" After finishing the last novel in Updike's "Rabbit" series, I was a little sad to see the story end, to say good-bye to Rabbit Angstrom. So admittedly, I experienced a feeling of sweet self-indulgence when I discovered the "Rabbit Remembered" sequel at the back of this collection of stories. Or maybe it was more "bittersweet," sort of like reconnecting with an old boyfriend/girlfriend after many years, the excitement and warmth of re-establishing that intimate connection and re-living past highs and lows nestled alongside the naked truth that your story is over, the magic you remember as elusive as, well, a rabbit running through a field of tall grass. The narrative picks up ten years after Harry's death and rests now with both Janice and Nelson as they carry on their lives without their husband and father. Where in Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest, it seemed that Updike's descriptive powers were at their best, generating for the reader such an intimate connection to the fictional setting of the book, the pure observation and a beautiful, symbolic way of expressing it, in the sequel, Updike tries to carry the torch but seems to have run out of juice. Passages decribing the weather or the old town of Brewer just don't carry the same significance not seen through Harry's eyes, and the text has lost some punch. I'm not sure I thoroughly buy all the scenarious he lays out for us here -- like Janice having married Ronnie Harrison, Harry's daughter Annabelle emerging from secrecy after Ruth dies, her having been sexually abused as a child by her adopted father, etc. -- but I guess it's comforting to see things end on a little more of an up-note than at the end of the fourth novel. Now I'm ready to put this story to bed. "
— Rebecca, 1/27/2014