DENVER WRITERS BOOK CLUB: Rabbit, Run by John Updike

You’re invited to an evening of spirited discussion, literary excavation, and moral inquiry as we dive into John Updike’s Rabbit, Run.

Updike’s 1960 classic follows Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a former high‑school basketball star who bolts from the confines of marriage, work, and small‑town expectation. What unfolds is a portrait of mid‑century America in crisis—its spiritual hunger, its gender tensions, its suburban malaise, and its longing for transcendence. The novel’s psychological precision and moral ambiguity make it a perfect catalyst for deep conversation.

Discussion Themes

• The tension between freedom and responsibility
• The spiritual undercurrents of everyday life
• Gender, marriage, and the social expectations of the 1960s
• Updike’s prose style: lush realism, moral subtlety, and the beauty of the ordinary
• Rabbit as a character: sympathetic, infuriating, or both

What to Bring

• Your thoughts, questions, and favorite passages
• A willingness to wrestle with flawed characters and uncomfortable truths
• Curiosity about how Updike’s world mirrors our own

Our book club meets every fourth Thursday at Slater's 50/50, 3600 Blake Street, Denver. New attendees will be eligible to select our next book.

Note: We get free validated parking in the garage at 3847 North Downing Street.

(Be sure to join the Denver Writers Workshop on Meetup and Facebook for more information on those activities.)