I not that big of a fan of Fforde's, however I 've always enjoyed his witty and distinctive writing style; "The Constant Rabbit" is intriguing, engaging, timely and satirical.

I love all of Jasper Fforde's books and this one did not disappoint. You have to wonder where he gets his ideas from! The Constant Rabbit is set in a world where due to an 'event' 55 years ago, Rabbits are now supposedly equal to humans. They walk on two legs, drive cars, have jobs and can speak. It is a very strange concept and I felt I had to keep reading to find out more about how this came about and what was going to happen next!
I particularly liked the scene at the beginning where due to government cuts, libraries now have 6 minutes a week that they can open for! The description of how that works was pure genius!

Peter (human) and Constance (rabbit) were at university together before Constance was evicted due to protests about rabbits being allowed to do what humans can do. They are reconnected when Constance and her family move into the village. However, not everyone is happy about this and in a style reminiscent of Brexit, there are plans to have them evicted!

I am definitely impressed with how Jasper can keep his ideas going and make them believable and I really enjoyed reading this book and trying to get my head around how this would work in our world! He has a wonderful way with words and paints a scene so well!

A world with human-like rabbits is quite exhausting but there as a lot of very funny details. It's a good story that's funny but also has themes of equality, justice and humanity to think about. 😍📖😍

Following an anthropomorphising event there are human-sized rabbits (along with some other animals) living in the UK. Not all humans are happy about this, including the UKARP (The UK Anti Rabbit Party) and, some of the residents of the village of Much Hemlock when the Rabbit family move in.

I was a little unsure of the concept to begin with and it took me a while to get into the book, but I enjoyed all the little details of the world building in this book. The novel begins with a section on library opening hours which was extremely witty. The Constant Rabbit is very much a political satire and is funny, clever and entertaining. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either.

Before I forget, I want to give a huge thank you to both NetGalley and Hodder & Staughton for providing me with the opportunity to read the E-ARC of The Constant Rabbit.

The Constant Rabbit, is a funny, sartirical, hopefilled, emotionally touching but distinctly funny stand alone book by Jasper Fforde. This is my first glimpse of his world and it definitely won't be the last.

The book is set place in a world where The Event took place on 12 August 1965, this was a purported global (albeit hushed up,) phenomenom where Rabbits (and other animals,) undergo a metamorphasis into beings with human consciousness, ability to speak, read books, drive cars and essentially (except in the worst ways,) become human like.

The book doesn't shy away from the cuts and downturns of public finances that have become common place in our world today, it embraces them with a hugely entertaining satire on library and government cuts at the start of the book and proceeds on to swipe at Brexit, far right politics, current society and thinking and most importantly racism and sheer prejudice.

There are some laugh out loud characters in this book, terrifying but funny facsimiles of real life characters that both enterntain and disturb, plus sex, carrots and a few cucumber sandwiches.

Overall, without ruining the plot I would recommend picking this up, particularly if you've ever been an admirer of the Caramel Bunny or Bugs Bunny!

A fascinating, entertaining, and overall quirky read (just as you'd expect from this author) - it was really interesting, with a very well thought through 'world', and rabbit lifestyle and belief system; plus the utterly predictable action of humans and politics. A great read.

Being a huge fan of the Thursday Net series and I always read the new Jasper when they arrive, even if sometime a little cautiously, Some of his recent novels, while undoubtedly well-written, haven;t always been to my taste. This new one is superb. At his best Fforde counterbalances the absurd and surreal against the ordinary and mundane. He performs that trick here to stunning effect. It doesn't harm that I'm a big rabbit lover either!

I loved this book. Probably the most original story I have read in years - maybe even ever. Lately every book I read is either historical fiction set in the underbelly of 17th century or 18th century or Victorian England or yet another crime thriller or police procedural. And then there are the psychological thrillers with a twist you never saw coming. Yes we did because we've already read about a hundred of them. I'm not saying some of them aren't edge-of-the-seat brilliant but there is a limit and I joined NetGalley in the hope that I might get to read something unique. And I just have. It won't be everyone's cup of tea (or should I say dandelion brandy - see below) but it's definitely mine.

So here we go. The concept that rabbits have been anthropomorphised during an unexplained 'Event' and now live side by side with humans seems ridiculous, ludicrous and crazy and initially I struggled with it. I say initially - probably for about five minutes. But then it got better and better with little nuggets of comic genius thrown in every now and again from things like Doc and Constance distilling their own exceptional (and strong) dandelion brandy in the cellar to rabbits watching The Great Escape as they naturally adore films about digging tunnels. In fact there are so many references and homages to books and films, I can't remember them all.

