It was the final chapter of his breakdown, the moment when his glass drained of everything, and its emptiness awaited only for choices to come.” I'll let you in on a little secret: I read this book because I like the title. Wanna know something else? I liked the book even more. This novel is interesting. I think it's well written, the characters are well-defined and believable, the elements of the story are original enough and there is a touch of humour to keep one reading with enjoyment. A girl is growing up first in London and then in Cornwall and her personal life gets entangled with the larger perspective of History. I think everyone can relate to that. Plus I was touched by the friendship between Elly and Jenny, the weird but sweet girl (that characters should have been more developped in my humble opinion).

But there’s a continuation of huge and dramatic events, (some of which really feel quite contrived) When God Was a Rabbit is a book by Sarah Winman that was first published in 2011. It won Winman various awards including New Writer of the Year in the Galaxy National Book Awards [1] and was one of the books chosen by Richard & Judy in their 2011 Summer Book Club. [2] Synopsis [ edit ]Was this so? Well, I started, and was utterly charmed by the child’s eye view of Elly, and her pet rabbit (named God) by her older brother, and by her instant childhood friendship with a fellow quirky and outsider little girl, Jenny Penny. I was fine with the talking rabbit, as a young child’s imagination is unfettered, and believes many things which can’t be true (we tell ourselves later) Though the Jenny Penny coin moment did raise some disquiet, as if we were going to be plunging into magic realism – except it didn’t really go there. Elly and her family live through the events of the 1970s, 1990s and the early years of the new millennium - a shared experience for many readers, and one that rings true even at those points where are own memories are different. Winman has the particular gift for being able to spring a momentous event on the reader, whether historical or fictional, with all the unexpected impact of real life. Sorry. This review contains a mini spoiler but I couldn't work out how to hide it so if you don't want any giveaway info you'd better ignore this one. However if you are continuing to read, thanks.

I felt that the eponymous God/rabbit premise might have been developed further, and I would have loved for Elly to swapped her circumspection for just some of Nancy's devil-may-care personality traits. When the family wins the football pools (the pre-Lotto way to be a millionaire in the UK), they move to a big house in Cornwall where they start to collect oddball hanger-ons that help make up for Elly's loneliness and the untimely death of God the rabbit. It's like loving someone deeply when you've passed the stage of blind love, the excitement of the newness. You get to know the quirks and the annoying bits, but you're still in love with that person. That's how I felt about this novel. Not my usual type of book and had been very reluctant to read this one, several friends recommended it to me but I had put it off for a long time. The second half of the novel, set between Cornwall and New York, jumps ahead to 1995. It is just after Elly's 27th birthday, when Jenny reenters Elly's adult life via letters. During their correspondence, Elly learns that Jenny is in jail for murdering her abusive husband, and that her friend was also molested as a child. Although they continue to stay in touch, Elly chooses not to visit Jenny at Her Majesty's Prison. Through their renewed friendship, Elly finds a calling as a newspaper columnist, specializing in articles about lost and found relationships. She accepts a job in New York, and her brother Joe decides to start a new life and move there as well. After years of separation, Joe and Charlie meet again in New York, but they do not rekindle a romance.Winman is a British actress who, if this first outing is anything to go by, has a big future as a novelist. She tells this coming-of-age story in two parts. It begins with Elly's account of growing up in 1970s London. Though her close family is a loving one, there is evil and darkness pressing in. My favourite aspect of this book was its portrayal of so many different relationships. The novel explores so many different kinds of love: platonic, familial, romantic and I’m glad that it wasn’t restricted to just one kind but all kinds. The relationships in this book, from the romantic bonds characters form with others throughout their life, to the relationship between members of the family and then their friendships with other people, such as the family’s ties to Ginger and Arthur, to Elly’s friendship with Jenny Penny, to Nancy’s relationship with Elly’s parents, to Joe’s romance with Charlie, to the sibling bond between Elly and Joe, everything was developed so naturally and beautifully that I cared deeply for every single character that appeared in this book. This is why I love Sarah Winman’s books, because she is the best at creating such real, loveable characters that you just can’t help but root for and love. So it proved, but I was still quite enchanted by Elly herself and was pretty sure I was going to like but not love, this book Jane Bradley, ForBooksSake.net: ‘Despite some problems with plot and pacing, the writing itself is where the author shines, and establishes her as one to watch next time around. This story begins in the past, looking at the early lives of the main protagonists, and it is this section of the novel which sets the tone for the remainder of the story and lures you into the lives of the characters within. It is this section of the story which really reminds me of 'A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time' with the characters innocence really dominating and drawing you into their lives and world, making it difficult to put this book down.