Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty

8 reviews

jabakken's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Alcohol

emmas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I found this novel super interesting and thought provoking. The author experimented a lot with form and for me, in some places it worked and in some places it didn’t… I think I would have liked more consistency but I can appreciate what she tried to do. I wouldn’t recommend this if you don’t like lit fic (literary fiction), but it does get at a lot of important topics in our society.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Death of parent, and Drug use

spacescape's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This writing on this book is an example of what current creative fiction writers love: intensely-detailed character development (or, as I call it: over-the-top inner mind description). Fleshing out characters is important; writing page after page of a character's likes and dislikes is maddening and a waste of good trees. 

This book is an example of why I have a difficult time reading novels. After finishing & reflecting, there is one main character whom didn't need to exist at all, which would have cut out many unnecessary and shock-value pages. A letter to this individual--several pages on its own--could have been struck with it. Additionally, a particular argument between two other main characters is completely nonsensical.

I'll pause here to add some positive things: the setting of a dying Midwest town is perfect (even though a street-level description for part of the town only comes at the end, confusingly). The ideas of gentrification, the Midwest, mental disorders of several varieties, living far too deep in one's own head, drug abuse, and economic challenges are very well-woven into the whole story. 

The ultimate frustration is that this novel could be a good 25% shorter, which would have made it better. Longer does not equal better, writers! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Addiction, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abandonment and Drug abuse

amanduhhhpls's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was an overwhelming reading experience from start to finish. A trying too hard to be quirky cast of characters, overly purple prose, and a climax of plot centered around every kind of abuse imaginable. I kept expecting all the characters to intersect and the plot to count together and it never did. The more I read, the more disappointed I became.

This lacked any sort of the depth it was obviously trying to have. 

If you’re squeamish about animal abuse at all, stay far far FAR away from this. I regret reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Animal death, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Murder, Alcohol, and Adult/minor relationship

tangerinetea's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, and Injury/injury detail

Minor: Rape, Abandonment, Addiction, and Drug abuse

kendallmdk's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Abandonment

heatherjchin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Bullying, Injury/injury detail, Violence, Addiction, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Mental illness, Abandonment, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Drug use

swalk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Drifting through a set of apartments you learn of the residents who inhabit them and what their lives are like, touching, raw, brutal, sometimes even funny.



Set in a deprived area of social housing in Indiana colloquially known as The Rabbit Hutch, you wander the minds of those who live there; What are their hopes, fears, problems, daydreams, what is happening in the banality of day to day life? The narrative thread is very loose especially at the start, it seems to be more about the life of each character, than a particular ‘story’ as such. Later on the lives interweave and connect the further into the book you get.



The content reminds me a little of the film Waking Life in the way it winds between different characters, thoughts and topics. It is an unusual, but beautiful writing style. I’m not sure if in general I would have picked this book, but I’m glad I did. Very thought provoking.


The narrator has a lovely expressive voice, who he really lends itself to this writing style, both soft and clear.

CW postnatal depression, suicide, depression, catastrophising, apocalypse


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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Violence, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abandonment and Classism