while my wife is in the late stages of pregnancy.

• Reaction to Rabbit Redux: I was most frustrated by Rabbit in this one. His behavior with his wife, his son, Skeeter, and Jill, is pretty revolting. He has a cruel edge in this phase of life, and I don’t like him. His relationship with Skeeter is not quite believable, at least to me. He takes risky behaviors throughout the books in the service of getting laid. But why would a guy who is basically racist decide to let an aggressive black nationalist stay in his house for an extended period of time? It was all very odd.

• Reaction to Rabbit is Rich: this is when I started to truly fall in love with Rabbit. He gets back together with Janice and struggles with fatherhood. I could empathize with this plight and understand his decisions. I laughed out loud often in this book. There are hilarious deadpan lines like (this is from memory since I don’t have a hard copy, sorry): “Every since Rabbit f***ed [what’s-her-name] in the a**, he had a renewed love of the world” - like lol wtf??). Rabbit’s cruel edge has dulled, and he’s become soft and ridiculous. Rabbit’s relationship with Stavros (the man who had an affair with Janice) is a genuinely cute bromance.

• Reaction to Rabbit at Rest: what a whiplash. For most of the book, I was really warming to Rabbit in his older age. He was mellowing out and being a decent person and a decent grandfather. Then, well, he slept with his daughter-in-law, which was disgusting, and as Janice told him, it was the worst thing he ever did to the family - it was unforgivable. Any hope for a series-long redemption arc for Rabbit was shattered. He learned nothing, he had no moral development, he turned out to be the pig he always was. His final act of running away and playing basketball was a terrific ending.

• Reaction to Rabbit Remembered: Maybe the most uplifting book of the series. It was wonderful to see Nelson avoiding falling into his father’s despicable ways. Nelson actually shows a level of self-reflection and self-improvement that Rabbit never showed. And we are given hope that Roy will likewise escape the Rabbit curse. Nelson connecting with his long-lost half-sister was really sweet in many ways. If it were Rabbit, he would have slept with her. Nelson, thankfully, chooses another path.

• I finished the series a few weeks ago and I still think about the characters everyday. It has had a strange and profound impact. I’m still processing the meaning of this series for me. At some level, it is a fantastic cautionary tale for men - it shows us many pitfalls that we should avoid if we want to lead a good and worthwhile life.

• It is kind of creepy how Updike was able to humanize such a disgusting person. When I finished, I told my wife (to her horror), “I feel like I’ve lost a friend.” Yes Rabbit is awful, but I did grow close to him. I was, after all, in his head for a couple months.

• For a long stretch of the series, shockingly, Rabbit and Janice have a very sweet marriage. I honestly found it inspiring how they grew together after such a rocky start (although of course it ends in disaster).

• John Updike’s writing is magical. The prose is stunning. The books are peppered with beautiful insights into family life and the human experience.

• This may sound weird: For white American males, the Rabbits series is in fact THE Great American Novel (runner-up: Infinite Jest). It’s the greatest story ever written about the everyman-ish white male experience in America. For women and racial minorities - you will probably enjoy this book much less than I did. In fact, you’ll probably hate it, since Rabbit is quite racist and sexist. Reading Rabbits made me realize that given the diverse range of experiences within American history, there cannot be ONE GAN, but instead there will be GANs told from the perspective of each of these different experiences and identities. Every white male should read this series - and take the George Castanza route: if Rabbit does it, do the opposite! Whenever you detect Rabbit’s flaws in yourself, work to correct them, because you will see the sad ending that awaits you if you don’t.