The Booker Prize has a reputation for only liking serious literary fiction so it was a pleasant surprise to see A.D. Miller’s crime thriller Snowdrops on the shortlist for this year’s prize
When God Was A Rabbit
2 August 2011 by 2 Comments
A good book – but not the great one I was expecting
Sarah Winman’s debut novel When God Was a Rabbit has been big news in literary circles. It was one of the Richard & Judy bookclub picks for Summer 2011 which virtually guaranteed it bestseller status and received a number of good reviews. Unlike some book snobs I know, I quite like the Richard & Judy choices so with their endorsement, the reviews I had seen and a positive vibe on Twitter I was really looking forward to When God Was A Rabbit.
To say the book was disappointing is a bit too much of an overstatement. I enjoyed the book, I just didn’t love it and with all the hype I had seen about it I was really expecting to fall head over heels for this great new author.
The heroine of the story and narrator of the book is Elly, and that’s where the problem lies. Winman has created a cast of fascinating characters from the lesbian film star to the abused but defiant child, the victim of kidnap and torture to the elderly teacher. Unfortunately the least interesting character is Elly, and yet it is only her voice and her point of view that we hear in any real detail and that’s where the book really does fall down…..