Kai loves Saffie. And rabbits. Will this be enough to prevail over the chaotic background of poverty and his parents' addiction?

Set on a council estate in rural Somerset, King of Rabbits is told in dual timeline, and follows Kai as child and teenager. The well-crafted structure drives the story to its riveting conclusion.

The solace and wonder Kai finds in nature is brought to dreamy life with imagery reminiscent of Seamus Heaney’s ‘The Death of a Naturalist’, and form a bittersweet counterpoint to the protagonist's dire circumstances.

Every character is authentic. Those who let Kai down never become stereotypical villains. Instead, they are weak—succumbing to their addictions when they could be giving Kai the care he so deserves—and they are just as likely to dispense life-building wisdom. Equally, the one adult constant in Kai’s life, Nanny Sheila, has her own foibles. This said, Leah's characterisation initially comes across as a little too idealised.

Neblett’s writing is compelling. She balances tragedy with humour, and demonstrates great insight and compassion. The Somerset vernacular is refreshing to see in print, and a welcome inclusion for this West Country (UK) reviewer.

This is an adult book which I see (if anyone has any sense) being incorporated into school curricula.

A powerful, moving debut.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone.for the ARC.

This debut novel is not an easy read. An autobiographical statement by the author, Karla Neblett, and issued by her publishers, confirms that Kai is an amalgam of many school children she has supported in her first career, children who struggled with behavioural issues and addiction and children who were young carers, and her comprehensive experience and empathy shine through in this novel. Across two timelines – 2004 and approximately a decade earlier – we get to know Kai, a mixed-race boy who lives in a troubled household on a tough council estate in Somerset. Kai and his three sisters tread a daily tightrope through an environment marred with neglect, violence, and their parents’ drink and drug issues. Kai finds solace in caring for the school rabbit and is proud to be his age group’s fastest runner, but can this be enough to protect him from his dysfunctional surroundings? Several scenes on the earlier timeline, describing Kai at the age of around five, were shocking to me as a fellow parent, and it is to the author’s credit that she can depict a fictional household so vividly that you want vehemently to protect the children at its core. A compelling family study that will not leave you, even though you may have closed the book. Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for the ARC they have provided in return for this honest and unbiased review.

Thanks to Netgalley I received an ARC copy of this book.

Kai lives in a mixed race, dysfunctional family on a council estate. They story is told in two parts, Kai as a small child and as a teenager. Watching his mum and dad fight against each other as well as the pull of drug addiction, the way grown ups act around a small child and suffering great loss we see how these events and behaviours shape Kai into the young adult he is. Can his love of the outdoors, the rabbits and his beloved nanny Sheila be enough to save him from following the path of his parents?

Such a sad, sad read. Sometimes uncomfortable and definitely thoughtful, there are lots of moments to reflect upon. I felt so, so sorry for Kai and his sisters which was made worse knowing that this is the way of life for a lot of youngsters even now.

It seems wrong to say I enjoyed something with such a hard to read content but I did and would still recommend.

This is an ambitious novel by a first time writer which covers some challenging subject matter. It is up to the reader to decide how much of it works. The central character, Kai, exists in two parallel narratives. One is set in the past when he was around six years old and the other, slightly confusingly, in 2004 but intended to be when he is a teenager.

At age six, he enjoys life as a whirlwind young boy. He has a friend called Saffie, a big sister called Leah and a seriously dysfunctional home background the extent of which he is largely unaware of. As the novel goes on, Kai slowly comes to realise that his father is a thief and a crack addict while his mother is also a drug user and a drunk. There are other worse things about this deprived family background which gradually unfold or which Kai discovers. It’s not a good environment to grow up in.

Alongside this is a narrative about the teenage Kai who is increasingly in trouble in school while his personal life and relationships are on a downward slide. The only redeeming feature is his grandmother, Sheila, who tries to mitigate the worst effects of his upbringing. The book ends badly for Kai, his childhood friend and his parents.

One of the challenges for this narrative is to paint a picture of a seriously deprived home with dysfunctional adults without it becoming either a caricature or a polemic. By and large, the book succeeds. Kai’s parents are not evil but simply incompetent, weak willed and easily led. You can see how his father has drifted into a life of crime, unsavoury friendships and a downward spiral of drink and drugs. His mother loves her children and wants to provide for them but she certainly finds it difficult – and probably impossible. Along the way, the father’s partner in crime, Denner, is a really nasty piece of work!

