Rabbit, Run

Ok so I'm like 3/4 done with Rabbit, Run.

REASONS WHY I MAY NOT FINISH THE BOOK

1. Run-on sentences. John Updike's prose is for the most part very cool and evocative, but I hate it when ANY writer puts in gigantic paragraphs filled with super long descriptive sentences. I like my poetry and prose to be separate entities.

2. The protagonist is a gigantic dick. Here come some spoilers, so be careful if you read on. I've had a very hard time identifying at all with Rabbit. He bails on his wife and 2-year-old son without a thought or even trying to work things out. He attempts to carry out some crazy dream about going down South, fails, comes back to town, and moves in with some chick he meets on a blind double date. Knocks her up. Forces her to go down on him to get even with her in some way. Slaps a preacher's wife on the ass. Etc. Etc. I'm hoping that all this is building to some kind of dramatic denouement where he mans up and figures his shit out, but since I'm only 3/4 of the way through, right now I think Rabbit is a total ass.

REASONS WHY I MAY JUST POWER THROUGH

1. Supporting cast. I really like the character of Eccles the preacher, and of the old lady that Rabbit gardens for whose name I forget. Eccles's personality is very interesting to me, how he's kind of sarcastic, kind of bitter, but at the same time he's the most powerful force for good in the whole book. I also like the tension between him and his wife over his job. I like how she resents his congregation for being, in her view, a bunch of whining incompetents, as opposed to some sanctimonious, stereotypical old church lady. I think they're the best characters in the book.

2. Psychology. I enjoy how most of the book takes place inside the characters' heads. I like having a front row seat for their motivations, internal debates, insecurities, etc. Every character is fully fleshed out with a strong personality, which I think has a lot to do with the way we're privy to the characters' inner thoughts.

3. It will bother me if I don't finish it. I hate not finishing books. It'll bug me.