In the condo, the phone remains silent. The evening news is dominated by reports of Hugo and the looting in St. Croix and St. Thomas in the aftermath of the devastation. There is also a catastrophic health-plan repeal in Washington that receives significant attention here due to the large elderly population. Additionally, there is a report on the French airliner that disappeared on its way from Chad to Paris. The wreckage has been found, scattered over a vast area of the Sahara desert. From the wide distribution of debris, it appears that it was a bomb. Just like that plane over Lockerbie, Rabbit thinks. His cockiness gradually ebbs away. Every plane seems to have a bomb ticking away in its belly. We could explode at any second.

The death of Harry Angstrom is not unexpected in Rabbit at Rest. After all, the title of the novel alludes to Rabbit's outcome in a not-too-subtle way. The signs of Harry's demise are planted early and frequently. Even Rabbit himself, although never explicitly addressing it, seems to have a subconscious awareness to live in and for the moment, squeezing every bit of life he can. He knows that he and his ultimate fate will intersect sooner rather than later. The novel carries an undercurrent of personal entropy for Harry Angstrom. The systems of his life - social, emotional, and physical - are all slowly moving towards a terminal point. He decides that his best option is to ride out the growing chaos with a sardonic wit, an almost gleeful disregard for consequences, and the occasional plateful of bacon-wrapped scallops. This refusal to limit himself, despite the potential disastrous consequences for his life, gives Harry a modicum of the control he so desperately seeks. However, it also leaves him ill-prepared to face the harsh realities that come when this control can no longer be maintained. In the above passage, Updike shows the effects of the accumulated chaotic debris from this onslaught of upheaval on Harry's psyche, and the inherent fatalism that drives Rabbit to the rash behavior that ultimately leads to his death. Harry witnesses systems breaking down all around him, and the selfish joy he feels at his attempts to escape the degradation of his life fades into a lonely recognition of his own imminent mortality and the ultimate powerlessness he has over his situation.

The solitude that Harry experiences in the condo does nothing to improve his state of mind. The silence of the phone serves to emphasize his loneliness. Not only does he have no one in town to invite him to a social call or a round of golf, but he is also greeted with complete silence from the enraged Janice. Harry's active imagination cannot simply accept her reticence as a result of mixed emotions of anger and betrayal. In his first few days of hiding in the condo, he interprets her refusal to talk as a "definite statement. I'll never forgive you." Then, his chaotic imagination takes over, presenting images of her having "some accident…slipping in the bathtub or driving the Camry off the road….Police frogmen finding her drowned in the back seat." The lack of communication leaves no opportunity for him to gain control. For Harry, who constantly focuses on the disorder and failures of the world around him, not knowing how his wife feels, whether she is full of condemnation or leaning towards reconciliation, makes his psyche vulnerable to the harmful effects of the bad news he cannot seem to avoid. Thus, it is no surprise when "his cockiness ebbs," and he is left contemplating the sudden and inescapable doom that all men may face, whether it comes in the form of a bomb in a luggage hold or diseased and dying heart muscle. Updike presents him with a stream of uncontrollable events - hurricane Hugo and its aftermath, the failure of the government's health-care plan (which is now more important to him than ever), and the ever-present aviation disaster - that shatters the false confidence he had after his ill-advised basketball game. And, true to his nature, Harry responds to this loss of certainty with haphazard defiance, resulting in his second and fatal round of basketball.

We are each of us like our own little blue planet.

Hung in the vast black space, we seem so small and insignificant.

Yet, it is our mutual reassurances and our own loving ties that uphold us.

These bonds are like invisible threads that connect us to one another, providing strength and support in the face of the unknown.

Just as the planets orbit around the sun, we revolve around the people we love, finding stability and meaning in our relationships.

Our little blue planets may be adrift in the cosmos, but with the power of love and connection, we can create a world that is full of warmth and light.

Let us cherish these precious ties and continue to support one another through thick and thin.

For in the end, it is our love and our relationships that truly define us and give our lives purpose.

