Not sure what I expected with this book. With a title involving God, an opening that includes a child asking her family if God loved her and then the appearance of a talking rabbit it could have veered in any direction. I'm not really religious and wasn't really wanting to read a book that was going to heavily preach religion.
The book didn't try to get us to church on a Sunday however and reverted to a more 'normal' storey of a family set up over the course of several decades. It symbolised the end of innocence and new beginnings. After beginnings that involved the molestation of a young girl, homosexuality, and hints at a lesbian incestuous relationship (well sisters in law) and of course a rabbit that talks the main characters mum and dad with the lottery win, and move the family to the Seaside to set up a B&B.
Reading that back it seems not only very unbelievable but ridiculous and yet I didn't think so at the time I was reading it. I must admit it did take me a while to get into the book and even at the end I found that I didn't really warm to the main character. I keep referring to her as the main character as even now I'm not sure of her name (I know that's quite bad, hang on I will look it up...........Elly!). We discussed this at the meeting and a few of us thought the same, suggesting perhaps it was because she was the narrator and you warmed more to the other characters through her descriptions of them.
One thing we all loved were the characters found at the B&B - Arthur, Ginger and Ellys Auntie Nancy. They were so vivid and I so would have liked to have met them. The stand out moment for me in the book was Arthur and his coconut. I laughed out loud and won't spoil it for those of you have not read it by revealing all. This kind of compensated for the lack of warmth I felt for Elly and the second half of the book when they emerged certainly seemed to hold me more.
I mentioned above that the book in some way was all about new beginnings or fresh starts - the B&B for Ellys parents, her brother after 9/11, Ginger at the B&B. Yet nobody really got the chance to start again. Ellys dad never really escaped the client he failed, Ellys brother was never really allowed to find his new self due to Elly. It showed that no matter how you run unless you either leave behind all family/friends and, in Ellys dads case, your self/memories you never get the chance for a clean slate.
Jenny Penny was also an interesting character. I'm not sure what I made of her, her relationship with Elly and her whole prison sentence. We did discuss how likely it would have been that Jenny Penny remained in Ellys life (and indeed Charlie in her brothers life). I suppose this was yet another example of how fresh starts were just not allowed as characters kept coming back.
Sexuality or more specifically homosexuality was rife in the book and maybe that was why quite a few of us expected an incestuous relationship between Elly and her brother. We also thought at one stage that Elly and Charlie would get together after 9/11. We discussed the relationship between Ellys Auntie/Mother and Father and how a lot of things were hinted at so that when we came to discuss the book we were left saying things like 'was it just me or did that happen?'
The range was quite split for this book with it overall averaging a 6. Looking back it was totally unrealistic but for some reason you didn't question why the rabbit talked. I think the characters saved it. Just.
PS. I was also on the lookout for a repeat of the Quiet Belief in Angels meeting. No unexpected guests turned up but you will just have to read that blog to see what happened there if you don't know what I'm on about!
The book didn't try to get us to church on a Sunday however and reverted to a more 'normal' storey of a family set up over the course of several decades. It symbolised the end of innocence and new beginnings. After beginnings that involved the molestation of a young girl, homosexuality, and hints at a lesbian incestuous relationship (well sisters in law) and of course a rabbit that talks the main characters mum and dad with the lottery win, and move the family to the Seaside to set up a B&B.
Reading that back it seems not only very unbelievable but ridiculous and yet I didn't think so at the time I was reading it. I must admit it did take me a while to get into the book and even at the end I found that I didn't really warm to the main character. I keep referring to her as the main character as even now I'm not sure of her name (I know that's quite bad, hang on I will look it up...........Elly!). We discussed this at the meeting and a few of us thought the same, suggesting perhaps it was because she was the narrator and you warmed more to the other characters through her descriptions of them.
One thing we all loved were the characters found at the B&B - Arthur, Ginger and Ellys Auntie Nancy. They were so vivid and I so would have liked to have met them. The stand out moment for me in the book was Arthur and his coconut. I laughed out loud and won't spoil it for those of you have not read it by revealing all. This kind of compensated for the lack of warmth I felt for Elly and the second half of the book when they emerged certainly seemed to hold me more.
I mentioned above that the book in some way was all about new beginnings or fresh starts - the B&B for Ellys parents, her brother after 9/11, Ginger at the B&B. Yet nobody really got the chance to start again. Ellys dad never really escaped the client he failed, Ellys brother was never really allowed to find his new self due to Elly. It showed that no matter how you run unless you either leave behind all family/friends and, in Ellys dads case, your self/memories you never get the chance for a clean slate.
Jenny Penny was also an interesting character. I'm not sure what I made of her, her relationship with Elly and her whole prison sentence. We did discuss how likely it would have been that Jenny Penny remained in Ellys life (and indeed Charlie in her brothers life). I suppose this was yet another example of how fresh starts were just not allowed as characters kept coming back.
Sexuality or more specifically homosexuality was rife in the book and maybe that was why quite a few of us expected an incestuous relationship between Elly and her brother. We also thought at one stage that Elly and Charlie would get together after 9/11. We discussed the relationship between Ellys Auntie/Mother and Father and how a lot of things were hinted at so that when we came to discuss the book we were left saying things like 'was it just me or did that happen?'
The range was quite split for this book with it overall averaging a 6. Looking back it was totally unrealistic but for some reason you didn't question why the rabbit talked. I think the characters saved it. Just.
PS. I was also on the lookout for a repeat of the Quiet Belief in Angels meeting. No unexpected guests turned up but you will just have to read that blog to see what happened there if you don't know what I'm on about!
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