Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Rabbit Hutch

I wish I enjoyed this book more than I did. I was captivated by the prose and Gunty’s mastery of telling the story from multiple perspectives. The book was often darkly funny and filled with powerful passages about the human condition. Gunty wrote exceptionally vibrant and believable characters and brought each to life fully. Despite the (mostly) 3rd person narration, we can discern the characters’ feelings, thoughts and motivations. With multiple points of view, Gunty crafts a tale of people whose lives are interconnected, whether they realize it or not. However, I agree with the criticism that some characters’ stories were less central to the plot (Hope and her husband, mainly) and wish the final reveal of what happened to Blandine on that hot summer night was more dramatic; it felt almost like a throwaway, described in full only about 20 pages before the novel’s ending.

I think my main issue with the book is the amount of truly deplorable men in it. At it’s core, this is a novel about a bunch of weird losers who torture and ridicule young girls to compensate for their own insecurity. James Yager absolutely disgusted me, and I found myself annotating every chapter dedicated to his story with notes on how much of a pathetic creep he is. Nearly everyone in this book makes themselves out to be the victim, except for Blandine, who is the only true victim. While relatable and indicative of the lived experiences of maligned women, it was a tough read.

I found the author’s commentary on capitalism, depression, and connection very interesting. Many of the characters described feeling as though life “isn’t real,” and the novel does an excellent job of painting the town of Vacca Vale as a kind of purgatory. The first epigraph about rabbits is eerily foreshadowing for the content of the novel, and I constantly returned to it throughout. It does a great job of summing up key motifs: isolation, chaos, violence of insecure males, feeling trapped, etc. I would’ve loved for these themes to be explored more in depth, especially toward the end of the book; I wish it was more about human connection and less about abused women.

Content Warnings

murrderdith's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This was an interesting, if not fully fleshed, novel. Told over a week from multiple perspectives, it focuses on the residents of an affordable housing complex in a rundown factory town in Indiana. The novel largely rotates around a teenage girl named Blandine who is obsessed with the medieval saint, Hildegard von Bingen, and creates unnerving art protests to undermine local redevelopment--you know, teen girl stuff.

I genuinely did like the novel. The writing is fantastic and the characters are odd but also believable. That said, the multitude of intersecting narratives didn't always feel cohesive. I don't think the novel would have benefitted from stripping it down to a single third-person perspective but there are characters that could have been eliminated entirely (Hope and her husband) to give others (Joan) more space without taking anything from the larger plot.

Content Warnings

courtney23's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

vicblue's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

Content Warnings

lmatakas's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Super weird but written beautifully—I loved following Blandine, and I don’t think it would have worked if we had followed fewer perspectives (multiple points of view!) but really thought the Moses sections could have been cut without too much impact. So much of it was incredibly sad, but it was fascinating to read the stories out of one apartment complex in a small town. Not a book I’d recommend to everyone (sometimes grotesque, a little experimental, lots of catholic undertones) but I get why it won National Book Award this year.

Content Warnings

amanduhhhpls's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

kendallmdk's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

More...