A few weeks ago I finished the Rabbit novels by John Updike. I’d started reading them summer after freshman year and I’ve had volumes 3 and 4 on my bookshelf for almost two years now.

I don’t mean to write a review, but I want to mention that Rabbit at Rest might be the best book I’ve ever read. It capstoned the series so perfectly. I was amazed at how much new and unexpected it brought to the series while staying perfectly true to the characters Updike created decades earlier. It also did a great job of depicting a changing America and one middle American’s place in it. I must admit that much of my familiarity with American history over the past few decades comes from reading Updike.

The part of the series that will always stick with me the most, though, is Janice’s frustration over seeing Rabbit change from the young hero, destined for great things, to just another mediocre commoner. Each step of Rabbit’s degradation resulted from his merely making the easiest choice he could, and the reader see where that road inevitably ends: mediocrity.

Since finishing Rabbit I’ve read The Legend of Colton H. Bryant, The Road, and now I’m on The Kite Runner. I could seriously, seriously use an uplifting read if anyone has any recommendations.