Rabbit, Run (1960)/Rabbit, Redux (1971)/Rabbit is Rich (1981)/Rabbit At Rest (1990)/ Rabbit Remembered (2001)
Author: John Updike
Read: July-August 2020
Rating: 2.5/5 stars; 2/5 stars; 3/5 stars; 3.5/5 stars; 4/5 stars

**** Spoilers ****

"Rabbit is Read"

So it begins. We are unceremoniously introduced to Harry Angstrom, nicknamed "Rabbit" because he vaguely resembled the animal as a child. Right away, he isn't exactly likable. As the story progresses, his character doesn't improve. We become more familiar with his ways, perhaps even accepting them to some extent. We are also introduced to the fictional universe where Rabbit lives. He resides in Mt. Judge, a suburb of Brewer, Pennsylvania. Other real locations like Lancaster, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh are also mentioned. Rabbit's story starts with him impulsively leaving his pregnant wife Janice and 2-year-old son Nelson. He drives around, planning to maybe go cross-country, but loses his nerve and returns. Instead of going home, he meets up with his high school basketball coach-cum-mentor Marty and then shacks up with a part-time prostitute named Ruth. He has several conversations with a local priest, Eccles, who finally convinces him to return to his wife when she is in the hospital, in labor. Supposedly, this is enough for him to suddenly feel guilty and re-establish his wedding vows and move back home. However, in the days and weeks after Janice gives birth to their daughter Rebecca June Armstrong, he almost cheats on her twice with two different women! Tragedy strikes when, after their first argument post-reconciliation, a drunken Janice drowns baby Rebecca. At his daughter's funeral, the turmoil in Rabbit's head reaches its peak. And, predictably, he does what is easiest - he runs. His feet carry him to Ruth's place, where he learns she is pregnant and determined to keep the baby. Alas, this first volume of Rabbit's sorry tale ends with him no better off than he started.

With an unlikable protagonist, a good novel must compensate. And Updike does, mostly. Banal scenarios are made interesting with his keen eye for detail and description. His insight into the human psyche is evident. But sometimes, he goes overboard. Details such as the ingredients on a television dinner or descriptions of multiple rooms that take up pages of text and don't necessarily contribute to the story can be overwhelming. Long run-on sentences and general negligence of proper punctuation also detract from the reading experience. When one already has trouble caring about what happens to the main character, these flaws become even more difficult to overlook.

"Rabbit, Run" up first,
Introducing Updike's world
and writing style.

I began recalling "The Confederacy of Dunces" while reading "Run", and now I'm fully convinced that there are many similarities. Both feature peculiar, selfish, and not entirely likable young-ish American men getting into a series of misadventures. The plot isn't straightforward; instead, it's more about domestic and perhaps mundane scenarios made interesting through their experiences. There's a scattered cast of characters, a few main ones and various minor roles. Long harangues and blocks of detailed text can be vexing, especially those of a religious or political nature. Oh, and both are Pulitzer winners. But, to finish the perhaps unfair comparison, "Dunces" was funnier and one could at least feel sorry for Ignatius, while Rabbit struggles to come across as anything but the selfish misanthrope he seems almost proud to be.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with the second book. It's the 60s, and Updike uses a fair amount of the text for social commentary. There's no denying that he has a keen eye for detail and knows how to write. But the complaints from the first book are only exacerbated in the second. It's ten years later, and Rabbit is no longer selling the MagiPeeler - he's a senior Linotype operator at the local printing plant. He's back with his wife, but now it's Janice's turn to cheat. The man she chooses is Charlie Stavros, her coworker at her father's car dealership. When she's caught, instead of repenting, she decides to move out. Perhaps in retaliation, Rabbit allows Jill, a pretty young runaway from Connecticut, and Skeeter, an African American drug dealer on the run, to stay with him. Thirteen-year-old Nelson and his thirty-six-year-old father both quickly become attached to Jill - the former out of innocent first love, the latter as a sexual conquest. Conservative neighbors take issue with this, and it results in someone setting fire to the Armstrong house, burning Jill alive before she can escape. Skeeter, sadly, runs out without a second thought to saving her; Nelson and Rabbit are both elsewhere. Unlike the first book, "Redux" ends with Janice and Rabbit back together again, as Charlie was never "the marrying type". The most obtrusive flaws? Excessive soapbox harangues of a political and religious nature, and substantial excerpts on civil rights and racism texts that serve no real purpose other than filling up space.

"Rabbit Redux" next,
the characters familiar,
shenanigans new.

