Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike

Rabbit Is Rich is a 1981 novel by John Updike. It is the third novel of the four-part series which begins with Rabbit, Run and Rabbit Redux, and concludes with Rabbit At Rest. There is also a related 2001 novella, Rabbit Remembered. Rabbit Is Rich was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1982. This third novel of Updike's Rabbit series examines the life of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, a one-time high school basketball star, who has reached a paunchy middle-age without relocating from Brewer, Pennsylvania, the poor, fictional city of his birth. Harry and Janice, his wife of twenty-two years, live comfortably, having inherited her late father's Toyota dealership. He is indeed rich, but Harry's persistent problems — his wife's drinking, his troubled son's schemes, his libido, and spectres from his past — complicate life. Having achieved a lifestyle that would have embarrassed his working-class parents, Harry is not greedy, but neither is he ever quite satisfied. Harry has become somewhat enamored of a country-club friend's young wife. He also has to deal with the indecision and irresponsibility of Nelson, his son, who is a student at Kent State University. Throughout the book, Harry wonders about his former lover Ruth, and whether she had ever given birth to their child.

The 153rd greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - 4th on What Is the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years? (New York Times)
  2. - 8th on Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 Novels (Entertainment Weekly)
  3. - 8th on The Ideal Library (Book)
  4. - 43rd on The Telegraph’s 100 Novels Everyone Should Read (Telegraph)
  5. - 52nd on The Top 10: The Greatest Books of All Time (The Top 10 (Book))
  6. - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Pulitzer Prize)
  7. - 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (The Book)
  8. - 110 Best Books: The Perfect Library (The Telegraph)
  9. - National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction (National Book Critics Circle)
  10. - National Book Award - Fiction (National Book Foundation)
  11. - The 75 Best Books of the Past 75 Years (Parade Magazine)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
RABBIT IS RICH. Paperback 3897915 $13.95 $2.57
Rabbit Is Rich Paperback 5552845 $8.80 $6.24 2010
Rabbit is Rich A Novel Hardcover 3966248 $7.90
Rabbit Is Rich (Paperback, 1991) Paperback 10665902 $30.32 $11.81 1996
Rabbit Angstrom: A Tetralogy (Everyman's Library, No. 214) Hardcover 72361 $19.00 $9.12 1995
Rabbit Is Rich Hardcover 1665639 $18.00 $2.95 1981
Rabbit Is Rich Hardcover 4975108 $0.33
Rabbit is Rich Paperback 6906676 $2,396.90 $0.01 1997
Rabbit Is Rich Mass Market Paperback 4863562 $2.71 1982
The Rabbit Omnibus : Rabbit Run', 'Rabbit Redux' and 'Rabbit Is Rich Paperback 9826976 $6.63 2001
John Updike: Novels 1978-1984 (LOA #339): The Coup / Rabbit Is Rich / The Witches of Eastwick (Library of America) Hardcover 1889944 $45.00 2021
Rabbit Is Rich Kindle Edition 124856 $13.99 2010
Rabbit Angstrom: A Tetrology: Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit at Rest Hardcover 2129375 $45.00 $18.24 1995
Rabbit is Rich Mass Market Paperback 2723352 $2.48 $0.01 1982
Rabbit Angstrom : A Tetralogy - 'Rabbit, Run', 'Rabbit Redux', 'Rabbit Is Rich', 'Rabbit at Rest Hardcover 2373922 $29.81 $9.73 1995
Rabbit Is Rich Paperback 476962 $11.81 $1.53 1996