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Rabbit Cake
by Annie Hartnett
For Readers:
After reading Rabbit Cake,
you'll wonder how your perspective could have been so narrow. The shining star
of the novel is Elvis Babbitt, ten-year-old girl and one third of the survivors grieving the loss of her mom. Eva Babbitt sleepwalked into a river and
drowned.
The Babbitt family was
dysfunctional before Eva died, so it's a given that death couldn't make matters
any better. Somehow the author, Annie Hartnett, presents their world as
gracefully as if they were like anybody else, humanity intact, even as Dad
wades through the house wearing his dead wife's bathrobe and her lipstick
because, “they remind me of Eva.”
Older sister Lizzie sleepwalks
(it runs in families) and worries Elvis with her penchant for eating things
that are not food. And Lizzie has taken possession of her mother's favorite
cake pan, setting a goal of baking 1000 rabbit cakes for a Guinness World
Record. Dad rents extra freezer space in town.
The task of herding the family
through eighteen months of healing (per a school counselor's guideline) seems
to be left to Elvis, a girl whose habits most resemble normal—if you don't
count her detective work into her mom's illicit affairs, or her fascination
with the naked mole rat, the longest living rodent.
There's a lot of healing to be
found in this brave and goodhearted novel, and along the way you'll pick up on
a little zoology—a win/win. One caveat: Rabbit Cake is most appropriate
for adults.
Tin House Books
ISBN 978-1-9410-4056-0
ISBN978-1-9410-4057-7
For Writers:
You can't not love this book.
My gut feeling is that the author is capable of writing with great kindness.
Pair that with a talent for keeping the story on its edge, page after page.
It's hard not to read it in one sitting. Just lovely, intelligent, and
perceptive stuff, all of it, and funny to boot.
This sounds like quite the interesting and highly dysfunctional family. It reminds me of a book I read by E.E. Cummings. Sounds quite original
ReplyDeleteI think it sounds original too. I'm hoping to get to read it at some point.
DeleteCertainly a new one on me, to drown while sleepwalking. Sounds like one to look up at the library.
ReplyDeleteDrowning while sleepwalking – yeah, sounds like quite a shock.
DeleteIt does sound original, and very entertaining.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. Sue is very good at choosing books to review.
DeleteSounds like quite book ~ healing from grief is always good ~ but seems a bit bizarre in this family of Rabbit Cake ~ sure it has its strengths ~
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by and reading my book list ~ (helped me get through grieving and learning to live mindfully as much as I can.
A ShutterBug Explores ~ aka (A Creative Harbor)
I'm going to share your book list with a few others who need some healing. We all do, but these two have been in my prayers a lot lately. :-) Thanks for sharing.
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