Three out of four. Here we find the eponymous man - like the time he's living in, America in 1979 - "running out of gas". Hand in hand with Updike's social commentary on the country's economic and political situation, Rabbit is conspicuously fed up with things. This includes his marriage, his son, his career, his social life, and his sex life. He still clings to his life's highlight - being a high school basketball hero. Rabbit's discriminatory, crude, offensive, and racist actions, thoughts, and words have accumulated and continue to do so. It seems to have even gotten worse in this installment, as his (at least ostensible) hatred for his now grown son Nelson is on full display. He not only shows it to his wife and in his actions but also proclaims to Nelson's face that he's good for nothing and wants him gone. Admittedly, part of the problem might be that he's been living with his wife and mother-in-law under the same roof ever since they reconciled. Thankfully, one of the few notable events that occurs in "Rich" is the purchase of the couple's first house, after a successful investment in gold and silver. In his middle age of 46, Rabbit's life consists of reading "Consumer Reports", frequenting the country club where he feels compelled to keep up appearances, and finding new women to pine after and new ways to cheat on his wife. Although, facilitated by Janice's repeated forgiveness or naiveté, he always returns to her.

Most of the book takes place in good old Mt. Judge, where Nelson has returned after his short stint at Kent State University in Ohio. He's adamant about working at the Toyota Dealership, which ruffles his father's feathers for months, as Rabbit is strongly against his son running everything at the lot. It's also eventually revealed that he got a girl pregnant and this was the real reason for his escape. Theresa, who goes by "Pru" (a nickname given by friends who saw her as prudish), arrives by the end of the summer and moves in. Not the most attentive fiancé, Nelson is drunk at a party with her - right behind her, in fact - when she falls down some flights of stairs. Luckily, only her arm is injured, and she gives birth to a healthy baby girl soon after. Alas, following in the footsteps of his cowardly father, Nelson runs away back to Ohio for a while. Encouraging him to run - going so far as to insist that Nelson is marrying out of obligation, not love - Rabbit finally gives his son some good advice - to not grow up to be like him - something he appears to be disproportionately worried about. Meanwhile, as all this is going on in his family life, after a girl named Annabelle visits the Toyota dealership and Rabbit is convinced she's his daughter, he makes a few trips to where he last knew Ruth resided (Ruth from "Run", the prostitute he lived with and had an affair with for a few months). He eventually confronts her regarding Annabelle, but Ruth adamantly denies it. Although she admits that even if it were true, she would never admit it. Likely not really wanting the truth, Rabbit declines her highly suspect offer to let him see the birth certificate. The third installment ends anticlimactically with Nelson still gone and Pru having taken his place in the Angstrom residence.

Updike continues to take his eye for detail maybe a little too far into banality - long multiple-page chunks of text with no pause for dialogue, almost stream-of-consciousness style monologues with run-on sentences of characters' thoughts. There were some sections from Nelson's point of view, which was a nice change of pace. Hilariously, at some point Rabbit comments on how he disdains how "coarse" his friends are. This, coming from him, a misogynist or maybe even misanthrope who uses derogatory language all the time and expresses the most discriminatory and racist thoughts!

"Rabbit is Rich" third,
his appalling deeds get worse -
but we're stuck with him.

The final (formal) installment of the tetralogy. It's almost 1989. Rabbit is an old man, at least according to him. In reality, he's only in his mid-50s, "semi-retired", and now spends his winters in a Florida condominium he's purchased with his wife. To further the cliché, he does indeed play golf every week with some buddies. Rabbit turns 56, making it three decades since we met him in Book #1. Baby Nelson is now grown and married with his own children, and Rabbit and Janice are now grandparents! Sadly, both of their own parents are no longer around. As we've come to expect, the plot revolves around a series of events and sometimes mundane happenings in Rabbit and his friends and family's lives. There are tangents that often don't benefit the story, and the more than occasional soapbox harangue on politics, religion, the state of affairs in this country, or what it means to be an American. The minutiae often crosses the line into tedium. The complete ingredients list on various packages, the play-by-play of a golf game that takes literally 20 plus pages, and a likewise play-by-play mentioning each song and accompanying commentary that comes on the radio during several hours of airplay.

A testament to "people never change", Rabbit is still as politically argumentative, still a womanizer, still cheating on his wife, and still as discriminatory and racist as ever. Surprise, surprise. Yet, like a childhood friend we can't help but stick with, we somehow keep reading, interested in this man's life. He does have some redeeming qualities, especially in his role as a grandfather (as opposed to father, in which he's far from ideal) to Judy and Roy. Aging is a central theme, as is coming to terms with morality and keeping his cynical nature in check - at least enough to keep misery at bay (turns out he's not very good at this). In the first third of the book, he has a heart attack and becomes dependent - mostly mentally - on the reassuring nitroglycerin pill he begins to keep in his pocket.

