Update – Currently Reading

So since yesterday, I started a new book. It started with an email I received from the publisher, asking how I’d liked the read, and imploring me to get my review for it in. I’ve nothing against the asking, but this caught me off guard. See, the book in question had been delayed in the US til late September. So I’ve put it off a bit as my July is littered with new releases, and I’m not a very fast reader. But I overlooked two important details. One—I didn’t check to see if it was delayed in Europe as well and—two—I’d forgotten just who granted me the review copy. I don’t get many books off Netgalley UK, but this one I did. And it’s still due out July 2 there. So I’ve shuffled a few things, and begun reading:

• The Constant Rabbit – by Jasper Fforde

If you’ve never read a Jasper Fforde book, let me tell you—they’re odd. Like, really weird. The first chapter of this involved some game called ‘Competitive Librarying’ which confused me so thoroughly that I actually just skipped the chapter. But thankfully, it appears to be just an intro hook. Albeit a massively confounding one. The Constant Rabbit is based on something that has occurred in the UK some 50 years prior, known only as “The Event”, in which 18 rabbits were anthropomorphized. Since then, there are millions of them in the UK alone, and relations between them and humans are… strained. The story seems to center on this point.

It’s okay thus far—weird, which is normal for Fforde—but it’s really coming out at a poor time. I cringe at the idea that someone’s going to compare this with the Black Lives Matter movement, because it WILL happen eventually, and it’s sure to be really insulting. Which is disappointing, as the book is most likely designed to keep you entertained, make you think, and provide some humor.