{"id":6533,"date":"2025-02-09T09:26:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T15:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/?p=6533"},"modified":"2025-02-09T09:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T15:26:09","slug":"colins-review-tackles-rabbit-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/2025\/02\/09\/colins-review-tackles-rabbit-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Colin’s Review tackles Rabbit, Run"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

First U.K. Edition<\/p><\/div>\n

The “about” tab says it all: “The concept of Colin’s Review<\/em> is pretty self-explanatory. My name is Colin, and I review things. So, why should you care? Professional criticism is a dying industry. Ask any journalist or newspaper staff-writer and they’ll unfortunately tell you the same thing. However, there still exists a large contingency of readers who long for the golden era when criticism itself was just as artful as the topics the authors were reviewing. That’s what I strive to provide on this blog.”<\/p>\n

So far he’s only reviewed four books (and Updike might be cringing somewhere to discover that Philip Roth’s Sabbath’s Theater<\/em> merited an A while\u00a0Rabbit, Run\u00a0<\/em>was awarded an A-), but Colin seems insightful, somewhat bold, and quite readable. In his review<\/a>, after summarizing Updike’s first Rabbit novel in two sentences, Colin writes,<\/p>\n

“It makes for a very funny premise, and when told through Updike’s extremely poetic and occasionally profound style, it makes for a very compelling read. After all, the masculine urge for escape is relatable to everyone. Or, rather, Updike’s such a talented writer that Rabbit’s masculine impulses are easy to empathize with. The further he self-destructs, the more human he becomes.<\/p>\n

“Then again, Rabbit isn’t exactly the most likable protagonist . . . . Watching him constantly take advantage of those around him would be quite exhausting if it wasn’t for Updike’s wit and clarity. Not to mention the book’s present tense P.O.V., which keeps Rabbit’s cycle of assholery refreshing despite its repetition\u2014an uncomfortable\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>entertaining read.<\/p>\n

“Back in 1960,\u00a0Rabbit, Run\u00a0<\/em>provided a fresh perspective: a window into the soul of American men disillusioned with the middle-class WASP lifestyle, searching for spirituality but lacking religion, obsessed with sex yet scared of commitment, desperate for meaning in a seemingly meaningless world. Admirable cowards, self-righteous fools.”<\/p>\n

Colin notes that Updike had such an “immense” influence that “thousands of similar characters” have “taken up Rabbit’s running-away-from-family mantle. From\u00a0American Pastoral\u00a0<\/em>to\u00a0Cosmopolis<\/em> to\u00a0Five Easy Pieces<\/em>, there’s no shortage of problematic white male protagonists. Then again, I can’t blame Updike for a half-century of imitators.”<\/p>\n

The brisk review is made even brisker with sections on “Further Reading,” “Stray Observations (including Spoilers),” and “Quotes from\u00a0Rabbit, Run.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Read the full review<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The “about” tab says it all: “The concept of Colin’s Review is pretty self-explanatory. My name is Colin, and I review things. So, why should you care? Professional criticism is a dying industry. Ask any journalist or newspaper staff-writer and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":818,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,11,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-person-singular","category-reviews","category-scholarship-analysis"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/818"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6534,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6533\/revisions\/6534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}