Alas, in this final installment of the series, Rabbit finally does something that crosses the line. No, it doesn't make it better that it was foreshadowed in "Rich". When one predicts such a thing, it's almost a farce. Because, really? Rabbit sleeps with his son's wife? His daughter-in-law. Yes. A question with no easy answer for dedicated readers: Can a story with an unlikable protagonist still be good? One almost feels guilty for praising a book where our "hero" does something so appallingly offensive. Without this deed, "Rest" is easily the best book in the series. As it is, the decision is not quite as clear-cut. Updike skillfully provides the advantage of comforting familiarity to loyal readers, while making sure not to exclude new readers - one could start reading "Rabbit at Rest" and everything would be perfectly understandable. However, it's this retrospection and the various events that harken back to decades ago, and the intimate feelings it evokes in readers - as if we really know Rabbit - that make this final installment more praiseworthy than it would have been as a standalone. Like a Sympathy Oscar, it might deserve its praise - in a collective sense.

"Rabbit at Rest" last,
fine writing for shameful man,
bittersweet farewell.

The short sequel, short story, novella, or long epilogue - whichever label you choose to use - here we have the final final installment! In the fittingly titled tale that was included in Updike's 2000 collection of thirteen stories, "Remembered" gives us a much-awaited update on the supporting characters; life after Rabbit. The year is 1999, with its Y2K paranoia and Clinton scandal drama. Nelson, now separated from Pru, has moved back in with his mother. Janice has ended up with Rabbit's childhood nemesis from his basketball days, Ronnie Harrison. The three of them struggle along, the two men barely friendly. The main plot is the introduction of Annabelle, half-sister to Nelson. What was only strongly implied in previous novels - that Rabbit did indeed father a daughter during his short affair with Ruth in "Run" - is finally confirmed. Likely because it reminds them of Rabbit's infidelities, neither Janice nor Ronnie has any interest in Annabelle and are, in fact, downright rude to her. Nelson, though, has a soft spot for her, meeting with her for lunch on several occasions, inviting her to Thanksgiving, and defending her in the face of his family's animosity. Without much luck in convincing them, however, he finally moves out. As the book - and sadly the Rabbit series (looks like for real this time!) - comes to an end, things are left on a positive note, with Annabelle being generally accepted into the Angstrom family, with a prospective romantic involvement with Fosnacht, a childhood friend of Nelson's, and Nelson and Pru's once-defunct marriage looking promising.

Perhaps the ultimate evidence for the theory that it was my disagreement with the character of Rabbit rather than Updike's writing ability that led to my less than stellar assessment of the tetralogy, this was likely my favorite in the series. After being overshadowed by his father in all the other books, Nelson finally comes into his own here and really becomes relatable in his quest to connect with his long-lost half-sister and admirable in his counseling work with drug addicts.

A final verdict on the "Rabbit" series ultimately comes down to whether a reader likes Rabbit or not and whether an unlikable protagonist necessarily precludes a great book(s). Love him? You'll love the books. Hate him? Good luck overcoming that. Updike is to be commended on tying up loose ends - something many authors neglect to do, especially in a book series. It feels "special" to remember reading about such and such an event mostly referenced in this final book that initially took place in "Run". As for my final verdict, I quote Rabbit's last words in a Florida hospital bed, his only son Nelson nervously perching over him, "... all I can tell you is, it isn't so bad."

"Rabbit Remembered",
Angstrom updates post-Harry,
comforting finish.

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As Rabbit steps into his fifth decade, and this is the last as far as the series is concerned, he is now retired and spends half the year living in Florida.

Florida, being the haven for retirees and to some extent a cultural desert, serves as an apt backdrop for Rabbit's slide into semi-inertia.

This book is permeated with the consumerism, greed, and excess of the 80s to an almost sickening extent. The nearly constant mentions of food, described in gluttonous detail, that Rabbit devours ravenously, despite his clogged arteries and weak heart, are just one example.

Nelson's addiction to cocaine and Pru's affair with Rabbit further illustrate the intolerable selfishness of these characters. Throughout the series, they remain unchanged, lacking the ability to self-reflect and understand why their lives are in such chaos.

After a heart attack leaves him a weaker but strangely similar version of his former self, Rabbit finally starts to realize his own mortality.

