The beginning of the cycle about Updike's hero Harry Angstrom - long a part of modern world literature. Harry Angstrom, a blonde giant with a delicate nose that earned him the nickname Rabbit, once a famous basketball star in college, is now a salesman in a department store. He has luck with women, but he does not bring them happiness. He leaves his wife and child, seized by a restless longing. After a tragic event in the family, he returns to her, fails once again, and ultimately flees into the unknown. John Updike is an unflinching observer yet a compassionate storyteller: he suffers too much with his characters to condemn them.