John Updike’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Updike) most famous work is his Harry ‘Rabbit’ Angstrom quartet Rabbit Run (1960); Rabbit Redux (1971); Rabbit is Rich (1981); and Rabbit at Rest (1990).
‘Rabbit’ is the nickname that American high school basketball star Harry Angstrom obtains as a youngster. The series chronicles the life of Harry over several decades from young adulthood to his death.
In so doing it charts the social history of America over the same period. Updike is a master prose craftsman with a unique style ranging from highly detailed description to wide reflection on many aspects of human life. In a widely circulated quote he said of his writing that it was an attempt “to give the mundane its beautiful due”. Rabbit at Rest (1990) takes us through the final months of Harry’s life. It is a tragic-comical conclusion to an all American manhood.
Treat yourself to this wry intelligent authorial voice. If you like it, there’s a whole oeuvre of Updike to enjoy. Here is praise for Updike by Julian Barnes in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/17/julian-barnes-john-updike-rabbit
512 papes in the Penguin Modern Classics paperback edition.
ISBN 978-0141188447
John Updike