Rabbit Cake

Deliciously Quirky

My usual format for my reviews is to stop at about the 80% mark and try and guess the finish.  Most books have a well defined narrative that points the reader to the end destination.  In many cases that makes the novels predictable with even the plot twists seemingly pre-ordained.  The brilliance of Rabbit Cake is that the author, Annie Hartnett has no need for a ending as the book really hasn't set us up for one.  And thus we are just in for this glorious ride of a novel that takes us to the edge of reality and beyond into the supernatural and then pulls us back in.  

The book is about a family - the Babbitts - and narrated by the youngest member of it, Elvis the 11 year old daughter.  She has a sister Lizzie who is 16.  The novel begins with her mom being found dead after drowning while sleep - swimming.  We find out much of her mom post humously including that she was writing a book on the nocturnal habits of animals.   Animals play a big role in this book, Elvis's dad adopts a parrot from the pet store who sounds exactly like the mom.  We later find out that this is because she was having an affair with the Pet Shop owner and would spend lots of time at the store where the Parrot, Earnest picked up her voice.  Much to Elvis's surprise we later find out that this affair and others she snoops out where all fine with her dad as her parents had an open relationship.   What could have been a plot twist ends up being just another quirk in this family.  

Each of the main characters has their own quirks which makes for a wild ride.  Elvis is the most noble of the family.  Among her acts is her staying up late ot watch her sister so she wouldn't hurt herslef sleepwalking.  She picks up her moms unfinished manuscript and adds chapters.  She volunteers at a Zoo, where among other things she gets into trouble for spitting on the Zoo director when she protests the hacking off parts of the deceased giraffe to move his body out of the zoo.  She gets in trouble for eating one of her sisters brownies which was packed with weed.  She befriends a classmate who is labeleed a slut after word gets out that she might have an STD.  Elvis for much of the book is convinced that her mom has a brain tumor and tries to find an alternate reason for her moms death other than the obvious she drowned while sleep swimming.  

Lizzie has picked up her moms sleep walking habit and has become a danger to herself and her family.  She also has a mean streak in her.  Among the things she does is break a classmates jaw.  She gives her Dads new young girlfriend who has a nut allergy a rabbit cake with marzipan.