Peter Knox - a very boring middle-aged man - whose wife left him because he was (yes you guessed it) too boring lives in Much Hemlock with his grown up daughter Pippa. Peter is a rabbit Spotter. To most people they all look the same but Peter has the ability to spot the differences and so works undercover doing just that, but pretending to be an accountant. Then one day he bumps into Connie - an old friend from university. Except Connie is a bunny (bunny is now used as a derogatory term for a rabbit). Because of his 'gift' he recognises her after 30 years. When she and her third husband Doc (rabbits often have a short life-span so multiple marriages are common) move in next door with their two children Bobby (Roberta like in The Railway Children) and Kent. Peter must now decide whose side he is on. Some of it is hilarious but this isn't just some silly bunny story.

The Constant Rabbit is a serious insight into the human condition and how it will take another so-called 'lower species' to make us realise who we really are and what we have done to this earth. It uncovers the hidden racism and the not-so-hidden hatred of anyone who is different. They'll take over and then where will we be? It says a lot about our society and many people may even recognise themselves as marginally leporiphobic. I even cried at the end though I can't say why without spoilers. And I laughed out loud many times throughout the book. 

Please read it. I know it's weird and bonkers at times but it really is worth it. Many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't think any other author would be able to pull of this book, it is Jasper Fforde through and through. This book was darkly funny whilst also addressing real world problems of xenophobia but in the form of rabbits. This is definitely a must read this year!

This is an at times funny, clever satire which encompasses several issues in a very different and entertaining way. On 12th August 1965 The Event occurred, a strange phenomenon which led to 18 rabbits morphing into semi human shapes. They did what rabbits do and these anthropomorphised rabbits spread into large colonies. However, rabbits talking rabbity are not to be tolerated, they are undesirable according to UKARP (The UK Anti Rabbit Party) and Prime Minister Nigel Smethwick, surprise winner of the 2012 snap election. Our narrator is Peter Knox who lives in Much Wenlock in Hertfordshire. Peter is a Rabbit Spotter, a rabbit intelligence officer working for RabCot (Rabbit Compliance Force), somewhat reluctantly it has to be said!

I love the start of the book which satirises local government spending cuts with libraries being open for six minutes precisely which is timed and strictly enforced. Nigel Smethwicks party is a thinly disguised swipe at a now defunct right wing political party and its leader. For Brexit we have Rabxit and far right groups with a propensity to thuggery are TwoLegsGood. Although the book does have its light side and there are many moments where I laughed out loud, it does present a darker side of both politics and human nature. It presents racism and racial bias but in a very different way. We have conflict and outrage as Mrs Constance Rabbit (a friend of Peter’s briefly from university days) and her family move into Much Wenlock to the dismay of villagers not least because they are up for the village Spick and Span award! The book is not always subtle but some points do hit the mark and make you think. It’s original, different, I like the acerbic wit and that the Rabbits take a stand led by the Venerable Bunty. Some of the humour is definitely cheesy and at times I confess to thinking of Aardman’s The Curse of the Were-rabbit of Wallace and Gromit fame! I love the ending especially as it made UKARP irrelevant!

So, if you want something different, a bit unusual and entertaining with a portion of Wensleydale served with a side salad (to include dandelion leaves) for the rabbits to enjoy, then this book is for you!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the entertaining ARC.

I hadn’t read a Jasper Fforde book before this one, so I didn’t really know what to expect. The blurb is that it’s a novel set in a world where rabbits are lifesize, and (some of) the incumbent humans aren’t terribly happy about it. 

Peter Knox is a boring, grey man in the little village of Much Hemlock, who are very much looking forward to winning the Spick & Span Award this year. The story opens in the midst of the regular library hours, open every fortnight for six minutes, in an attempt to be efficient and keep the libraries open.  With friends and family working for the library service in the UK, this was both a comical representation of the absurdity of the contradictory nature of our government in real life - paying lip service to keeping services running, while simultaneously carving them to the bone, and a slightly arch introduction to the type of village this is. 

The plot clips along nicely, and we are soon introduced to Peter’s life in more detail - his daughter, brought up by him alone as his wife left him because he was too boring, his covert government job as a rabbit spotter, covered by explaining that he is a low level accountant. Living side by side with anthropomorphic rabbits brings its own challenges, and Fforde is really good at introducing elements one after the other, layering the nuances and building the narrative to a rousing crescendo. For example, explaining that in the Event, the night when a handful of rabbits grew and began to talk, there were three types of rabbit affected: Labstock, Petstock and Wildstock, and within those strands, there were biases and alliances. It’s a complex idea but well communicated, and I soon found that I was pretty comfortable with a world where rabbits are 6foot tall and part of the general population. Oh yes, and Peter’s a rabbit spotter because it’s hard to tell them apart and they refused to get a brand or a tattoo. 

