When God Was a Rabbit: A Novel [Hardcover]

Sarah Winman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 10, 2011

This is a book about a brother and a sister. It's a book about secrets and starting over, friendship and family, triumph and tragedy, and everything in between. More than anything, it's a book about love in all its forms.

In a remarkably honest and confident voice, Sarah Winman has written the story of a memorable young heroine, Elly, and her loss of innocence-a magical portrait of growing up and the pull and power of family ties. From Essex and Cornwall to the streets of New York, from 1968 to the events of 9/11, When God Was a Rabbit follows the evolving bond of love and secrets between Elly and her brother Joe, and her increasing concern for an unusual best friend, Jenny Penny, who has secrets of her own. With its wit and humor, engaging characters whose eccentricities are adroitly and sometimes darkly drawn, and its themes of memory and identity, When God Was a Rabbit is a love letter to true friendship and fraternal love.

Funny, utterly compelling, fully of sparkle, and poignant, too, When God Was a Rabbit heralds the start of a remarkable new literary career.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Winman debuts with a heartbreaking story of the secrets and hopes of a sister and brother who share an unshakable bond. Elly and her older brother, Joe, appear to be just like all the other kids in mid-1970s Essex, U.K., but, as is often the case, shocking secrets lurk below the surface for the siblings and Elly's best friend, Jenny Penny—one has been sexually abused, another has an alcoholic and promiscuous mother, another is homosexual—and the weight of bearing each other's traumas erupts in hard to watch ways. As the years go on, each moves forward; for Elly and Joe, this is more easily accomplished, as their family moves away from Essex and Joe's secret is brought to light, relief Elly doesn't receive until much later. As the story winds through time and across the Atlantic, the trio and their families are rocked by 9/11, leading to a final twist that strains belief before settling into acceptable inevitability. Winman shows impressive range and vision in breaking out of the muted coming-of-age mold, and the narrative's intensity will appeal to readers who like a little gloom. (May)
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Review

"No bare-bones plot summary can do justice to this wonderfully wise and compellingly readable tale of love and friendship in all their forms, of family uncircumscribed by biological bonds, and of loss worse than death. A remarkable first novel, worth savoring."—Booklist (starred review)

 

"Winman’s debut boasts one of the more endearingly unconventional families in a while. A freshly rendered tale of growing up and living in the world by a late-starting author with a bright future." —Kirkus Reviews

"Affecting and original."—Library Journal

"Winman shows impressive range and vision in breaking out of the muted coming-of-age mold, and the narrative’s intensity will appeal to readers who like a little gloom."—Publishers Weekly

"Sarah Winman has written this book in the exact way events in a childhood—and a life—accrue, and I’ve never seen anyone able to do that so well. Brilliant, funny, and moving, When God Was a Rabbit is a captivating novel!"—Robb Forman Dew, author of Being Polite to Hitler

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (May 10, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1608195341
• ISBN-13: 978-1608195343
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #788,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Had potential, but fizzled June 28, 2011

By E. M. Bristol VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

(Note: god in the book's title is lower-case, although the cover of my copy fudges this; I'm just quoting the author.)

When I read this book, the line about happy families being all the same popped into my head. Happy families are rare in literature, so when you encounter one like Elly`s in "When god Was a Rabbit", it's a pleasant surprise; however, they don't generate much drama. The conflict then has to come from outside the protagonist, in the forms of her peers, colleagues, etc. Either way, the reader expects the protagonist to struggle with some kind of conflict before coming to terms with it and being transformed as a result.

However, that's not exactly what happens here. All the truly memorable stuff - a kidnapping, many deaths, a murder, etc. - happen to characters other than the protagonist. A childhood trauma occurs early on, but is dropped without examining in depth how that one incident affects how she relates to people outside her supportive family, which is something that should be addressed. There are a few references to how she and her brother are "loners," but that's it. Instead we get her quirky childhood and friendship with another eccentric child - then boom, we're fifteen years later, and even though she's an adult, her past schooling, career and relationships with other people besides the family/a few close friends are never described in any detail. Nor, except for a one night stand, do we see firsthand how Elly's early trauma affects her relationships with adult men - there simply aren't any except the same people who provided support when she was a child. It's true that she's independently wealthy so there no need for her to deal with less than pleasant people unless she chooses to, but this seems a cop out....

Also, several characters are gay, but we never see any discrimination or prejudice from the outer world, which, since the book takes place from the seventies to Y2K, might be expected to appear now and then. We don't even get a reference to AIDS, which certainly affected the gay community in the eighties. It's not that I wanted the characters to suffer - they all seemed like a likeable crew, but it made for a tedious read - and the times drama was dropped in, it came off as sensationalistic. Read more ›

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Utterly original prose May 23, 2011

By Luanne Ollivier TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

When God Was A Rabbit marks the debut of author Sarah Winman.

From the publisher Bloomsbury:

"This is a book about a brother and a sister. It's a book about secrets and starting over, friendship and family, triumph and tragedy, and everything in between. More than anything, it's a book about love in all its forms."

