Rabbit, Run - John Updike

Rabbit, Run is a dark and tightly controlled story about a washed-up basketball star, Rabbit, and his destructive yet sympathetic urge to find something better than mediocrity in his middle age. A powerfully human tale in compelling prose about disappointment and yearning, and the painful disparity between youth's bright dreams and pathetic, sordid reality. The kind of story that makes ones own domestic life seem heavenly.