Despite his physical frailty, the reader comes to understand that Rabbit is still the same man he has always been, after decades of chauvinism, infidelity, and stubbornness. He views women with the same sneering cynicism that he reserves for gays and minorities.

John Updike manages to capture the subtleties of human emotion and character in a highly convincing manner.

Probably 4.5, very detailed and dense read but beautifully written. I am going to go back for more of Rabbit’s stories, probably will start from the beginning :).

A friend from my book club had suggested that we read a book from the Rabbit series by John Updike. He chose one of the four books in the series ‘Rabbit at Rest’. My previous adventure with Updike was with his book ‘Couples’, which I had purchased many years ago and I finally clicked with it, sometime in 2018. Updike writes at length and in great detail, and Rabbit at Rest, like Updike’s other books, follows that style. Someone has also described this book as elegiac and I have interpreted it as a sadness because of passing time, mourning the end of a decade.

The book takes us through the US in the late 80’s. The main character, Harry, is a middle-aged man living his consumerist and unhealthy life and is faced with the decomposition of his family. He has cardiovascular health problems, his son is a drug addict and his relationship with his wife is also dysfunctional. Harry spends half a year in Florida and half a year in Pennsylvania, where he is from. A big part of Harry’s life used to be the Toyota car dealership run by him in Pennsylvania in younger years and which he passed on to his son. Harry is not educated but we read that he had run the car dealership successfully and that’s what made him good money and allowed him to retire in his mid-fifties.

Updike shows very realistically the passing of time, the decay of Harry’s marital and family relationships and the lack of purpose in Harry’s life. He weaves into the story snippets of the younger Harry, the good and wild times but in fact they made me see him as a demoralised character, someone who practically always does whatever he wants irrespective of how his behaviour will impact others. We are reminded of many of Harry’s lovers, some of whom are still present in his life.

Updike writes about Harry’s life, surroundings and people without missing the tiniest detail. For example, we read about the golf he plays with his friends in a way that you feel you are on the golf course with them and you also know the characters very well. He describes Harry’s wife through Harry’s eyes talking about the greyness of her hair ‘showing less on her nape’ than on the rest of her head, he describes the smell of her night sweat and gases she releases during her sleep. That’s what made this book for me, the unforgiving, relentless detail and the naturalism.

Some parts of the book felt slightly overwritten as I read it but the book grew on me and I learned to appreciate it a lot more after I finished it. Despite the fact the book is not a page turner, it kept me interested and I wanted to know what was going to happen to Harry and his family. The book's exploration of human nature, relationships, and the passage of time is truly remarkable. It makes the reader reflect on their own lives and the choices they have made. Updike's writing style, although detailed and sometimes dense, is also very engaging and draws the reader in. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys literary fiction and wants to explore the complex and often messy lives of ordinary people.

This 1991 Pulitzer Prize winning book was the last in the 4 part series written by John Updike about the life of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom.

I found this final installment to be the most enjoyable of the series, perhaps because the main character was the same age as me. It was fascinating to see how Rabbit's life unfolded and how he dealt with the various challenges and changes that came his way.

Updike did an outstanding job of continuing this series over a span of 3 decades. His writing was细腻 and engaging, bringing the characters and their world to life in a vivid and realistic way.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys character-driven novels and wants to explore the complexities of human life. I give this book 4 stars for its excellent storytelling and character development.

When did I commence this quartet of books about Rabbit Angstrom? Was it in 1991? Or perhaps 1995? I truly can't recall. I do know that I obtained the absurdly thick Everyman's Library edition of all four books during the Christmas of 1995. It's not the kind of book one can casually read on the subway. In any case, it took me approximately the same amount of time to read them as it took Updike to pen these novels.

Rabbit is, as always, infuriating and childish, brimming with bigotry and lacking the ability to rein in his impulses. Every time you begin to develop a liking for him, he says, thinks, or does something that makes you want to bash your head against the wall or snort derisively. What's difficult to convey to those to whom you would never recommend this book is that, through his eyes and Updike's words, there exists poetry and the sweep of history, filtered through a flawed, ordinary mind.

It was rather strange to realize that Rabbit, despite being semi-retired and spending half of his year in Florida in this final book, was only 56. Not too distant from my age, yet a grandfather who was capable of not working throughout the entire year, even though his life was far from glamorous. The generations of the Angstroms fall between those of the Scherers, with Rabbit and Janice belonging to the Silent Generation and Nelson being a trailing-edge Boomer. Even though three of the books unfold during my lifetime, their experience of adulthood is so vastly different from mine.

