The Rabbit Back Literature Society

The Rabbit Back Literature Society Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen, Translated by Lola M Rogers 3/5	First Published in Europe 2006 U.S. Translation Publication Date Jan. 2015 First Sentence "The reader was at first surprised, then shocked, as the criminal Raskolnikov was abruptly slain in the middle of the street, right before her eyes."
Publisher's Description: Only nine people have ever been chosen by renowned children’s author Laura White to join the Rabbit Back Literature Society, an elite group of writers in the small town of Rabbit Back. Now a tenth member has been selected: a young literature teacher named Ella. Soon Ella discovers that the Society is not what it seems. What is its mysterious ritual known as "The Game"? What explains the strange disappearance that occurs at Laura White’s winter party? Why are the words inside books starting to rearrange themselves? Was there once another tenth member, before her? Slowly, as Ella explores the Society and its history, disturbing secrets that had been buried for years start to come to light. . . . In Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen’s chilling, darkly funny novel, The Rabbit Back Literature Society, praised as "Twin Peaks meets the Brothers Grimm" (The Telegraph), the uncanny brushes up against the everyday in the most beguiling and unexpected of ways.
Dear Reader, My first impression after starting The Rabbit Back Literature Society was "yes, another book about books, writing and all the bookish awesome you could think of!", I do love these. However, as interested as this book kept me, it wasn't enough to love it... only "like" it. Before I can tell you what I liked and didn't about the book, I think you need a little more background. I usually try not to go into the plot but for my opinions to be clear, you have to know the basics. Ella Amanda Milana is a substitute teacher of Finnish language and literature at the Rabbit Back school, where she finds a discrepancy in a "Crime and Punishment" edition brought to her attention by one of her students. When she return the book to the Librarian, Ingrid Katz, she inquires about the plot changes to that particular edition. The Librarian snatches the book away and tells her it must be a misprint and these things happen. Ella feels the Librarian acted strangely and decides to investigate the situation a little closer. This brings her amongst the Rabbit Black Literature Society, founded by famous Author Laura White. We also learn this society plays something called "the game" and this reveals secrets within each member. As you may notice, the plot sounds super intriguing right? Well, the book IS/WAS but the main character fell entirely flat for me. As the other characters grew around Ella, and you started to feel connected with them... you lost that connection with her. The mystery of the society, the game, the Authors, all this held my attention and kept me reading to the end, I'll give it that. I also loved when the Author introduced each new character, how they came with a revealing personal trait or story. For example, Ella with her defective ovaries or Winter getting so fat that he loses sight of his Mister Peter. I haven't yet experienced a book or Author that exposes the character before anything else. It's almost like imagining the crowd before you naked (while on stage) or maybe this is how it feels to be a part of a support group like AA?! The style is very unique and I liked how the Author also embraced this concept and embellished upon it with the societies "game". Overall, this book had some interesting style to it. This might be attributed to the cultural differences between Finland and the United States, I haven't picked up many Finnish books or maybe this is truly a style the Author is known for. I have to say, if it weren't for that little bit of uniqueness, I might have rated this book even lower. I'm not going to lie, this will be a book I'll recommend to any writer and maybe even some book lovers, the society itself is a nice magical concept that might sparkle in the eyes of those aspiring for literary greatness. The Rabbit Back Literature Society also focuses on one of my favorite concepts about art, that we create the best art when suffering and emotional, not when life is perfect. I can't knock any book that delves into that topic, but that's my personal opinion. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - This ARC was sent to me by the Publisher & BookBrowse. A shorter version of this review will be posted on BookBrowse for their "First Impressions" program. Please check out the site and consider becoming a member, I love getting the monthly updates from them.