Elly is the sister and Joe the brother. And in between are their parents, Elly's friend Jenny Penny, assorted lodgers and god the rabbit.

Young Elly's early loss of innocence in the first few chapters and her brother's promise to protect her always sets the tone for the sibling's relationship. We follow the siblings from 1968 England through to New York 9/11 in the second half of the book. Winman has crafted a novel that kept me off kilter but quickly turning pages from start to finish. The characters are off beat, but the bonds to those they love are undeniably strong. Every character seems to be a step out of time with the rest of the world.

"'That's a good thing, isn't it? To stand apart and be different?' he said. 'I'm not sure' I said, quite aware of my own muted need to fit in to somehow simply hide. 'I don't want people to know I'm different'. And I looked up and and saw my brother standing in the doorway."

And they are different - but in a good way. I found the story of young Elly and Joe to be especially poignant. However, they didn't evoke the same reaction in me when they were older in the second half. That's not to say that the story unfolded in the latter part of the book is no less emotional. It is, but I think it was the loss of innocence on so many levels by the younger characters that was the most heartbreaking. There are many sad moments in this story, but there are just as many funny ones.... The secondary cast, particularly the parents and lodgers were favourites of mine. Their acceptance of any and all and their inclusion of those on the periphery into their family endeared them to me. I found the use of god the rabbit throughout Elly's life to be an unique allegorical device.

Winman explores relationships of all sorts with a deft and original hand. But her description of the love between a brother and sister is especially well drawn. An unusual and totally original debut. It will be interesting to see where Winman goes next with her writing. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the back cover description might imply January 9, 2012

By Pippa

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Whenever I read the back cover of a book or a review that describes it as being about "family ties" or a "loss of innocence" or something similar. I immediately feel completely turned off. Honestly, I hate stuff like that. From that kind of description, what else could the book be but most likely trite, probably melodramatic and, most definitely, best avoided?

Imagine my enthusiasm, then, when our next book club book was announced as being When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman, which turned out to have any number of those trite kind of descriptions in its back cover blurb. I began reading the book accompanied by much mental eye rolling and thoughts of "I'll just quickly skim read through to get it over and done with". Having finished the book, I thought I'd review it for you. Believe it or not, it was much better than I feared - clearly shows how much I know! Here are my thoughts.

First off, some advice: do not, for the love of God, read this book on public transport. I made the mistake of starting to read the book while I was on the tram. This proved unfortunate, as I got to the nativity scene and immediately started laughing hysterically. And I mean in a BAHAH HA HA HA-loud-laughing-with-tears-pouring-down-face kind of way. In fact, I laughed so hard that I choked on my saliva (what can I say, I'm all class). People on the tram were not impressed and started to give me sideways glances and edge surreptitiously away.

The first half of the book is set in the late 60's and the 70's, where the narrator, Elly, and her brother, Joe, are kids growing up in England. Although some of the themes in the first half are dark, it is actually much lighter and funnier than the second half of the book, which takes place when Elly and Joe have grown up.... Some of the second half is set in and around the events of 9/11, and it is hard not to feel emotional when the book revisits the pain and suffering of so many people and their families at this time. That's not to say that the second half of the book does not have its funny moments - it's just that there are less of them and they are less carefree. One could draw parallels between the innocence and optimism of childhood giving way to the more jaded cynicism of being an adult. But since I am not a literary tosser, I will restrain myself...

When God was a Rabbit is populated by a cast of eccentric and, for the most part, very likeable characters. There is Elly, the precocious narrator, who gives this novel its charmingly matter-of-fact voice. There is also Elly's older brother, Joe, who gives Elly a rabbit called God and the book its title. Not to mention Elly's rather strange best friend Jenny Penny with unmanageable hair, a lesbian actress aunt, and Joe and Elly's loving-but-eccentric parents who win money and open a B&B in Cornwall, paving the way for a raft of equally eccentric and likeable characters to appear.

Most of the reviews I found of When God was a Rabbit quoted the back cover of the book which says - rather cheesily -"This is a book about love in all its forms". I don't agree. This book is about family and the ties that bind (sorry, breaking all my own rules about trite descriptions now!!). And it is also about love. It is a darkly comedic novel that touches on some pretty serious topics along the way, but it's generally a light touch.

And speaking of topics, the book manages to cover a wide range including, among other things: incest, first gay love, suicide, religion, unplanned pregnancy (The Virgin Mary's included), terrorism, kidnapping and mentally disturbed neighbours - so you see, it has something for everyone. There are one or two reasonably graphically depicted sex scenes. If you are highly conservative and easily offended, stay away - this is probably not the book for you.

I found this book original, quirky, hilarious, sad and beautifully written, without being overly melodramatic or unduly self-indulgent. If you appreciate good writing, original characters and you are not a fundamentalist who's had a sense of humour-ectomy, then read this book and enjoy it for everything that it is - perfect and imperfect. And finally, some advice: if reading this book on public transport, beware of alarming fellow passengers with unseemly displays of laughter. That's all. Read more ›