In the later narrative, there is a sense that what happens to Kai is the consequence of his early life and it is hard to avoid the notion that this is seen as a kind of inevitable determinism. There simply isn’t a way out for Kai which can save him. There’s a kind of weakness here as more and more bad things happen in the early life narrative so that you come to expect the same to happen to the teenager.

All this makes for a fairly sombre read but the authenticity of the narrative draws you in even if it leaves you hopeless about the state in which many young people find themselves. It also might encourage readers to be more sympathetic and try to understand where today’s young people find themselves without being too judgemental. It’s an impressive debut.

I'm sorry I could not finish this, I think I need to give this another go before I am able to review it properly. I do find that if I'm not enjoying a book, it could be the fact that the space and time that I am in is not conducive to the novel rather than faulting the author.
Thank you netgalley for the opportunity and I will come back to it at a later time.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

Kai lives in a mixed-race family on a rural council estate in Somerset where he and his three older sisters have three different dads, and his mum is being led into crack addiction by his petty-thief father. He idolises his dad, adores his friend Saffie and the school rabbit Flopsy, and is full of ambition to be the fastest runner in Middledown Primary. He and Saffie build a secret world of friendship in the school garden. But Kai's natural optimism, imagination and energy run up against adult behaviour he doesn't understand: his parents' on-and-off romance, his dad's increasing addiction and the limitations of poverty. Despite the people who try to look out for him, notably his loving Nanny Sheila and his big sister Leah, Kai's life drifts towards a tragedy from which it is hard for him to recover. The refuge he seeks in his love of nature, and the wild rabbits who have made their burrows in the woods, may not be refuge enough.

Karla Neblett has created a vivid language that is both crafted and raw to tell a story of class, race and how our society fails working class young men.

NO SPOILERS

It has been very difficult to write this review without spoilers but here is my best effort.

First, I will say, read this book. It will break your heart but the moon will shine brighter for it.

Next I will try. Initially I was interested in reading King of Rabbits because like the main character, Kai, I am mixed-race (mixed-heritage is a much better term) but that aspect of his life has little bearing in the book. Rabbits, though…that grabbed me. The publisher’s description tells you all you need to know about the story…and I did realise early on what the tragedy would be but the twist towards the end caught me unaware.

Neblett alternates the chapters between then and now. “Now” is written in the first person with Kai being fifteen years old. “Then” is written in the third person when Kai was five and six yet the narration is written completely with a child’s perspective, understanding and language. It is, frankly, brilliant. The story is so all consuming, the style so effortless to read that it is easy to miss just how skilled a writer Neblett is.

Last I will say again, read this book; it WILL break your heart but the moon WILL shine brighter for it.


Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK, Cornerstone for the complimentary copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Kai is a delightful character who loves nature, particularly rabbits, and has an imaginary world he shares with Saffie his best friend. However, he has a lot to contend with - his mother and father are both drug addicts and his father is a criminal who eventually goes to prison. Kai kicks off at school and relies on his big (half) sister Leah and his grandma, Nanny Sheila for consolation and refuge for his tumultuous life. His hopeful, innocent young life is told in alternate chapters to the present when things have actually got worse for him. He still has hope when his girlfriend gets pregnant and he imagines the love he will bestow on his daughter - but reality kicks in and for Kai can there ever be a happy ending?
This is a poignant story which I enjoyed very much.

Rating: 4.0/5

This is a moving and impressive debut from Karla Neblett.

The book operates across two timelines - late 2004 and an initially unspecified time, some years earlier. The novel's protagonist is Kai, a young boy of mixed race background, living in council accommodation with his unmarried parents and three elder sisters, each with different fathers. The household is a troubled one. Kai's parents both have their own issues with drink and drugs and there are regular tensions and arguments.

The narrative alternates between the two time frames. In the earlier one we learn that Kai is 5-6 years old, whereas in the later period he is 15. The author does a very effective job of creating narratives and atmospheres that suitably evoke the situation and circumstances surrounding Kai at these two distinct stages of his life. The sections relating to the younger Kai are particularly well handled. Reading these chapters it is impossible not to be drawn into young Kai's world and to recognise / remember just how impressionable children are at that age and how open they can be to the influence of their rôle models ... no matter how far from ideal those rôle models may be.

The social and domestic scenes that Karla Neblett describes are sometimes quite shocking, but there is still warmth and affection, in spite of the characters' relationships not complying with broader society's accepted norms. There are observations that will raise smiles and maybe even a few chuckles, but there are also others that will cause anger, frustration and perhaps a dampening of the eyes.

"King of Rabbits" doesn't always make for comfortable reading, but it is compelling ... and you should read it.