Great novel: Rabbit is Rich

Recently I was looking for a good book to read and came across Rabbit, Run, which I'd read a few years ago. It is the first in a series of four novels by John Updike that also includes Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, and Rabbit at Rest. The main character is named Harry Angstrom, a.k.a. Rabbit. The first two books did not impress me very much when I read them, mainly because Rabbit is such a despicable person. He leaves his pregnant wife and young son, moves in with a prostitute, and takes no responsibility whatsoever for his actions.

I'm not sure why I decided to read all four novels after disliking the first one, but I did, and Rabbit is Rich made it worthwhile.

The story takes place at the beginning of the 1980s. After all kinds of infidelity, Rabbit still lives with his wife Janice. They've inherited quite a bit of money (hence the title), and their lifestyle has changed correspondingly. There are three main storylines:

1- Rabbit's son Nelson comes home from college with an unknown girl.
2- Rabbit spots a girl whom he thinks may be his daughter from a prior affair.
3- Rabbit and his wife hang out with their country club friends.

To me, Rabbit suddenly became likeable. It's hard to say exactly why that was, since his behavior is still despicable. Maybe it's because he's gotten older. Rabbit is Rich is a fascinating novel, and I enjoyed reading it. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1982.