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Jul 08, 2017taylorwoods rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
THIS. BOOK. WAS. SO. CUTE. AND. DARK. AT. THE. SAME. TIME. Great way to start a review, right? Off the bat we are introduced to 10 year old Elvis Babbit (named after the King of course) and her family has a tradition of baking rabbit-shaped cakes for every little thing worth celebrating from birthdays to the Summer Solstice. Off the bat we learn that Elvis and her sister Lizzie's mother died tragically by drowning in her sleep- due to her sleepwalking into the lake. Lizzie also suffers from sleepwalking, which becomes a great challenge as her mental illness worsens throughout their grieving process. Meanwhile, Elvis is obsessed with trying to properly grieve her mother while at the same time understand and solve what she deems as not an accidental death. We follow Elvis and her family over the course of 18 months (the typical period it takes to grieve a lost loved one) and their challenges, adventures, and rabbit cakes made. Where the humor lies is in the quirkiness of Elvis and her quest for knowledge and her father's peculiar grieving strategies. Where it gets dark is Elvis tries to attribute many theories as to how and why her mother passed away- everything from her mother died accidentally to suicide. I really enjoyed this one for it's "indie" vibe- I would totally watch this as a film done in the style of Little Miss Sunshine or something similar to it. The focus on the character rather than the plot is a big one in this, so readers who are here for plot may be turned off by this one. Rabbit Cake is quirky, darkly humorous, spastic, and awkward and I loved it.