Well, I am on a winter vacation (I know, 1 week after the holiday break, yeesh)… I have the wonderful opportunity of being able to write my posts from a beautiful cottage kitchen looking out at a spectacular winter view. So peaceful… Here, have a look:
Hollow Chocolate Bunnies is a twisted, perverse, and violent, interpretation of the “real” lives of toys and nursery rhyme characters in the city where they cohabitate, rightly named “Toy City”. I decided to read it when it was recommended by someone in our office.
The book is about a young boy named Jack who travels a long way to find the big city, where he hopes to make his fortune and start a new life. To his surprise, the city is actually “Toy City” and its citizens are nothing like him or anything he expected. Toy City’s population is made up of toys, nursery rhyme characters, and a few humans affectionately called “gormsters”. Immediately after his arrival in the city he meets Eddie Bear; a walking, talking, drunken teddy bear that is also the assistant to a famous detective named Bill Winkie (who has gone missing). Jack is thrown into a murder case involving the rich elite of the city; the nursery rhyme characters. One by one a mysterious killer is plucking them off in grotesque, ironic, and funny (I must admit) ways. It’s up to Eddie and Jack to find and stop the killer before it’s too late (and before the offer of reward money is retracted of course!).
The first ¼ of the book was fantastic. There is action right away and you feel like you’re in for a wild ride. It’s dirty and disturbing, but also hilarious. I wouldn’t normally pick up sci-fi for fear that I have to immerse myself in a world that goes way beyond the story in the book. You know, the ones that leave you feeling inadequate to discuss because there are enough supplements and online communities to write a seven part series on the types of toilet paper the characters use. But I digress… (Grey Poupon anyone?) Truthfully, I thought this book would be a good choice because of its incorporation of the classic nursery rhyme characters that most people are already familiar with. It’s just a perverted, adult nursery rhyme.
To say this book wasn’t good isn’t fair, because I found it to be extremely creative and also appealing to the sinful side we all have. But beyond that, it was kind of boring. The middle of the story drags on, which I find incredibly irritating when I’m reading. I feel like my time is being wasted and a story that could have been good is watered down with empty content. Give me a shorter book, not filler. Honestly, after you get past the initial shock value of the story, you aren’t left with much. Even the title is a letdown. Hollow Chocolate Bunnies are only a small part of the story, and not in the way you expect. I personally was looking forward to the idea of some punk chocolate bunnies with a bone to pick. The cover sort of leads you to believe this with the cute chocolate bunnies with piercings and wearing motorcycle jackets. (I know, I know… don’t judge a book by its cover!) I suppose I will have write “Badass Chocolate Bunnies” myself… Just kidding (maybe)…
This book was just OK. I found myself hating it as soon as I finished it, but now that I am taking a step back and thinking about it, it had some good moments and certainly wasn’t the worst thing I have ever read. I probably wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, but I’m not sorry that I read it.
Book Information
Title: The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
Author: Robert Rankin
Year of publication: 2003
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Pages: 352
Awards: SFX Magazine Best Novel Award (2003)
Purchased at: Barnes & Noble (Prudential Center, Boston, MA)
Rating: 3.5/5
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