This last point is one of the reasons some of the book was a bit uncomfortable for me. The metaphor is thinly veiled, at best, and sometimes it feels less like Fforde is trying to make a point about how our society is not very far away, and more that he is sitting pretty in his comfy white male chair, chuckling at the absurdity of a world which sanctions rabbits against digging burrows. I get it - the parallels between rabbits being unfairly penalised and imprisoned for minor crimes and misdemeanors when humans wouldn't get the same treatment, are clearly drawn. I didn’t feel enough condemnation for this, personally. 

The bits I most enjoyed were Peter Knox’s character arc, his realisation that his job was not compatible with his beliefs, and the attention to detail in describing how the rabbits live - that they follow the Beatrix Potter aesthetic, have a vegan diet and distil potent dandelion wine. That they settle their irregular disagreements with duels which are rarely to the death but nevertheless with pistols and more often that not, at dawn.

I think I’d be interested in reading more of Jasper Fforde - wikipedia describes his work as sci-fi rather than mainly satirical, so perhaps it’s a tone of voice that is so different to the books I’ve read lately, it’s worth reading another one. I did enjoy it and certainly didn't take my time getting through it, so it was compelling enough! If anyone has any recommendations on their favourite Fforde, please feel free to let me know.

This is without doubt a very original and well written book. Whilst it will suit some readers im sorry to say it wasn't a story I could get to grips with. I persevered with for a while but eventually gave up.

This is such a funny book as I have come to expect from Jasper Fforde. His clever observations are spot on and very cutting and close to the bone sometimes. His witticisms are just pitch perfect and you find yourself spontaneously laughing out loud quite frequently. Aside from all the laughs this book is a modern day fable with a story to tell and is a really great read. And the fact that some of the main characters are rabbits just doesn’t seem to matter unless of course your ‘leporiphobic’.

It is England, 2020 and there are 1.2 million human-sized rabbits living in the UK. They can walk, talk and drive cars, the result of an Inexplicable Anthropomorphising Event fifty-five years ago. A family of rabbits move to the village of Much Hemlock and no sooner have they arrived the villages decide they need to leave. However Mrs Constance Rabbit is having none of it and along with a few of their human friends decides to make a stand.

I have always enjoyed Jasper Ffordes writing and this book was no exception. Whilst reading this book I could not help but draw parallels with tensions in this country leading to Brexit albeit this time we are talking about rabbits and foxes against humans. I would recommend this book to all who enjoy a good story with a difference.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

I always enjoy Jasper Fforde's unusual imagination and penchant for satire and this was no exception. The premise - of a world where rabbits were inexplicably anthropomorphised in the 1960s - seems ludicrous but, bizarrely, works. Fforde has come up with lots of humorous details on rabbit culture, a satire on current UK politics, a bit of self-mocking as well as a very meta passage where the novel basically discusses its own relevance.

The world created here was really easy to get into (especially compared with Early Riser, which I found incomprehensible for the first 50 pages), though much as I enjoyed the opening 'Buchblitz' section I didn't see its relevance apart from as a way to get the main two characters to meet. My other criticism is that the book never really felt like it reached a point of crisis and was resolved quite quickly at the end without 'major peril'.

If you are a supporter of a certain far right party you probably won't appreciate this, but if you enjoy an imaginative flight of fancy taken to an extreme degree you should enjoy spending some time in the alternative United Kingdom Fforde has created.

What an absolute triumph! Mr Fforde has done it again. Just as you’d expect from any of his offerings, The Constant Rabbit is at times incredibly clever, laugh out loud funny, scarily astute and totally nails the social commentary albeit from the point of view of giant anthropomorphised rabbits. Love the geographical references too, especially as I know the areas well. Another masterpiece and a joy to read.

I'm a big fan of Jasper Ffordes 'Thursday Next' series and so relished the opportunity to read his new novel 'The Constant Rabbit'. The concept was great - anthropomorphized animals becoming sentient and looking to live within the confines of the UK. The world building was great, especially with the small 'mundane' details of day-to-day life for a rabbit in these times. The language used was a little tough to comprehend at the start (lots of abbreviations) which loses the novel a star for me but once you get past the first 3rd it becomes second nature. Finally, for me, I found the satire to be a little to on the nose - very Little Britain mentality which frustrates me in general as i'm very much a global citizen so that strikes another point for me. Altogether, another good novel from Jasper Fforde and one i'd recommend for fans.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:
England, 2020.
There are 1.2 million human-sized rabbits living in the UK.
They can walk, talk and drive cars, the result of an Inexplicable Anthropomorphising Event fifty-five years ago.
And a family of rabbits is about to move into Much Hemlock, a cosy little village where life revolves around summer fetes, jam-making, gossipy corner stores, and the oh-so-important Best Kept Village awards.
No sooner have the rabbits arrived than the villagers decide they must depart. But Mrs Constance Rabbit is made of sterner stuff, and her family are behind her. Unusually, so are their neighbours, long-time residents Peter Knox and his daughter Pippa, who soon find that you can be a friend to rabbits or humans, but not both.
With a blossoming romance, acute cultural differences, enforced rehoming to a MegaWarren in Wales, and the full power of the ruling United Kingdom Anti Rabbit Party against them, Peter and Pippa are about to question everything they'd ever thought about their friends, their nation, and their species.
It'll take a rabbit to teach a human humanity . . .

