Rabbit Is Rich Audiobook By John Updike cover art

Rabbit Is Rich

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Rabbit Is Rich

By: John Updike
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
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PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • The middle-aged hero of Rabbit, Run, returns—from one of the most gifted American writers of the twentieth century.

The hero of John Updike's Rabbit, Run (1960), ten years after the hectic events described in Rabbit Redux (1971), has come to enjoy considerable prosperity as Chief Sales Representative of Springer Motors, a Toyota agency in Brewer, Pennsylvania. The time is 1979: Skylab is falling, gas lines are lengthening, the President collapses while running in a marathon, and double-digit inflation coincides with a deflation of national confidence. Nevertheless, Harry Angstrom feels in good shape, ready to enjoy life at last—until his son, Nelson, returns from the West, and the image of an old love pays a visit to his lot. New characters and old populate these scenes from Rabbit's middle age, as he continues to pursue, in his erratic fashion, the rainbow of happiness.

©1996 John Updike (P)2009 Random House Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Sagas

Critic reviews

"The reviewers seemed to be under the impression that the hero was a terrible character. It's incredible! No, I think it's the most interesting American novel I've read in quite a long time"
—Mary McCarthy, interviewed in The Paris Review

"The power of the novel comes from a sense, not absolutely unworthy of Thomas Hardy, that the universe hangs over our fates like a great sullen hopeless sky. There is real pain in the book, and a touch of awe."—Norman Mailer, Esquire

"...An American protest against all the attempts to impress upon us the 'healthy, life-loving and comic' as our standard for novels. It is sexy, in bad taste, violent, and basically cynical. And good luck to it."—Angus Wilson, naming three Books of the Year in the Observer
Modern Classic • Brilliant Narration • Insightful Relationships • Relatable Angst • Excellent Writing • Masterful Craft
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Out of the 200+ books in my Audible library, I’ve listened to this one by far the most, over and over. But I love Updike and the Rabbit trilogy, especially. This novel won both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. So the man can write. It’s a study of human behavior and how the norms of the time change and effect it all. Not much happens plot-wise but you’ll recognize everything and everyone, especially if you remember the decade covered here - the 70s. Arthur Morey, the narrator for all these novels is equally as gifted as Updike in his discipline.

Mesmerizing

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Arthur Morey brilliantly brings to life the inner life and vulnerable, tattered yet resilient humanity of Rabbit and the cast of other characters that Updike fashions with uncanny verisimilitude. Bravo AM. Bravo Audible. These books were made for narration, and AM is a master of his craft, as if he is inhabiting the spirit and body of the novel’s hero.

Brilliant narration by Arthur Morey

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Great writing. Although rabbit is a bit of a sad character, I still found him interesting.

Interesting book.

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Finished listening to the book this morning (10 Feb 2023), it’s been some 10 hours since then. Some time to calm down. But I am still full of superlatives thinking about the book. It is so beautiful, so life-like - profound, profane, angry, kind, sad, sometimes for a brief moment happy, tethered to the ever present death. This is great book. How / why hasn’t John Updike received a Nobel is beyond me. The performance / reading is also great.

One of the best books I’ve read

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But I do. Harry is perhaps the most unsympathetic protagonist to ever receive several thousand pages of active invasive third person narrative... And I still can't grasp who he is or what he looks like, or why Updike created him... And for what purpose? To pick the scabs of white sururbia? To reveal the essence of misogyny? To kill of his inner sexual demons? Not sure where to laugh or cry. I mostly sigh, cringe, or lose track of what the purpose of poolside banter is... But I keep listening and moving from one book to the next. I often feel Arthur Morrie feels the same and can't decide what tone to read in. But he's excellent.

I don't know why I continue this series...

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I know that Mr. Updike is very famous and has received the top literary awards, but each time I attempt one of his books because of his reputation, I cannot finish it. And the reader in this edition is SOOOOOO boring! The best I can figure is that I am an California boy and I just cannot relate to this East coast angst. No, the angst I can relate to, it is the idea of making a story out of it that I do not relate to. Oh well, I know I am in the minority. But to me, this book is not worth the time. Examine your own life and the story will be better lived.

Is this story going anywhere?

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This is some of the best John Updike and one of my favorite stories of the rabbit series. I read this when it came out in hardback in this is the second time I probably listen to it in the last 20 years. This is a book that gets better and better with age. Updates ongoing saga of Harry angstrom it's a book that's impossible not to relate to and laugh at. He is an oddish euro but I found myself rooting for him just to get through all the experiences that life kept throwing at him and his reactions to them . would recommend this book highly.


Mike S.

Rabbit dealing with the end of the seventies

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This is one of the books of the last century. Beautiful, smart, honest, profound. I read it years ago and always loved it. The narration is perfect.

Updike continues a very beautiful and story

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I loved this book dearly. We find Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom a decade later in 1980, having settled down again with his wife Janice,and now running his father in law's business Springer Motors. Rabbit is enjoying his middle class life - he has finally made it! The only thorn in his side is his son Nelson...
Don't expect an exciting storyline to this book; it's more like a snapshot of middle class, middle age life for the American 'Everyman'. But it's a picture created in fine prose with vivid metaphors, explicit almost clinical sexual descriptions and rich language that is a feast to the senses. Add to this Updike's great insights into interpersonal relationships, middle age and the complexities of parenting, and there you have it, a modern day classic.
You can listen to this book even if you haven't read the previous two in the series. Just close your eyes, sit back and slide into the world of Harry Angstrom and friends...

Brilliant Writing

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Updike has written a real classic of the white American experience. Self absorbed protagonist lives a comfortable life almost by accident, bumping through life, damaging family and oblivious to the reality around him.

Great writing

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