The Waterstone’s 11: When God was a Rabbit

The Waterstone’s 11 is a list of 11 books by 11 debut authors which will be released in 2011. Books that they think are worth reading. They’ve provided a sample from each book on their website, and I’m going to read every one.

The first is When God was a Rabbit- Sarah Winman

Synopsis

WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT is an incredibly exciting debut from an extraordinary new voice in fiction. Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape their everyday lives. It is a story about childhood and growing up, loss of innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love and life. Stripped down to its bare bones, it’s about the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.

Thoughts from synopsis

This sounds quite interesting. I’m a bit up and down about family saga type novels, if they are done well they can be really good, but sometimes they can drag a bit. I like that it sounds like it will be a bit more interesting that some family sagas and that it may have heart in it

Thoughts from sample

Wow that is a lot to happen in 20 pages. I liked it but felt like the writer was trying to keep the plot going with lots of events rather than the bits in-between, after a while that might get to much. Having said that it made me laugh, and I can imagine that it could make me cry when I feel more in-touch with the characters. I liked the tone, pretty easy to read and engage with, at the beginning at least it reminded me a little of Middlesex, it had a similar tone and it sounded like the topic could even be similar. I certainly would be interested in reading more, if not all of it.