Why Updike's Rabbit at Rest remains a great novel some 30+ years since its publication

 John Updike's Rabbit at Rest remains a great novel 30+ years after initial publication and possibly the best account of life in America ca 1990 - 9/11, pre Obama, pre Trump, pre Covid - the troubles and struggles, as well as the sense of prosperity and of a chosenAmerican destiny seem so far away and in some senses petty, as the past often does - that it's a little quaint to read this novel - but there's so much in it! As a reader who marks up the margins (not in library books of course!, though I do sometimes copy-edit these) I found on marked almost every page noting moments of great insight, dramatic significance, and laugh or at least "smile" passages. Noted previously: Updike's talent can best be understood as observation, insight, information = character and plot. He does a great job linking the inevitable conclusion of this volume with the first scene in this quartet of novels (Rabbit, Run) from about 4 decades earlier - and in this re-reading I noted how Updike the sly included in the final moments a hint at yet a 5th novel in the series, which turned out to be a short novel or long story rather than a full-out novel. There's plenty of plot in this novel, but it's still largely character-driven, and I think it would be impossible to finish this novel without some deep feeling for the protagonist Harry/Rabbit Angstrom; he's a deeply flawed character, with his many infidelities, his moments of rage, his casual racist and sexist comments - but those around him are deeply flawed as well - and when all's done he seems in some ways heroic anode course emblematic of his time and place; his flaws and shortcomings and failings and suffering are all part of his epoch.