BOOK REVIEW: The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies Of The Apocalypse by Robert Rankin I have only one memory of when I was a baby. A rather hazy imagery, to boot- me crawling along the floor, in a nondescript room- but what remains very clear, to this day, was the tune filling the air: a nursery rhyme, in fact. To support my point, I expend no hesitance in specifying that the rhyme was “Mary had a little lamb”. It is but an inevitable side-effect of being born that at least one nursery rhyme character is ingrained into our memory. Whether or not the experience was pleasing or not- in my case, the latter- is not of the entire relevance. What matters is that we relate these nursery rhyme characters to an age and state of innocuous ignorance. Now then: welcome to Toy City, formerly recognized as Toy Town. The streets have been tainted with murder, the killer still very much at large. One by one, the old and rich nursery rhyme characters, or rather, Preadolescent Poetic Personalities, as they prefer to be called, are being slaughtered without mercy. But wait- getting ahead of myself here! Perhaps we should begin with the beginning after all, seeing as how convention works itself in that fashion. Jack, a ruddy faced lad of merely thirteen summers, sets out to seek his fortune in the big city- a common goal in which all country raised boys aspire towards at some time or another. However, after Jack deals with cannibalistic farmers, badly-trained horses and finally reaches his destination, it is, like said, Toy City, formerly known as Toy Town. Toys- despite bodies of metal, cloth and plastic- populate the area, sentient and alive. Jack, ever the rational thinker, has a hard time converting to this belief. He ends up meeting with the washed-out Eddie Bear; a not-so-cuddly teddy bear, assistant and lifelong friend to Bill Winkie, private eye- whose escapades are well known to Jack as being written fiction. Nevertheless, Jack’s concept of what exactly is fictional undergoes a massive make-over, as he seals a partnership with Eddie Bear (a very valid one, even in consideration that the parties involved were dead drunk ) and embarks on a daring chase of the murderer. (seeing as how Bill Winkie had mysteriously disappeared) This eventually leads to the spastic duo being the sole force fighting for the salvation of Toy City, while being perpetually drunk and frequently helpless. The writing style exhibited in this book is delightfully quirky- the characters all conversing in overly formal but witty speech, which makes the whole story all the more absurdly enjoyable. However, this could (perhaps) be somewhat attributed to the author’s English nativity. The book is delivered in fluid pacing and moderately advanced language. Moreover, dry humor manifests itself in many subtle jokes throughout the pages (which must be appreciated with a decent level of intelligence). There are even glimpses of parody within; in one tight situation, the protagonists are being detained in a jail cell and at a complete loss. Eddie Bear questions as to what they can do, and Jack replies that if their adventure was a detective novel, it would be about halfway done, and some twist must surely come along that gets them out of their metaphorical pickle. Surely enough, the book is halfway done, a plot twist does come along and they are released. Luckily the fourth wall is not broken (as that would degrade the humor somewhat), but rather, some enjoyable explorations of its perimeters are conducted. Do not judge the book as merely one big joke, though- despite its whimsical nature the novel includes many interesting and substantial plot twists and turns, delivered tastefully with just the right amount of suspense. The book takes one-third sci-fi novel, one-third crime novel and one-third children’s bedtime story and stirs crazily all of them in a big pot of feverish silliness. The result is a tome that at best captivates, and at least, entertains. The characters are outstanding and vastly enjoyable to read about. Eddie Bear and his various quirks - he cannot use corroborative nouns, so throughout the story, when he tries to describe something, he will for example say “As wonderful as” but then stops there. Eddie Bear also continually gripes about not having opposable thumbs as it makes everything difficult to do; Jack has his love of fast driving, resulting in several narrowly missed crashes. Also, Jack is regularly referred to by the different toys of the city (who all are creatively thought up) as a “gormster” a mild insult for an idiot/ dumb person. Although the book does incorporate some adult themes (Jack and Eddie once visit a brothel for “information retrieval”) there are no explicit scenarios included, instead the author uses these mature themes to conjure up humorous situations. (As a mild example, Eddie Bear has to stand on his head when drinking alcohol because his insides are filled with sawdust and only his legs would get drunk if he drank the normal way!) However, you would notice the italic rendering of the word “explicit”. This is to stress that although the book is not really explicit, neither is it entirely child-friendly. (A quick example is that there are repeated references to the chest proportions of a dolly) Although the book can read very much like a furiously penned result of sugar rush or perhaps a mad toymaker’s dream, it is a fresh breath of literature when compared to the usual, overly serious and under-inspired fantasy novels that are now so steadfastly spawning. One flaw to this book is that it frequently appears rather jumbled and quite loosely decided, and is likely to have a somewhat limited appeal. All in all, to the observer with slightly eccentric humor and the open-minded individual: The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies Of The Apocalypse is the remedy to stuffy elven fables and cliché’ sci-fi stories; echoing Eddie Bear’s own words, a book truly as splendid as! RATING= 4.0/5
I just got this from the library, and I love it so far, but I'm not reading your review for fear of spoilers. >.< Seriously though, this book is awesome so far. (It's as awesome as!)
It is pretty fun, isn't it? I did try to restrain from spoiling, but if your fear truly overcomes you then maybe you could drop by again and offer some comments (like whether the review is effective) after you've finished the book? That would be appreciated.
