John Updike - Rabbit Run
I read this on my trip. Given how burnt out and listless I was feeling before I left, it seemed appropriate.
Some random thoughts:
Updike is a smarter man that I will ever be. He wrote this book when he was 28 and was able to change the tone of American literature. I don't know why, but being in the presence of a genius like this makes me feel like shit.
Part of what makes a great writer is a great eye and keen powers of observation. Updike's skill in first seeing, then making the connections in written words that the mind makes when in deep examination is as mesmerizing as his beautiful prose.
As if I, or anyone needed a reminder, Rabbit is a lesson of how we all need to be more considerate of others. When we act only at the whim of what we feel, we can cause great, lasting pain.
Rabbit, Run reads like a reaction to the superficiality and repression of more animal instincts so inherent and central to mid-20th century modernism. Updike takes a deeper look and is unafraid and comfortable with bringing to light our baser, animistic desires that modernism is able to so effectively hide away. In this way, despite my love of modernism, Updike feels closer to "the truth."
5/5. I was blown away. Updike is a rightfully a literary giant and I look forward to reading the next book in the Rabbit series.