The Rabbit Hutch
AuthorTess Gunty
LanguageEnglish
GenreComing of age, Literary fiction
PublisherKnopf
Publication date
August 2, 2022
ISBN9780593534663

The Rabbit Hutch is a 2022 debut novel by writer Tess Gunty and winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction.[1] Gunty won the inaugural Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize[2] and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize for the novel.[3][4][5]

Writing and development

The novel includes the perspectives of multiple characters.[6] Gunty credits the novel The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams as the "novel that began" The Rabbit Hutch, as it was the first in a series of unrelated "polyphonic" novels that Gunty read.[6]

Reception

The Rabbit Hutch was well received by critics with starred reviews from Booklist,[7] Kirkus Reviews,[8] Library Journal,[9] and Publishers Weekly.[10] On the review aggregator website Book Marks, it received mostly "rave" reviews.[11]

Library Journal called the novel a "woefully beautiful tale of a community striving for rebirth and redemption,"[9] while Kirkus referred to it as a "stunning and original debut that is as smart as it is entertaining."[8] The Wall Street Journal's Sam Sacks said The Rabbit Hutch was "most promising first novel I’ve read this year."[12] The Irish Times called it "breathtaking, compassionate and spectacular."[13]

Multiple reviewers commented on Gunty's writing skill. Publishers Weekly said Gunty "mak[es] powerful use of language along the way."[10] Booklist expanded on the sentiment, writing, "The brilliantly imaginative novel begins on an absurdist note before settling down to an offbeat, slightly skewed realism. Gunty is a wonderful writer, a master of the artful phrase."[7] The Boston Globe highlighted how "Gunty weaves [characters'] stories together with skill and subtlety. The details ... are slipped in via a very few well-chosen details."[14] The Times said, "The writing is incandescent, the range of styles and voices remarkable ... The novel leaps with great confidence across a multitude of styles."[15]

Booklist highlighted Gunty's character development, saying the "fully realized characters come alive on the page, capturing the reader and not letting go."[7]

The New York Times Book Review noted that there are "many bold moves in Gunty’s dense, prismatic and often mesmerizing debut, a novel of impressive scope and specificity that falters mostly when it works too hard to wedge its storytelling into some broader notion of Big Ideas."[16] They added, "its excesses also feel generous: defiant in the face of death, metaphysical exits or whatever comes next."[16] The Guardian shared the sentiment, indicating that the novel "is almost over-blessed with ideas. Gunty doesn’t quite balance the pieces of her story – she has a winning impulse for digression, but ... never quite settles into her sidebars. The insistent nudges back to the main arc stop her novel from creating the sense of invisible clockwork that would make it perfectly satisfying."[17]

Publishers Weekly ultimately named The Rabbit Hutch one of the top ten books of 2022, regardless of genre.[18]

Awards for The Rabbit Hutch
Year Award Result Ref.
2022 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize Winner [3]
National Book Award for Fiction Winner [4]
Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize Winner [19][20][5]

Adaptation

The rights to produce a television show based on the novel were sold in November 2022.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Tess Gunty's novel 'The Rabbit Hutch' wins National Book Award for fiction". NPR. November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ Sheehan, Dan (26 August 2022). "Tess Gunty has won the inaugural Waterstones debut fiction prize". Literary Hub. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Barnes & Noble Announces Their 2022 Discover Prize Winner". Barnes & Noble Inc. 2022-10-13. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  4. 1 2 Schaub, Michael (2022-10-03). "National Book Award Finalists Are Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
  5. 1 2 "Awards: Waterstones Debut Fiction Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. 2022-07-22. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
  6. 1 2 Graham, Annabel (16 August 2022). "An Otherworldly Glint: Tess Gunty Interviewed". BOMB Magazine. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 Cart, Michael (August 2022). "The Rabbit Hutch". Booklist. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  8. 1 2 "The Rabbit Hutch". Kirkus Reviews. May 25, 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  9. 1 2 Chadwell, Faye A. (2022-07-22). "The Rabbit Hutch". Library Journal. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  10. 1 2 "The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty". Publishers Weekly. 2022-06-21. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  11. ↑ "Book Marks reviews of The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty". Book Marks. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  12. ↑ Sacks, Sam (2022-08-05). "Fiction: 'The Rabbit Hutch' by Tess Gunty". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  13. ↑ Mannion, Una (August 23, 2022). "The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty: An important American novel about a dying city". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  14. ↑ Simon, Clea (August 25, 2022). "Transcending the mundane in "Rabbit Hutch" - The Boston Globe". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  15. ↑ Collins, Robert. "The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty review: a firecracker debut". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  16. 1 2 Greenblatt, Leah (2022-08-02). "One Apartment Building, Many Lives". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  17. ↑ Ditum, Sarah (2022-08-03). "The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty review – a riveting debut about love and cruelty". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  18. ↑ "Best Books 2022: Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  19. ↑ Doyle, Martin (2022-07-21). "Louise Kennedy on Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize shortlist; Margaret Atwood at Clifden festival". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
  20. ↑ Shaffi, Sarah (2022-07-20). "Shortlist announced for Waterstones debut fiction prize". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
  21. ↑ Porter, Rick (21 November 2022). "Fremantle, 'True Detective' Producer Option 'Rabbit Hutch' Novel for TV". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
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