Reading “Redux,” which was set in 1969, was like running into an old friend and realizing you never really knew that person the way you thought you did. But I remember that time from a child’s viewpoint. I was born in 1960, which is to say that I actually remember the Sixties because I was too young for chemicals. Updike’s cinematic, journalistic style certainly appealed to me, but what was even more impressive was his firm grasp of American life, with all its foibles, failures and, yes, epiphanies and ecstasies. I finished it before sunrise and I’ve never been the same. I bought it at the University of Missouri bookstore, took it back to my room and, curious as to why a history professor was assigning a novel, cracked it open. One of the “textbooks” he assigned us was Updike’s “Rabbit Redux.” God bless my brilliant professor, though I have forgotten his name. Said course focused on America in the 1960s and early 1970s. My introduction to John Updike’s work came courtesy of a history course I took as a junior in college. The following essay from Kansas City Star books editor John Mark Eberhart begins In Retrospect series’ look at John Updike’s 1981 NBCC winner, “Rabbit is Rich.”
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