Customer Reviews

The Book of Bunny Suicides

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I absolutely cannot STAND it when people in the bookstore make NOISES about the books they're looking at. No snorting, whispering, nothing. Most of all -- NO LAUGHING! I happened to notice this book on a table at the bookstore tonight. Picked it up. LOVED the description under the title -- "Fluffy little bunnies that just don't want to live anymore." I should've stopped there. Because when I started flipping through and checking out the pics ... I couldn't help it. I laughed. Out loud. A lot. Then I went and got my husband to glance through it with me. Together we laughed. Out loud. A lot. Before we left the store, I saw two other people pick up the same book and do the same thing and it didn't even make me mad ... Have I become one of THEM?!?!

The book is cool. A must-have. It may be warped and weird, but reading this book will make you happy. Beats a trip to the shrink anyday!

The best thing about _The Book of Bunny Suicides_ is that there's actually not that much gore involved. Oh, sure, there are plenty of decapitated, disemboweled, liquefied, and otherwise visibly deceased bunnies in evidence. And don't get me wrong: that's funny too.

Yet Riley is clearly among that rare but blessed breed of humorists who recognize that the anticipation can be even funnier than the payoff. And so, right after he shows us three bunnies impaled upon a light saber, he shows us two more bunnies calmly sunning themselves on the beach as Noah's Ark prepares to depart.

On the downside, Disney may never hire Riley again once it gets a load of _The Book of Bunny Suicides_. On the upside, he's already proven that this would be Disney's loss rather than his.

Funniest, bunni^H^H^H^H^HNO I WILL NOT MAKE THAT DUMB JOKE cartoon collection of 2003, paws down.

Andy Riley, a British cartoonist and creator of a weekly comic strip in the Observer, tackles the off-the-wall subject of bunnies who simply can't go on living any more. These cartoons explore the outrageous and creative ways a bunny might dispatch itself to that great hutch in the sky. These include such methods as sunning on the beach while Noah loads the Ark, becoming ballast for a hot air balloon, and catapulting through venetian blinds. This book is morbidly funny and tragically silly. If you like humor that's a cross between The Addams Family and The Far Side, this book is for you.

... and very entertaining!

I stumbled upon this little gem by accident and, since I am the proud owner of a bunny whom I have long suspected of being suicidal (why else would she dash between my legs as I am running across the room? or chew on electric wires? or eat paint? or stare at the balcony edge with wistful eyes?), I just had to buy it.

This is a very funny little book. I do wish it had been longer, as I got through it within half an hour, but I suspect I will flip through it again very soon and smile again. The mere concept is hilarious and the drawings are simple, straightforward, understated and thereby all the more effective. The main humour factor is the creativity involved in the bunnies' demise. A few are slightly obvious, but the vast majority is unnecessarily elaborate, and thereby all the more hilarious. It gets very descriptive sometimes. but never overly gory: sometimes you see the bunnies actually die, but it always seems so matter-of-fact and cynical that it's hard to get upset. For most people, the only disturbing factor will be the eternal question of why these deadpan little critters so desperately want to die. As far as I can see, being a bunny isn't so bad...

Obviously not something you want to show your hyper-sensitive seven-year-old, but a very entertaining, and oddly cute read. Dare we hope for a sequel?

I rarely buy books on first sight but one glimpse into this small volume sold me. My wife and I took it home and allotted ourselves to two pages a day to make it last. Then we both took it to work and caused downturns in productivity as we showed it to all our coworkers. Now it sits on the shelf in easy reach and gets brought out whenever people come over. Why?

Well, this is simply the funniest thing I've come across in a long time. It's a book of simple black and white cartoon line drawings of bunny rabbits either planning their own demise, or showing the result of their suicide. There is no dialogue (except one sequence involving Darth Vader), no captions, just these ridiculous little rabbits with completely deadpan faces and a sadistic self-destructive streak. The most common comparison is to Gary Larson and the talking animals of his "Far Side" panels. These are somewhat similar in that they unfold in a single panel and are sublimely ridiculous and clever, but there's also often a Rube Goldberg character to the elaborate suicide plans. In terms of tone however, I think Edward Gorey is perhaps more on the mark, in terms of depicting the darkest deadpan humor possible.

