Book Review: When God Was A Rabbit by Sarah Winman

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . July 26, 2011 . 6:05PM

Every family has secrets and even the ones that seem to have it easier than others hide those secrets even from themselves. Sarah Winman has beautifully shown how a secret can be lost to a family and retrieved in the most unexpected ways. In When God Was A Rabbit, Elly’s life is tied to that of her best friend, Jenny Penny, a girl who seems to have mystical powers. As Elly and Jenny weave their way through childhood, Elly relies on her brother Joe to be her stronghold even as she watches him grow into adulthood and change in ways she didn’t understand at the time.

As they age, the family comes into good fortune and an eclectic cast of characters changes the way they view people and each other. Jenny Penny fades from Elly’s life but, as all soulmates are, Jenny and Elly are connected and they seem to find one another again. While the writing was confusing and disjointed at times, particularly when it came to understanding the characters of Alan and Arthur, overall, the book was nicely done. There were no punches to be pulled and the plot didn’t drag.

The most compelling part of the book, for me, was watching Elly cope with her personal drama as a child by turning her rabbit into a talking version of God. I have never seen a defense mechanism so beautifully written and it showed a stoic Elly turning to an animal in a way that most children do but it is rarely shown realistically in novels. As an aside, children who have experienced trauma or who have difficulty talking to other humans can frequently express themselves more easily to animals and I found this a particularly sensitive aspect of the novel. Elly continues to search for her rabbit God throughout the novel and I found it touching.

**Disclaimer: I received this book for free in order to review it. Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts on this novel with others!