Rabbit Redux

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The assumptions and obsessions that control our daily lives are explored in tantalizing detail by master novelist John Updike in this wise, witty, sexy story. Harry Angstrom - known to all as Rabbit, one of America's most famous literary characters - finds his dreary life shattered by the infidelity of his wife. How he resolves - or further complicates - his problems makes a compelling listen.

©1996 John Updike (P)2008 Random House

Bring on more Rabbit!

I became totally engrossed in this wonderful book.
It tells the story of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom who's now in his late thirties and has long since stopped running away from his marriage and other responsibilities. He shirks responsibility in another kind of way by being passive about everything around him. When Rabbit's wife has an affair she challenges him to make a stand and fight to get her back. Not only does he fail her in this but he then gets mixed up in what turns out to be a disastrous chain of events. With his wife gone he agrees to take in a young run away who becomes his lover, and she in turn brings in Skeeter, her black radical, dope shooting friend. Rabbit finds himself in the middle of a chaotic world that collapses around him. But despite the sad turn of events, Rabbit is somewhat transformed by his experiences with Skeeter, hence the Latin title word "redux" meaning restored,and life for Rabbit goes on.
The characters (with the exception perhaps of the too political Skeeter) are very convincing, and Rabbit himself is such an ordinary man who could well be our own neighbor. Another part of Updike's brilliance lies in his perceptive analysis of emotional interactions and in the language that is so rich in astute detail.
The narrator also enriched the whole Rabbit experience by acting out the different characters with distinct voices and he really brought this audiobook to life in my mind's eye.
It's probably best to listen to this Rabbit series in the correct order starting with 'Rabbit, Run' if you want to understand the characters and their backgrounds fully. But it's not an absolute must - so if you fancy this one first, go for it. I just can't get enough of Rabbit and don't want the series to end!

Really poor edit

Why is this version inclusive of the narrator saying, “Go back.” and rereading, skipping and reading sections out of order. Not good and not the quality I a used to from Audible

Seamy Side of the Summer of Love

Rabbit Redux is compared unfavorably by the critics to the other Rabbit books. In my opinion, this is unfair. Updike's prose is uniformly smooth and rich. So apparently the critics don't like the content.

The book caputures the ethos of 1969--the peak and end of the Hippie Sixties. I was there. I was 12--the same age as Rabbit's son, Nelson. To me, that period was not the groovie barrel of fun Gen-X's think, rather it was often chaotic and terrifying. The world felt like it was going to heck in a handbag.

Updike caputures the zeitgeist. 18 year old rich girl Jill is the perfect rich hippie chick strung out on drugs. Nam vet Skeeter is a mix between a chicken hearted Black Panther and Charlie Manson, complete with pseudo-intellectual rants about how the Man is keeping the brothers down and needs to be shot.

Rabbit himself is a lazy whimp. He sees his world falling apart but would rather get stoned on Skeeter's pot. He could care less about his adulterous wife, and though he loves his son, he's hardly the model father in that he lets a strung out hippie chick and a sociopathic black guy take over his house.

Like most modernistic authors, there are no pure good guys or bad guys in this novel. Everyone is a dingy gray. And such is life.

I enjoyed Updike's lapidary prose and his faithful characterization of how the late 60s was the springboard for the ensuing decades's sins--sex, drugs, and money.

I would have given this novel 5 stars, but on several CD's the narrator makes mistakes and then say's "go back," which is apparently a signal to the producer to rewind the CD. The narrator can hardly be at fault for this, rather the producer needs a slap on the cheek for abandoning the helm.

Great production

I noticed that some of the reviewers mistook various occasions of "Go Back" in the audio book as poor editing. That's actually a misconception - the editing is great, no problem there. The instances where the narrator says "Go Back" are part of the book's text; it's where we listen to Harry Angstrom's stream of consciousness while typesetting at the print shop. He often has to "Go Back" because he made a typesetting mistake.

Brilliant reading

This is an outstanding reading of one of the most important American novels - I recommend it highly.

Beautifully written and read

Tantalizing descriptions and thought provoking themes. A wonderful second book in the rabbit series! Highly recommend!

Awful

There is nothing I liked about this novel. The only plus was that the narrator spoke clearly, and I was able speed it up enough to get through it quickly. Rabbit Angstrom is repulsive, and none of the other characters are very likeable.

There is a place for vulgarity but,

I will preface this review by noting that I rarely write a negative book view.

With that as a lead-in, I believe the hype over the Rabbit novels and Updike is much overdone.
yes, there is a place for vulgar and even offensive language to express concepts of division, oppression, and hatred.

However, this novel is consumed with fowl.... actually shameful... language from start to finish. I found it beyond vulgar, and misogonystic. My sense is that the Updike's language was used as a lazy crutch instead of expending energy on composing more meaningful dialogue.

I found no redeeming value in Redux and don't believe it has contributed anything to general readers or, to our larger society.

I would not recommend Rabbit "anything" to anyone.

The worst of the series

This one is Updike ripping on the 1960s. Reading is choppy at times.
Sex, drugs, and some rather ridiculous characters and situations.

Wrong Rabbit

More than midway through Rabbit Redux on Audible, I shelved it. I might return to it. Probably not. I suppose I chose the wrong Rabbit novel in the series, and the wrong Updike. No character won my sympathy, no one to root for, though I suppose Rabbit was undergoing a transformation by housing the execrable Skeeter and the runaway teen girl, Jill. Maybe I could root for the hapless son, Nelson, who has a hapless father. What held my interest, for a while, were the later 60's societal issues of racism, police brutality, protesting the capitalistic system, which persist 50+ years on, and Updike’s cynical take on them. I liked Janice, the cheating wife. Too bad she went away earlier in the novel. Perhaps she would have breathed life in the novel by returning home and throwing out the trash, including Rabbit. I won’t know, so no spoiler here. The narration got on my nerves but the narrator only reflected the annoying story.