Rated as "Indifferent" on old book database. ( )

Exactly why is it called Rabbit factory. Is it because of all the sex in this book. Larry Brown is an excellent writer. I've read everyone of his books. Miss you. ( )

I really did not like this book at all. One reason is just due to my own taste, and the other is more intrinsic to the book.
As for my taste: For me to really enjoy a book, there needs to be at least one or two characters that I really like. Sympathetic, appealing, likable people that you might want to be friends with if they were real. This book didn't have that. It has a vast array of characters, and almost all of them are miserable, a good many of them criminal, and most of what happens to them is miserable too. The character with the most appeal to me was Arthur, an old man suffering from erectile dysfunction, who knows his much younger wife is cheating on him because he can't satisfy her anymore. But he was about as close to likable as anyone got. Anjalee, the prostitute, was somewhat sympathetic as well.
Now the problem inherent in the book: There are many different story lines going on, with a huge cast of characters. What kept me going through all the misery was largely waiting to see how all these stories would be tied together in the end. Spoiler alert: They're not! Essentially, Rabbit Factory is a collection of short stories, in which the author chopped all his stories up, and made you read them all at once, a piece here and a piece there, instead of just letting you read them one at a time. The book would be improved greatly if the 100 chapters were separated back out into the 6 or 8 tales he tells, and simply presented as individual stories.
Oh well. There are a bazillion books out there. They can't all be good. ( )

I was a little disappointed in this one even though I think it's above average for your paperback fiction. I thought it was funny and overall well written but it definitely didn't enrich my life in the long run, teach me anything new, or inspire me in any way. Basically, I would put this novel in the category of books to read when you need something a little smart, a little funny, and quite engaging that will help you fill space in your life if you can't handle anything with a deeper, richer meaning. It's strengths are that it does a good job satirizing Hollywood, a Disney-like company, and it is written with an active voice. It's main weakness is it's formulaic plot in terms of the police detective investigating a series of amusement park murders.

Within a certain frame of mind, this book may be just the break your life needs but I was hoping for something that left me with a deeper impression. I expect a great deal from novels, unfortunately, and I am easily disappointed. This, I know well. ( )

In what turned out sadly to be Larry Brown's final book, we find the Mississippian again turning out tight, melancholy prose, recounting the askew episodes in the lives of a scattered array of characters.

Read the rest of my review of The Rabbit Factory on my blog, The Nerd is the Word.

http://nerdword.blogspot.com/2006/08/32-rabbit-factory.html ( )