Rabbit, run/john updike

Its 1959 and Harry Rabbit Angstrom, one time high school sports superstar, is going nowhere.

At twenty-six he is trapped in a second-rate existence - stuck with a fragile, alcoholic wife, a house full of overflowing ashtrays and discarded glasses, a young son and a futile job.

With no way to fix things, he resolves to flee from his family and his home in Pennsylvania, beginning a thousand-mile journey that he hopes will free him from his mediocre life.

Because, as he knows only too well, after youve been first-rate at something, no matter what, it kind of takes the kick out of being second-rate.