The ending truly touched me, serving as a satisfying echo of how the series began. This series is a remarkable portrayal of the demise of the American dream, and an incisive essay on what a foolish, selfish dream it was.

Perfect ending. I got choked up and I loved it.

After reading more than 1500 pages about Rabbit, even with all his flaws, I'm going to miss him. Living through four decades along with all his unfiltered thoughts was truly a roller coaster ride.

Rabbit, Run served as a good introduction to this, at many times, unlikable character. It set the stage for the complex journey that Rabbit would undertake throughout the series.

Rabbit Redux, however, was the least enjoyable of the four books. Frankly, a lot of parts were hard to stomach. It delved into some darker and more uncomfortable aspects of Rabbit's life.

Finally, Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit at Rest were the best of the four books. They ended the tetralogy beautifully, tying up loose ends and providing a sense of closure to Rabbit's story. These two books展示了Rabbit的成长和变化，同时也让读者对他的命运产生了深深的同情和感慨。

Updike is truly the consummate master when it comes to the rhythms and tone of casual conversation. His works are invested with vivid images and profound meanings that lie just beneath the surface. It's an extremely clever feat, almost Shakespearean in its artistry.

As you engage in reading his works, you might find yourself asking, "Why is this so interesting - it's just chatting after all?" That, precisely, is the genius of Updike. He has a sneaky way of elevating the most mundane aspects of life.

In this particular narrative, told masterfully, Rabbit eventually meets his end. There are certain aspects of his youth that he simply cannot outgrow, such as his preoccupation with sex and his compulsive tendency to dominate conversations with mansplaining. These traits lead to his premature undoing, both spiritually and physically.

One aspect that stands out at the dreary end, perhaps driven by the others, is his penchant for shooting baskets. And it is right there on a beat-up basketball court in the projects in Florida that his untimely demise occurs.

As one of the few men who has had sex with his daughter-in-law and treats it as if it were just an afternoon's casual entertainment, his collapse might seem almost deserved. Yet, Updike's portrayal makes us question and reflect on the complex nature of human behavior and the consequences that follow.

Updike makes the choice to conclude this series with a solitary and flawless word. Amidst all the harsh, unsightly destruction that Rabbit brings about, I felt a sense of relief to depart from this world with Updike's perfect ending. This is truly remarkable writing, undoubtedly worthy of a Pulitzer prize, in my opinion. However, it is not an easy read. In the past, I have only bestowed five-star ratings upon books that I know I will revisit. But I am uncertain whether I can return to Angstrom's world. For the time being, I have turned to Ann Patchett's "Run", hoping to encounter something as dreamy and beautiful as her "Bel Canto".

Whew. Finally finished. In this fourth and final book of the Rabbit saga (although, I suspect there might be a short story or novella to follow, or something along those lines), everything comes full circle. Rabbit is a bit older now (even though he's only in his 50s. I had expected to encounter him again in his 60s), and he's just as selfish as ever. You know, as I read through this series, I don't think I've ever come across a character who is more oblivious to other people's feelings. Perhaps Updike was making a commentary on the average American, but then again, Rabbit doesn't really seem like an average American. Maybe he's more like an average and bored Pennsylvanian. In any case, this story, just like the previously Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Rabbit is Rich, brings drama to everyday life and does an excellent job of it. If I have one gripe, it's that the last 50 pages seem to drag on and on. It's a fitting conclusion, but it's rather drawn out. Nevertheless, I believe the series was well worth the read.

Self-indulgent garbage.

This is a scathing description that seems to target a certain group. It implies that there is a sense of excessive self-gratification and worthlessness within this group.

The phrase "the dying gasp of white male privilege" further emphasizes the idea that this privilege, which has long been dominant in society, is now on the verge of extinction.

Perhaps this is a reflection of the changing social landscape, where equality and inclusivity are becoming more important.

White male privilege may have once given certain individuals an unfair advantage, but as society progresses, it is being challenged and undermined.

This could lead to a more just and equal society for all, where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed regardless of their race or gender.

However, the process of change is often difficult and may encounter resistance from those who are used to the old ways.

It is important to continue to push for equality and to challenge the existing power structures that perpetuate privilege and discrimination.

Only then can we truly create a better world for future generations.