I have previously read Blood Meridian by McCarthy, the Road by same author, Glass Castle by Jannette Walls, and then some other books on abusive/messed up real situations such as Torey Haydens Tigers Child. I’ve read some rather bleak novels on war, too—that were fairly depressing. Poe, Flannery O’Connor, all the old cautionary tales… But i’ve read a book that far tops them all. It beats the movie Train Spotting on utter depressing narrative power. For me at least.
THE BOOK IS Rabbit Run by John Updike. And I actually really enjoyed the cathartic nature of the book being a father and husband myself… but holy cow I have never read a scene in a book and then had to put it down and gone to bed that shaken. I am not usually shaken by depressing shocking narratives. I feel like sometimes it’s because theres not enough consequence or build up. Or its hinting at a worse possible scenario but never gets there. And for whatever reason Rabbit Run got there for me. And its powerful like reading your worst nightmare you’ve always played over and over and didn’t even know existed until the author slowly draws it out in a shocking build up. I am really undone by this book.
Spoilers:
Mom gets drunk and accidentally drowns the newborn baby in bathtub while absent dad is out cheating with a prostitute he impregnates. While other books/films have had a similar plot, the dense and eerie way that Updike slowly drags his reader into this foul climax is heart wrenching and categorically unfair. Perhaps the worst parts being when their 3 year old son has to process both the death of his newborn sister and prolonged absences of his useless father.