Rabbit Cake

If the title and cover of this book are not enough to intrigue you to read it, I do not know what is. When I saw it in the bookstore, I immediately put it on my "to-read" list. I borrowed it from the public library. After reaching for my highlighter about 40 times, I knew it was time to reach for my laptop and visit Amazon to purchase the book. For some reason, the folks at the library get upset when you highlight their books. Hey, I do not charge for my editing/commentating services!! Anyway, then the wait was on to receive the book in the mail. About a week later, I was back into the book and was following Elvis Babbitt on her daily journey trying to keep her family together after the untimely death of her Mother. I HAD to finish reading this book this morning, so around 6:25 a.m., I finally finished it. I have to admit that I did drag out the last portions of the book because I did not want it to end -- it was just THAT good. I laughed on many occasions. Who knew grief could have a humorous side? I cried on more than one occasion. My heart started to break a time or two. Life seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl, who has just lost her Mother, who was also her best friend AND the glue that kept the family together, has its tragic moments. Fortunately for Elvis, she has a heart of gold that can forgive just about anything . . . and I do mean ANYTHING!! It is no wonder all of the animals at the zoo were missing her and asking about her when she was terminated from her volunteer position due to one of her sister's many outrageous antics. Elvis basically has to deal with the grief of losing her mother all by herself . . . well, except for a counselor at her elementary school who gives her a grieving calendar. Her older sister and Dad are drowning in their own grief which only adds to more problems for Elvis. Annie Hartnett has a wonderful style of writing that is down-to-earth and really lets you see the world through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl. The emotions are real, some gut-wrenching, and make you want to reach out and hug Elvis close to you and tell her things will be okay. But will they really? No one really knows from day to day. Hartnett does a fine job of tying up the loose ends and making us see that there can be happiness on the horizon for everyone. If you want a break from the normal novel, take a couple of days out and pick up "Rabbit Cake," the debut novel by Annie Hartnett. I guarantee you will not be bored and you will see a new light on how some people deal with their progress through the grieving process. You will come away with a new attitude on the whole grieving process!!

I've never read a book quite like this! I have a friend who is so delightful and dry in her humor. Elvis reminded me of her with her perspective of the happenings in her life and the way she expresses them. It seemed to me that comments would come out of left field and after they were within my grasp, I paused and studied them for awhile. You know how a puppy will tilt its head and look at you as if studying your intentions and words? Like they're not sure exactly what you are saying, but it requires tilting the head to knock it into place. How can someone process their life is such a way and then express it to hit home in such a profound and poignant way? I marvel at this story, the characters and the quirkiness of the happenings in each of the characters lives. Each character possesses a richness and authenticity, laced with a delicious dysfunction that makes all too much sense to the me ... the reader. This book is an escape for all who seek to be teleported out of their normal, mundane, chaotic, unsettling or dysfunctional life and wish to submerge themselves into a place and time that gives them permission to see life through another perspective. You'll give yourself permission to appreciate your own life because you'll realize that there is no such thing as "Normal" and perhaps you have a story of your own to tell that will be as delicious, epic and twisted as this one. It's all good, you know?

It's only March, but I already have serious doubts that there will be any other book that I read this year that will knock this one off the top of my list of favorite books read in 2017. When I first read the description of Rabbit Cake, I knew I had to read it. Within the first few pages, I was already telling anyone who would listen that they had to read it too. With every page afterwards, I fell more and more in love with the story of Elvis Babbitt and her family as they deal with the loss of her mother, Eva. Elvis tells the story in a way that only a twelve-year-old could, and the beautiful mix of her grief, curiosity, and remaining innocence and naivety is the perfect recipe for a truly incredible character. Annie Hartnett created a true gem of a character in Elvis. I just finished this book earlier today, and I already miss Elvis's presence. Every single aspect of Rabbit Cake warrants the love I have for this book. I love the dark humor, and the level to which Hartnett developed the characters made me know enough about them to love them and invest in their development while still leaving me with enough questions to have plenty to ponder. I found myself personally invested in all the characters, even minor ones such as Jackie Friskey, and Hartnett has a way of making even brief moments carry tremendous emotional weight that left me in tears several times throughout the book. Her choice to have Elvis tell this story was absolutely perfect, and Elvis herself is the source of much of the love I have for Rabbit Cake. However, the true beauty of Rabbit Cake lies in the way Hartnett threaded the theme of grief throughout the novel in such a variety of ways. Elvis, Lizzie, and their dad all went through the process of grieving for Eva in unique ways, and the other types of grief they experienced were powerful examples of how life presents us with different types of sorrow, and how people deal with their sorrow is complex. This is simply a beautiful book that made me laugh at some moments, sob at others, and get teary-eyed when I finished purely because I was sad that it was over.

