Wabbits

Apologies for the black and white photo.

I've just finished the last of Updike's four "Rabbit" novels. I really enjoyed them and am glad that this project and his recent death (and many subsequent appreciations) encouraged me to read Updike. Much like with Mailer, I didn't know what to expect from him other than he was a respected American author who could be a bit of a bastard. Updike had quite a bit more style than Mailer and more of an ability to turn the boring beautiful. Also, Updike was able to write Rabbit Angstrom (at least in the early novels) as the type of shitty person that Mailer was in real life.

Reading the four novels in succession had it's rewarding moments; particularly being able to see the parallels between Rabbit's early and late lives and the similarities between Rabbit and his son when they are at comparable ages. If it weren't for an all-day jury duty session during which the featured, alternate entertainments were the films Radio, Flightplan, and Calendar Girls; I probably wouldn't have blazed through them quite so quickly.

Next up, Gravity's Rainbow. A random goal: Read Ulysses before Bloomsday, possibly rereading The Odyssey beforehand, and watching O, Brother throughout.

Note: "Updike, fight" didn't yield any videos.