Rabbit at Rest
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| Rabbit At Rest | |
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| Author | John Updike |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Publication date | 1990 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 512 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0394589521 |
| Preceded by | Rabbit is Rich |
Rabbit at Rest is a 1990 novel by John Updike. It is the fourth and final novel in a series beginning with Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, and Rabbit is Rich. There is also a related 2001 novella, Rabbit Remembered. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1991, the second "Rabbit" novel to garner the award.
[edit] Plot summary
The novel is part of a series that follows the exploits of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom from 1960-1990, Rabbit at Rest focusing on the years 1988-1990. It finds Harry nearly forty years after his glory days as a high school basketball star in a mid-sized Pennsylvania city. Harry and his wife of 33 years, Janice, have retired to sunny Florida during the cold months, where Harry is depressed, bored, and dangerously overweight. Unable to stop nibbling corn chips and macadamia nuts, he finds himself contemplating death. He is distracted from his worries by the acts of his drug-addicted son, Nelson, to whom Janice has very unwisely given control of the family business, a Pennsylvania Toyota dealership. Despite his unhappiness, he manages to take some comfort in his nine year old granddaughter, beautiful, athletic Judy. After Nelson comes back from rehab, and Janice begins work as a real estate agent, the family finds out that Harry has had a one night stand with Nelson's wife, Pru. This prompts Harry to escape to Florida. While hiding, Harry dies of heart disease shortly after winning a one-on-one basketball game with a local youth (echoing the opening of Rabbit, Run in which Harry impulsively joins a group of teenagers playing basketball).
[edit] External links
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos |
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1991 |
Succeeded by A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley |
