I have just finished reviewing this for a major UK retailer. What a fabulous book! I havent read anything in a long time which has made me smile as much as this book, and draw on every other emotion I possess to supplement this. There are some laugh out loud moments and some that make you tear up, it's a tale that rings of truth throughout, heartbreaking, poignant, hilarious, cruel, it's quite simply beautiful. From the fabulous Ginger, the ageing Shirley Bassey impersonator, to Jenny Penny, Elly’s eccentric and tragic best friend, each character is created with a sense of depth and feeling that draws you in wholeheartedly. A cliché, but this book will have you howling with laughter one minute and reaching for the tissues the next as Winman takes you on a journey through childhood and beyond, all told in Elly’s unique voice. A great debut that cements Winman as an exciting new writer.

I love a book that pushes the boundaries and dares to be different but this book loses its ethic for me. I like good fiction but this is crazy-mad and a bit pithy, silly and desperate by the end.I’d enjoyed Winman’s Tin Man so was very disappointed with this latest book club read. You can tell it was a debut novel because she really threw the kitchen sink in when it comes to quirkiness and magic realism. I don’t like when quirkiness is there just for the sake of it, or when secondary characters (who still manage to be more engaging than the primary ones) are little more than a thumbnail description: the lesbian actress aunt, the camp old lodger. I also hate the use of 9/11 as a plot device, something I have encountered several times in the last couple of years, and stupid names like Jenny Penny. Really, the second part of this novel just feels like a rehearsal for Tin Man in that it sets up a close relationship between two gay men and a woman. Nothing stays forgotten for long, Elly. Sometimes we simply have to remind the world that we’re special and that we’re still here.” Some sort of contest seems to be going on among authors at the moment to see who can come up with the most ridiculous title for their book. For the record, God is the name the narrator of this début novel gives her pet rabbit. The title does at least set the tone for a story that is ridiculous at times, but also eccentric, hilarious and brave.

Without a reason, why bother? Existence needs purpose: to be able to endure the pain of life with dignity; to give us a reason to continue. The meaning must enter our hearts, not out heads. We must understand the meaning of our suffering.” To comfort his lonely little sister and provide her with a "proper friend," Joe buys Elly a Belgian hare for Christmas, a rabbit which she names "god." While her local Sunday School rejects the blasphemy of Elly naming her pet "god," the event spurs a friendship between Elly and her classmate Jenny Penny. Jenny has a tumultuous family life, as her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, and the two girls lean on one another, forming a life-long friendship. Sarah Winman wins Newton First Book Award". edbookfest.co.uk. Edinburgh International Book Festival. 19 October 2011 . Retrieved 29 January 2012. The story is told with such warmth and humour, it had me snorting out loud at times as I listened. And of course that makes the moments of sadness and fear all the more poignant.Winman's fiction debut, spanning the late 1960s and early 2000s, boasts one of the more endearingly unconventional families in a while... [Winman's] quirky voice maintains its energy; even at her most precocious, Elly never wears out her welcome'--Kirkus When God was a Rabbit describes itself as the story of a brother and sister, "about childhood and growing up, friendships and families, triumph and tragedy and everything in between...about love in all its forms". That is a perfectly fair description as far as it goes. What it doesn't say is anything of the quiet and kindly magic with which Sarah Winman defines her characters.