Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

3 reviews

namizaela's review against another edition

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dark sad tense

3.75

This book is undeniably brilliant. Through a cast of intriguing characters, a non-linear and unconventional storytelling method, and fascinating commentaries on violence at the intersection of gender and class, I feel like this novel was as much a manifesto as it was a story.
However, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I admired it. There were some parts, such as the storyline about Moses, that felt too underdeveloped to make an impact on the whole story. I think this novel would have been more compelling if it had focused entirely on Blandine, her roommates, and James. I still enjoyed reading about the side characters, but I viewed them more as a distraction. Additionally, this is just my personal preference, but some of the dialogue in the book felt extremely unrealistic, as if the author was just using the characters as mouthpieces for conflicts of different schools of ideas. The particular conversation I'm thinking of is
the last confrontation between James and Blandine
, which I felt devolved into more of an academic debate than an actual conversation. It took away some of the immersion of the novel at the cost of introducing some great ideas, so it wasn't all bad.
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ashar_allaire's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I have mixed feelings about this book. I listened to it as an audio book, which I made it hard for me to keep track of all the characters and loose threads. That being said, I am sure I would've DNFed this in physical form because some chapters were over an hour long. I loved the story, and I found each character interesting, I just found myself being like "Wait, what? Who is talking? What's happening?" way too much. 
The end of this book is predictable by design, but I still found it anticlimactic. James never confesses, and Joan never felt fleshed out enough for it to end with her. The reason the sacrifices continued was never clear to me. It felt like I had to suspend my disbelief quite a bit as it was a clunky plot point at best. I am also not sure why the older couple or Hope were included, but maybe I just missed something there.

I genuinely did love this book overall and the opening chapter was the most beautiful opening chapter I have ever read. The prose is unique and powerful. I would recommend it with the warning that it is dense and difficult to keep track of at times.
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horourke's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

3.0

“I am so sick…of violence against women disguised as validation.” 

I wish I enjoyed this book more than I did. I was captivated by the prose and Gunty’s mastery of telling the story from multiple perspectives. The book was often darkly funny and filled with powerful passages about the human condition. Gunty wrote exceptionally vibrant and believable characters and brought each to life fully. Despite the (mostly) 3rd person narration, we can discern the characters’ feelings, thoughts and motivations. With multiple points of view, Gunty crafts a tale of people whose lives are interconnected, whether they realize it or not. However, I agree with the criticism that some characters’ stories were less central to the plot (Hope and her husband, mainly) and wish the final reveal of what happened to Blandine on that hot summer night was more dramatic; it felt almost like a throwaway, described in full only about 20 pages before the novel’s ending. 

I think my main issue with the book is the amount of truly deplorable men in it. At it’s core, this is a novel about a bunch of weird losers who torture and ridicule young girls to compensate for their own insecurity. James Yager absolutely disgusted me, and I found myself annotating every chapter dedicated to his story with notes on how much of a pathetic creep he is. Nearly everyone in this book makes themselves out to be the victim, except for Blandine, who is the only true victim. While relatable and indicative of the lived experiences of maligned women, it was a tough read. 

I found the author’s commentary on capitalism, depression, and connection very interesting. Many of the characters described feeling as though life “isn’t real,” and the novel does an excellent job of painting the town of Vacca Vale as a kind of purgatory. The first epigraph about rabbits is eerily foreshadowing for the content of the novel, and I constantly returned to it throughout. It does a great job of summing up key motifs: isolation, chaos, violence of insecure males, feeling trapped, etc. I would’ve loved for these themes to be explored more in depth, especially toward the end of the book; I wish it was more about human connection and less about abused women. 
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