A lot of people are excited about a sports event happening today. It’s called the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl begins at the time of 6:30 pm EST. At the time of the Super Bowl, you may find yourself saying, “What time is the Super Bowl over?”
If you’re someone who will be wondering what time the Super Bowl is over, and you only sort of like Katy Perry but mostly wish Destiny’s Child would do another reunion halftime show, you could always just read a book instead!
The prospect of getting lost in a story centered on athletic competition is not particularly thrilling for most fiction fans. What motivates these individuals to run back and forth? Where’s the mystery? And why are they wearing matching outfits?
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Rabbit, Run by John Updike
What’s the story?: Updike’s protagonist Harry Angstrom is well past his prime basketball-playing years — his inability to return to the days of stardom may actually be the source of much of his distress, marital and otherwise. Of course, reducing the novel to this interpretation would be missing much of its nuance, as is the case with any great sports story. Rabbit’s glory days are replaced with the soul-draining task of selling kitchen appliances, and the listlessness of a more domestic life causes him to, well, run away. It’s a complicated and arguably flawed look at gender norms — something sports fans hopefully take interest in.
