 First edition cover |
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| Author | John Updike |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Alred A. Knopf |
| Publication date | 1971 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 406 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0394474392 |
| Preceded by | Rabbit, Run |
| Followed by | Rabbit is Rich |
Rabbit Redux is a 1971 novel by John Updike. It is the second book in his "Rabbit" series, which begins with Rabbit, Run, and is followed by Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit At Rest. There is also a related 2001 novella, Rabbit Remembered.
Plot summary
Rabbit Redux finds the former high-school basketball star working a dead-end job and approaching middle age in the downtrodden and fictional city of Brewer, Pennsylvania, the city of his birth. When his wife leaves him for another man, Harry and his twelve-year-old son are at a loss, and the chaotic state of the nation circa 1969 finds its way into Harry's home. Updike's recurring themes of guilt, sex, and death are joined here by racism, as Harry plays host to an African-American named Skeeter, a cynical, drug-dealing Vietnam vet who engages Harry in debates about the war and race relations. A wealthy white teenager fleeing suburban Connecticut, Jill, enthralls Harry and his son, and the four of them make a scandalous household emblematic of the Summer of Love's most confusing implications, culminating in a house fire that kills Jill. Harry and Janice are finally reconciled at book's end.