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California

California Edan Lepucki 4.5/5	Published 2014 First Sentence "On the map, their destination had been a stretch of green, as if they would be living on a golf course."
Publisher's Description: The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable despite the isolation and hardships they face. Consumed by fear of the future and mourning for a past they can't reclaim, they seek comfort and solace in one other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant. Terrified of the unknown but unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realize this community poses its own dangers. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust. A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and irrepressible resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love.
Dear Reader, If you've been following my letters to you, I'm sure you haven't missed my excitement for this book. I'll admit it, this was brought to my radar through the great Mr. Colbert. For those of you living under a rock or who don't follow all book related news religiously (Like ME!) I'll give you a short breakdown of what has probably made Edan Lepucki a very happy debut Author. I love these kinds of stories and so this book gave me all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings, knowing that a deserving Author has been given this incredible "bump" that is usually unheard of for an unknown. Do you know about the dispute between Hachette and Amazon? If not, just read this. That should give you a nice background on what's been going on. I don't have a particular side I'm standing on here, I think these are two giant companies disputing a contract and I find the whole thing a little overdone. However, while watching Colbert one night with my boyfriend, he had Sherman Alexie on and started talking about this dispute. Obviously Colbert is going to side with Hachette (he has books published with them), so he decided to take a stand on his show and asked Sherman Alexie to pick an upcoming Hachette book to promote, claiming HE could sell more books than Amazon. Sherman selected "California" and Colbert went with it, asking the audience and viewers to go BUY the book from Powell's Books (a larger but independent bookseller that has a fantastic online site). So what happened next? California became Powell's Books number one seller and surpassed "The Silkworm"! Can't get any better than that. Yours truly bought the book from Powell's online and was surprised when it came SIGNED in the mail. I guess, Lepucki decided to give all those supporters a surprise and a thank you, and I was thrilled. Thank you Edan Lepucki, you have made a forever fan out of me. Let's get back to the important part of all of this... the BOOK! Yes, this is a truly heartwarming story which pushed "California" into the hands of many who might not have picked it up. I'm certainly glad I did because this is MY kind of book. I had such high expectations (due to the hype) and this book lived up to them, which is hard to do. I sprinted through this book, wanting to find out what happens, totally engrossed with the characters and their surroundings. I want this to be turned into a TV Show, a series, I want more, more, more! Just when you thought Dystopian books were getting old and stale, Lepucki comes from left field and hits you in the face with a totally refreshing dystopian story. I say refreshing, but I also have to stress how ADULT this book is, you won't find any youngsters here... nope, the characters are full of adult angst (not teenage). I don't have any problem with teenage angst per se, but I do find myself missing those adult problems in many of the latest genre books. I'm not sure if this is a genre book or a literary book, maybe both? What did everyone label "The Road" as? Again, digressing... let me rewind and give you a little more background about the story. "California" starts with Cal and Frida living in the woods after L.A. has completely broken down (not to mention the rest of the world). The reader isn't told much about what went down to cause Cal and Frida to flee to the woods, but we do know that things must have been pretty bad. At first, the story is really more of a psychological one, trying to get into the heads of this couple and understand them. We get asked really hard questions from Lepucki, we are lead to think about how we would react in a situation like that. The start is slow, unnerving but somewhat calm, almost like Lepucki wants you to feel comfort and get to know the characters before she throws them into the whirlwind that comes next. The next half of the book is all about the excitement and has a little more edge of your seat-ness to it. Just when you thought things couldn't get any better, they do! I don't want to go into this part of the book much because you discover many surprises along the way, which was part of the beauty of the book. I'd hate to spoil anything for you, I knew very little about the book myself before I read it and I have to say the experience was fantastic. I want you to have that same experience when you read it. I just hope the hype of the book doesn't start giving away all those little gems. Don't look at the shiny things, turn away... you'll be thankful you did. The one thing I will comment on is the connection I felt to these characters, I found myself loving their relationship... cheering them on. I wanted them to succeed in the wilderness, I wanted them to break free from all the crap and be one with nature. But can you REALLY live with only one person without getting on their nerves? That struggle between Cal and Frida was heartbreaking, you felt pangs for them when they kept a secret or when they got into a little spat. I wanted them to have that happy ending (I'm NOT telling you if that happened or not) but I just felt so connected to them. I have to admit, the love scenes had me blushing, I'm not really used to that since I don't read romance. I like that they made me realize how lovey dovey these characters are, how they aren't that married couple that loses interest. They have a very strong bond and again, I found myself in their corner cheering them on. Lepucki did an excellent job with this debut novel. I'm actually going to see her at RJ Julia later this month and I look forward to hearing what she has to say. Stay tuned, I'm sure we'll do a follow up post with all that Lepucki insight after the event! Can't wait! Happy Reading, AmberBug

Instead of supporting Self Notes, this time...  go buy the book from Powell's Books OR your local bookstore.