When God Was a Rabbit

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman
This book had been one I was hoping to read for years. I'd seen it on book shelves and displays in book stores repeatedly with the vague notion that I would buy it and read it one day. How can the title not intrigue you? pull you in? It did for me, and was a a 'to-read' book that was always at the back of my mind. When i spotted it in my favourite used bookstore Barter Books in Northumberland, it was as though the book gods at bestowed it on me. Hadn't I been meaning to read that all along? And so first began When God Was A Rabbit.

Unfortunately, it was not what I had expected. To be completely frank, I'm not sure WHAT I had expected, but it seemed to me it was if not a different tale, than one with a different voice or tone to it. But, never mind. The main character - a young girl named Elly - was still interesting, and her connection to her brother still paramount. Jenny Penny, Elly's childhood best friend, became both the interest, the heart and the comedy through those early chapters.

But as the novel progressed, it seemed to crumble. Experiences became displaced and as a result, uninteresting. It was difficult to stay attached to a narrative that jumped forward in time without explanation, so that characters became older without an real sense of age or time passing. There were moves geographically both winton England and the US so that by the end I was unsure which country Elly called home. Characters entered, left and reappeared such a fleeting way as to make them trivial or forgettable - I regret to admit sometimes I had a hard time remembering which fringe character was which - and the narrative further complicated this by referring for long periods to a character as "He" or "She" at the beginnings of chapters, therefore making it nearly impossible to know which character was being spoken about aside from through guesswork and inference. It was extremely frustrating as very little detail was given through which such inferences could have been made.

Sexually was often poking up in the novel in such a way that it should have been a theme, really, but it's sporadic and again, random occurrences prevented it from holding any sort of true stock in the novel. This could have been a real grounding factor as her brother's homosexuality and in turn his relation to childhood friend Charlie formed a key connection between characters and in many way created a thread throughout the novel, but the thread lacked substance and connectivity. Similarly, Nancy, Elly's Aunt, was a pillar of confidence and again, homosexuality. She was bold, free and loveable to all characters in the novel and in turn, she loved others - most interestingly, Elly often noticed that Nancy appeared to be in love with Elly's own mother (and Nancy's sister in law).

Relations, sex and love were constantly in question throughout When God was A Rabbit, but ultimately for me, it was this lack of connectivity - between the scenes of the novel themselves and in turn between the novel and the reader, that prevented both a clear theme and any interest in the characters and their lives on my part.

It is a shame, really, because there were glimmers of something I wanted to know in the novel - the pet rabbit who was named God (which after all inspired the very titled of the novel) was a wonderful narrative concept. The juxtaposition of childhood innocence in a pet rabbit and the grandeur of naming him God was beautiful in and of itself. Furthermore God appears to speak to Elly in such a way that only she can hear, which begs questions of spirituality and wisdom that spark a reader's imagination. Unfortunately, this character was not touched on enough or for long enough, in my opinion.

Similarly, Jenny Penny is a wonderfully interesting character full of reckless abandon and joy in the face of what is clearly a difficult childhood. She is lost to the novel and reappears in time like so many other themes and characters in this narrative. For once, though, I feel that story projection fitting. Her disappearance marks growing up, her return a chance to evaluate past and present. the problem, then, was that this storyline did not become the central one of the novel. to me, it was the tale which I could best hold on to - the one i found to be the most interesting, and my biggest complaint was that I did not get enough of it. Jenny Penny and her relationship with Elly became bogged down and tangled in daily chores and random sexual encounters that simply seemed irrelevant to me as a reader. I cared little for Elly and the rambling way she saw life, but her relationship with Jenny Penny - that was where the heart of the novel truly lay, and that was where I feel more of the focus should have been.

I fear that in my review I have done much the same thing I complained about in the novel - jumped around and rambled on in a non-linear and therefore confusing way, but I shall make my final statement thus: the novel lacked focus, and as such, heart. If it were to be stripped down, the fluff removed, and strong clear intention found, there could have been a great story of growing up and losing innocence, but this heartfelt theme got tangled in irrelevancies and therefore became rather irrelevant for me as a reader.
A disappointment, really, I'm sorry to say.

The NYC Underbelly

The Fuck Up by Arthur Nersesian

If the title of this, Arthur Nersesian's first novel, didn't give you a clue to the story that lay within, I don't know what would. "The Fuck-Up" really does say it all. Now that's not to say that the novel is in any way a train wreck, but the main character certainly comes close.
Through the eyes of this anonymous 23 year old male, the reader experiences - sometimes all too closely - the gritty underbelly of New York City.
The main character is reckless in a way very few are. Landing himself in increasingly bizarre situations based on chance encounters and overheard conversations, he takes opportunities anywhere he can get them. The world has hope and promise. And yet, just as easily as these glorious opportunities are found, they can be lost, sending him spiraling into an ever darker and more tangled web of lies, deceit and ruin. In short, he pretty royally f's things up.

The novel does well to depict an unglamourized view of the city, and urban living, with everything from the troubles of paying for emergency health care, to prejudices on sexual preference. You really get a taste for both New York itself, and the hardships it's citizens endure. Where the novel fails to impress, and what ultimately solidified the 2 star "it was okay" rating, was character.

Though sometimes pitiable, the character failed to truly pull my attentions, or better yet my emotions. I was astounded by the guts he had to take the opportunities he did throughout the narrative, but aside from that, when hardships arose, I found myself thinking well, what did you expect? Shady dealings lead to unfortunate outcomes in a way that had to be obvious from the start. It was easily annoying. Similarly, friendships lovers and coworkers fell flat in ways that although relatively believable, made it hard to attach to anyone, and therefore left little interest or remorse when it came to the general outcome of the character's lives.

Both hailed as a masterpiece by cult fans, and criticized by the wider public, The Fuck-Up has both it's merits and downfalls. Depicting the feel of NYC with acute precision, it's all about whether you can deal with the antics of a self-ruining 23 year old, or if, like me, you just want to give him a good shake and tell him to get a grip in his life. You make the call.