Let me start out by copying my introduction from the review to Rabbit at Rest: The Rabbit series is an exceptional literary effort. About every ten years, Updike published a new installment with Rabbit aging as much as the author and always taking place in the then present time, giving a snapshot of the USA every change of a decade from approx. 1960 to 1990. This omnibus features the first three novels.
Looking back at all novels together, it’s not easy to judge them as separate books. They belong together and if you start at all with this series, go all the way and read all four books. Only this way you’ll get the maximum out of them. I can understand the common opinion that the second installment Rabbit Redux is a bit weaker than the others with a more outlandish plot that doesn’t really fit with Rabbit’s true character and only provides background explaining later developments which take a central role in Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest. But due to this, go with the flow and read Redux as well.
With each consecutive book, I enjoyed the series more as for once Rabbit and Updike came closer to my own situation in life and I grew closer to Rabbit and his camarilla. I can’t prove it but my gut feeling is that Updike’s quality of characterizations grew as well with plot increasingly taking the back seat while maintaining consistency in the depiction of its characters throughout. Each new start ten years later was fascinating to casually learn what has happened in between. Notwithstanding all the changes, Rabbit kept his tendency to run. Either away, with the flow, aimlessly or any combination thereof. Life isn’t always what you make it. It also just happens. And that’s what the Rabbit books are about for me.