# Updike, Rabbit, and the Mid-life crisis

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updike-rabbit-and-the-mid-life-crisis/503434>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 18, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updike-rabbit-and-the-mid-life-crisis/503434 "2009-07-18T14:41:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updike-rabbit-and-the-mid-life-crisis/503434/1 "2009-07-18T14:41:06Z")

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I grew up reading the Rabbit series (and the rest of Updike). I’m 42, and I always thought I had learned from Rabbit how NOT to have a mid-life crisis. But it turns out I apparently learned how to to do the really big one.

So what do you Rabbit fans remember are the cautionary tales and rewards of the full blown mid-life crisis?

(BTW I had the chance to meet Updike a few years ago and told him my mom always considered me Rabbit’s son. He said good thing you got off that cocaine. He also signed my old copy of A Month of Sundays.---- R.I.P.

flip

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**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updike-rabbit-and-the-mid-life-crisis/503434/2 "2009-07-19T09:12:22Z")

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> [@Flipshod](#):
>
> I grew up reading the Rabbit series (and the rest of Updike). I’m 42, and I always thought I had learned from Rabbit how NOT to have a mid-life crisis. But it turns out I apparently learned how to to do the really big one.
> 
> So what do you Rabbit fans remember are the cautionary tales and rewards of the full blown mid-life crisis?

Wife swapping evenings while on vacation = cautionary tale in that it’s bad when the guy you despise gets your wife and you end up with a homely one. But rewarding when you get some anal sex thrown in with the deal.

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/updike-rabbit-and-the-mid-life-crisis/503434/3 "2009-07-19T23:52:57Z")

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Of course, the Rabbit novels are not just about a mid-life crisis. They’re about a third-of-the-way-through-life crisis (_Rabbit, Run_, a mid-life crisis (_Rabbit, Redux_), a slightly later midlife crisis (_Rabbit is Rich_), and a three-quarters-life-crisis (_Rabbit at Rest_).