Rabbit and toad are friends
Why do so many good books involve bunnies?
Before you get too excited and/or stop reading, we’re not going to be talking about Watership Down or the greatest rabbit book of all time, Bunnicula.
Including either of those as my third pick felt a little too on-the-adorable-twitching-nose. So I went with Peter Rabbit! Just kidding!
Lit Hub has an interesting piece by Celia Mattison on why rabbits make compelling literary devices — they’re symbols of wild femininity that have worried the patriarchal religious order for centuries. That certainly makes sense for my two bunny books here, but not so for the male-heavy Watership Down. Plus Peter and Bunnicula are both dudes (though both are scamps/abominations who are certainly messing up orderly gardens/terrifying households).
At any rate, my third book does not involve rabbits (though probably a few make an appearance, I forget), but it felt like a good fit. And my sci-fi bonus rec is back to rabbits again! Let’s hop to it, scamps/abominations!
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🐇 The Rabbit Hutch
Tess Gunty, 2022
The setting: Vacca Vale, Indiana, a Rust Belt town long past its glory days (please note, there is a very good urban planning element to this book). The Rabbit Hutch is the colloquial name for a low-income apartment building in which an interesting young woman named Blandine lives.
Things in this book that intertwine: The death of a beloved former child actor. A woman who moderates comments on online obituaries. Glow sticks. Animal sacrifice. Catholic mystic Hildegard von Bingen. The foster system. High school theater! Weird pies!!
With so much going on, The Rabbit Hutch seems as if it would be a novel about excess, but it just makes Blandine’s loneliness that much more profound. This is an arresting book — it felt like reaching the eye of a storm. Not the happiest eye though, be warned.
Recommended for: Those who like a rich novel that goes in a lot of different directions (kind of like a rabbit warren!) and requires you to stay sharp. And those who could handle the subject matter of My Dark Vanessa (see EELS: Big book on campus, part 2) or Vladimir (see EELS: Big book on campus, part 1).
🦢 Bunny
Mona Awad, 2019
I dabble in some book subreddits, and certain titles pop up again and again as “I’m sorry, but I just cannot understand the hype over this.” Lots of times I agree, because, like, some stuff sucks and will be forgotten in 20 years (I smugly noted that plenty of the books everyone was nuts about in the Aughts didn’t make it onto the NYT “Bananas Books of the Today Years!” list or whatever. I’ve lost interest… is a thing I would love to say and mean.)
Mona Awad’s genius Bunny is frequently one of these “wtf is this” books. Strongly do not agree, Redditors! The usual complaint is “this is too weird,” to which I reply, “You sweet soul, you haven’t read enough weird.” Bunny is hilarious, spooky, witchy, and insane in all the best ways. On the Bizarreness Scale™ of 1 to Naked Lunch, I’d put it at 4.
Anyway, Awad’s gift is voice, and she does it here absolutely perfectly. At its heart, this book is a dark wish fulfillment fantasy about mean girls. I don’t even want to tell you any more except that it’s also a pretty funny send-up about grad school. Their small, small hands!
Recommended for: Those who have felt insecure and directionless in the face of stronger personalities, and who also like haunted houses. And who like a good read with a distinct, darkly comic voice. If you have read this book already and liked it, you should absolutely read Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight.
We’ve discussed Mona Awad before with All’s Well (see EELS: The boards we hath trod)!
🐸 Toad
Katherine Dunn, posthumously published in 2022 (written in 1971)
There’s a certain late ‘60s, early ‘70s American writing vibe I’ve been into lately, especially when women are writing it. This sort of cynical yet bewildered tone of “What are the hippies even doing? What am I even doing? I am both observing my existential crisis as well as everyone else’s.” I’ve got another good one like this coming up, but I’ve been thinking about this one ever since I finished it — thanks for the rec, Walt!
It begins with Sally and her goldfish. She lives a hermited kind of life, which seems pretty nice at first. But as she begins to tell us about her past (including her increasing solidarity with a toad in her garden), her solitude starts to feel both repulsive and earned. Like The Rabbit Hutch, there’s a ton going on, and like Bunny, it’s funny and dark. But only like itself, it’s got a particularly ‘60s kind of sad grossness. I found it fascinating, and so toady.
This book was rejected by publishers way back when, and only rediscovered after Dunn’s death. I just can’t understand it. Surely it wasn’t too gritty for a pretty gritty time? Is it that it has too much to do with women’s bodies? It’s like it’s some sort of scary rabbit to the publishing industry’s religious patriarchy!
Recommended for: Those who didn’t like Catcher in the Rye, but always felt like they should.
And now, a bunny bonus recommendation
🐰 Infinity Gate — M. R. Carey, 2023
Want to hop on this bunny train but not into a bunch of books about gals wilding out? I happened to be texting with my pal Oliver last night, and I told him about this theme. He mentioned he just finished and loved a sci-fi book that involved rabbits?!?! Guess who just got suckered into a bonus rec!
Recommended for: “Fans of smart science fiction.”
Recommended by: Oliver! The last three books he loved were The Human Target by Tom King and Greg Smallwood (“a brilliant comic book”), The Passage of Power by Robert Caro, and An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris.
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📚 Susan
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Ooooo since we’ve been talking about late ‘60s, early ‘70s-vibe books lately (CASSANDRA) I have to put Toad on my list.