Non-Brits should note that some of the jokes depend on being versed in British popular culture. For example, one is only funny if you're familiar with the work of Damien Hirst, another is only funny if you've seen the classic British cult film The Wicker Man, and one requires an understanding of British hand gestures (the "peace sign" being flashed by a bunny lined up with Nazi soldiers cited by one reviewer is actually something rather more rude...). But for the most part, the humor comes from the hilarious juxtaposition of the earnest bunnies and their tools of suicide, example include: windmill + pickaxe, trampoline + helicopter, stapler + angry dog.

In any event, Riley's collection of macabre bunny death is pure brilliance, and will doubtless be popping up on t-shirts and postcards soon--in the meantime, the book makes a great gift.

This book is great! Not for everyone because of it's simplistic and slightly sadistic humor, but I found it very funny. We all laughted and of course picked out our favorite "suicides". This book can easily be read in a few minutes so it won't keep you occupied for long, but revisiting it every now and then will bring back the laughs. The best thing about it is showing it to people that have never seen it before. Good times.

If you are disturbed by cartoons that play around on the dark side of humor, this book may not be for you. If on the other hand you like cartoons like Lenore and the Far Side, then this might be right up your alley. This book is full of spot-on funny drawings of little fluffy bunnies who just don't want to live any more, and find creative ways to end their fluffy little existance. My favorite: The little fluffy bunnie doing the "peace" sign standing in line-up with Fascist soldiers...

This book is giving me daily laughs, and I glory in making sane people squirm, then burst out chuckling, shamefacedly admit that they LOVE this book.

Oh, and I gave a copy to my professor in "Clinical treatment of personality disorders". It was well received.

While we don't know what has brought these poor bunnies to such a lowly state, we are glad to share in witnessing their self-imposed demise. These creative little critters find such compelling ways of doing themselves in. We laughed and laughed as we turned each page of this book as a family, then we shared it with our friends. Funny... British funny, but we unsophisticated Americans enjoyed it too.

Andy Riley, The Book of Bunny Suicides (Plume, 2003)

This is the kind of book that was popular in the eighties and seems to have faded into obscurity since-- one guy makes a bunch of silly drawings, which then get released in a very short, rather wide book (Garfield and Far Side comics were often released in the same manner), but the artist hasn't got the benefit of a big syndicated strip in a newspaper. 101 Uses for a Dead Cat is probably the most popular of them ever.

Well, move over, lifeless felines, because So Graham Norton writer Andy Riley is here with The Book of Bunny Suicides. And it is hysterical. There were some that actually had me unable to breathe for a few seconds. Not that they're all that brilliant, or the book would have to come with a warning label, but there's more than enough funny here to justify the purchase price. Andy Riley is a very, very sick individual, and he has allowed one particular facet of his illness to be released upon the unsuspecting masses. Take advantage. ****

Unlike other reviewers who discovered this gem at a local bookstore, I actually found out about "Bunny Suicides" while thumbing through a copy of Entertainment Weekly. There was a quick blurb about "Suicides" under a section featuring up-and-coming books, movies, & music. After seeing the initial mention in EW, I decided to order the book, not knowing what to expect. Much to my delight, I found "Suicides" to be a clever and wickedly funny read. I think most anyone will get a good giggle from this book, as they watch a bunch of bunnies trying to find ridiculously funny (and improbable) ways to commit suicide. I noticed one or two reviewers who found "Suicides" to be extremely distasteful, but personally I found the comedy neither crude nor offensive. It's dark humor, at worst.

I think this is a great book that'll add some levity to anyone's bookshelf. Plus, it's a funny gift for people of all ages (I should know because I've bought multiple copies for friends). I suppose the only folks who would oppose this book are PETA...but even then, I'm sure no bunnies were harmed in the production of this book.