When God was a Rabbit (Week 4/52)

I'm struggling to put into words how much I enjoyed this week's read, When God was a Rabbit by Sara Winman. I had intended to read this book a few years ago, when I was on my first epic read-a-thon, but as it was the year it was released, I was on such a long waitlist for the book that I didn't get it until the year was over and I was burned out from so much reading. So when NerdBoy and I started this read-a-thon, I made sure it was among the first books I requested from the library.

This book is a coming of age story about a young British girl named Elly and is divided into two sections. The first section covers Elly's childhood, from about four to twelve, and the second section picks up following a span of about 15 years shortly after Elly's twenty-seventh birthday. I like the book most I think for its dry British humour, beautifully delivered by Elly the narrator, and hidden in the youthful naivete of her character. I'm going to share some of my favourite sections in the hopes that you will read this book:

***

 He placed the box down on the table. I could smell the fecund dampness of straw. The box  moved jerkily, but I wasn't scared. My brother opened the flaps and pulled out the biggest rabbit I'd ever seen.
   'I said I'd get you a proper friend.'
   'It's a rabbit!' I said with piercing delight.
   'A Belgian hare, actually,' he said, rather brotherly.
   'A Belgian hare,' I repeated quietly, as if I'd just said words that were the equivalent to love. 
   'What do you want to call it?' he asked.
   'Eleanor Maud," I said.
   'You can't name it after you,' my brother laughed.
   'Why not?' I said, a little deflated.
   'Because it's a boy,' he said.
   'Oh,' I said, and I looked at its chestnut-brown fur and its white tail and the two little droppings that had fallen from his arse, and thought that he did indeed look like a boy.
'What do you think I should call him then?' I asked.
   'God,' said my brother grandly.
...
...

I held up the final picture of my rabbit to the bewildered faces of my classmates.
   '...And so at Christmas, god finally came to live with me,' I ended triumphantly.
   I paused, big smile, waiting for my applause. None came and the room fell silent, unexpectedly went dark; the overhead lights useless and straining and yellow against the storm clouds gathering outside. All of a sudden, the new girl, Jenny Penny, started to clap and cheer.
   'Shut up!' shouted my teacher, Miss Grogney, her lips disappearing into a line of non-secular hatred. Unknown to me, she was the product of missionaries who had spent a lifetime preaching the Lord's work in an inhospitable part of Africa, only to have found that the Muslims had got there first.

 ***

The second section lacks some of the magic and beauty of Elly the child's narration, but the character developments continue to be strong and the relationships meaningful and complicated. The main event of the second section felt like a bit of a stretch, one which was foreshadowed in an earlier chapter but was not necessary (I felt) for the progression of the plot. The strength of the characters saves it for me, but I wonder if others agree. Anyway, you should read the book. It's awesome. I'll end this post with one of my favourite quotes from the book...

'Two gin and tonics and a water for the fish,' said my brother for the fifth time that evening. He was dressed as Liza Minnelli, and looked really pretty until you saw that he hadn't shaved, either his face or his legs. When we left the house both my mother and father had shed a tear as their beloved son walked out into the cold night air dressed as a daughter, unsure as to what he might return as. That, my father would later say, was one of the unexpected gifts of parenthood.