Rabbit at Rest

John Updike, Justin Cartwright

From Shelf: Books written in the present tense

Fifty-six and overweight, Harry Rabbit Angstrom has a struggling business on his hands and a heart that is starting to fail. His family, too, is giving him cause for concern. His son is a wreck of a man and his wife has decided that she wants to be a working girl. He has to make the most of life. After all, he doesn't have much time left.

It's 1989, and Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom is far from restful. Fifty-six and overweight, he has a struggling business on his hands and a heart that is starting to fail. His family, too, are giving him cause for concern. His son Nelson is a wreck of a man, a cocaine addict with shattered self-respect. Janice, his wife, has decided that she wants to be a working girl. And as for Pru, his daughter-in-law, she seems to be sending out signals to Rabbit that he knows he should ignore, but somehow can't. He has to make the most of life, after all. He doesn't have much time left ...