NO SPOILERS

Although I have never before read Jasper Fforde, I am aware of his popularity and renowned wit, so I was eager to read The Constant Rabbit, but, I'm sorry, I found this book totally lacking in humour. To find any humour in bigotry, prejudice, racism, segregation takes some doing. I can see what Fforde was trying to do but in my opinion, this book does not work at all. I guess leporine apartheid simply is not funny and this approach is too frivolous; personally, I think it shows a lack of empathy.

The Constant Rabbit was my first Jasper Fforde as his is not my preferred genre and I doubt I will attempt any more. Others may well love him but he’s just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the Advanced Reader Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

England 2020. There are 1.2 million human-sized rabbits living in the UK, after The Event, 50 years ago. Peter Knox lives quietly in one of those small country villages that’s up for the Village Garden of the Year award. Until Doc and Constance Rabbit move in next door, upsetting the locals (many of them members of governing political party United Kingdom Against Rabbit Population), complicating Peter’s job as a Rabbit Spotter, and forcing him to take a stand, moving from unconscious leporiphobe to active supporter of the UK’s amiable and peaceful population of anthropomorphised rabbits.

The Constant Rabbit is a wonderfully witty, satirical novel. I found myself laughing out loud at some parts of the story, mostly at anything to do with governing bodies, financing and structures within organisations. The novel opens on a military-like strategy of the local villagers to borrow and return library books during the six minutes the library is allowed to be open, due to cuts, whilst two Library Compliance Officers time to make sure there are no infringements. I thoroughly enjoyed this beginning.

The novel has more important themes, than just government cuts and spending. The village Peter lives in is the stereotypical, idyllic English village but with a hidden darkness. The locals are appalled at the ‘outsiders’ coming to their village. They try to buy and push the Rabbits out, at village and at government level, as they try to move all Rabbits into a compound of their creation where they will be put to work, all the while stating it is “for their own good”. The racial connotations to this novel are highlighted in a brilliant way. It asks questions about reparation and unconscious racism and bias and ridicules those who have such extreme beliefs.

Peter Knox narrates this story, and there’s a sense of confusion to the way the story is told, as he is pushed into a situation he tries to avoid. I liked his character, as well as the Rabbits who tried to show him a different point of view.

I did find that it was not an easy book to first get into but once I got used to the world and the language I flew through the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced reading copy of this book.

How I love Jasper Fforde and his original, offbeat, clever fiction. I’ve waited in vain for a new Nursery Detectives book, his noiresque nursery rhyme crime novels, read every single one of his utterly inspired Thursday Next books as well as his children’s and other stand alone books. Basically, a new Jasper Fforde book is a celebration day in this household, so I was, as you can imagine, thrilled to be approved for an earc of his new standalone The Constant Rabbit.

The premise is this: approximately 50 years before the novel takes place An Event happens and a handful of animals are anthropomorphised. These include several rabbits who, being rabbits even if they are now six foot and intelligent, proceed to multiply rapidly. Now England has a sizeable minority population of rabbits, very much second class citizens, regarded with suspicion and downright loathing, denied basic rights even as they fulfil many menial jobs. Sound familiar? Of course it does, because this absurd comedy is a brilliant satire of Brexit Britain, the Windrush scandal, UKIP, Little Englanders, racism and hypocrisy.

Peter lives in an idyllic village of conservative with a small C middle Englishness, with his daughter Pippa. He would describe himself as not having a problem with rabbits, partly thanks to an intense friendship at university with Connie, one of the few rabbits admitted to higher ed. But he works for the Rabbit Compliance Taskforce, nominally there to help the rabbit population, but with a much more sinister remit. Deep down he is aware of his own passive hypocrisy, whilst concentrating on his salary and pension, keeping his head down. But when Connie re enters his life and he realises just how malign the Taskforce’s plans are for the rabbits, he has to decide who he is once and for all.

This is a really thought provoking read, the grittiness of the moral dilemmas brought sharply to life by the humour and concept and moments of very real menace. Satire doesn’t come much more biting than this. Highly highly recommended.