Intriguing story of oddballs in a family but when cumulative the oddities of the family just became a tsunami by the middle and the end, thus souring me a bit, plus no plot. I kept reading to see if the mother's death was a deliberate plot, like unravelling an onion, but that didn't come to be. A fun read, though, for lovers of a quirky book, some of the moments are spot on.

This is a delightful tale about a wise tween growing up among extraordinarily difficult circumstances. While poignant throughout, it is spiced with the subtle humor one might not expect from a young girl in such a tough spot. The author never breaks character as she leads us through the fascinating story of friendship, sisterhood, and maturity.

This book takes a look at grief and some serious family dysfunction that was surely going on before two young girls and an out-of-sorts dad lost their mother/his wife to what appears to be a suicide but possibly an accident. Annie Hartnett’s RABBIT CAKE follows young Elvis as she tries to hold her family together, cover up for her older sister who has a severe case of sleepwalking, help her father who has taken to wearing her mother’s lipstick and walk around in her robe, all the while trying to find clues about how she died, after her body was found in the river, where she used to swim alone at night. Elvis is one sharp pre-teen who is just trying to grieve. She is light years ahead of the counselor whom she sees at school who can’t seem to pry herself away from her own issues enough to help Elvis and is a stickler for rules when it comes to the stages of grief. ​ This book finds humor where there is not usually anything funny. It is quirky, warm and heart-mending, with characters who are truly unique. Whether or not you have experienced loss, I highly recommend this lovely book. This is a girl who had a mother who created a celebration of everyday life. Elvis is trying to find meaning now that her mother is gone. She has many doors to open. Including the oven door to the most delightful rabbit cakes. Note: I just found that Williams-Sonoma has a rabbit cake pan and it’s on sale!

Mark it down--this one should have very long legs. For your narrator think a young Jane Goodall with Huck Finn as a direct ancestor five or six generations back. If Elvis Babbitt (think of the wacky tensions set up by the name alone!) is a wholly appealing protagonist, her steno Hartnett is a sneaky adroit author, playing surprisingly sophisticated games under the YA surface. Example: check out the bizarro book titles tossed in at intervals--DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL FOR KIDS!, PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR FIFTH GRADERS, THE SOUTHERN CAKE BIBLE. (I'm alerted to the appeal of these by my own collection, topped off by THE YEAR'S WORK IN LEBOWSKI STUDIES and LASH! THE HUNDRED GREAT SCENES OF MEN BEING WHIPPED IN THE MOVIES.) But then, just as you're lured into thinking you can relax into a comic romp, Hartnett shifts gears: "one of the workers took out a chainsaw and that's when I lost it. I climbed on Harrison [a dead giraffe, slotted for dismemberment], gripping around his neck with my hands and legs, and screamed that they'd have to saw me apart first before they chopped up Harrison." Enough said. This fierce girl grabs readers like she grabs Harrison. And doesn't let go. She could soon be a lit teacher favorite, a staple of reading lists in precincts where Mr. Malvolio and Mrs. Grundy don't have a death grip on the curriculum. She's drop-dead funny and serious as life itself. Ponder and enjoy.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it. The characters and plot held my interest, and the writing flowed well. I did feel it was trying a little too hard to be quirky, and the ending felt a little too neat and tidy. But overall it's a good book, and I'm glad I read it.