The Rabbit Back Literature Society – Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen

I’ve had my eye on this book for a while, intrigued by the title and the cover that doesn’t give much away. Having finally read it, I wouldn’t say I loved it, but it’s a curious, different read. Not at all what I expected (which was a book about books, or reading, I suppose), but good nonetheless.

The novel is set in Rabbit Back, a small town that evokes the same feelings I have when I remember reading Enid Blyton as a child. In theory it’s a perfectly normal town – provincial and a bit insular, perhaps, but nothing out of the ordinary. But there’s a definite sense right from the start that there’s more to Rabbit Back. In any case, Ella is not thrilled to be living in Rabbit Back, sharing a house with her mother and teaching literature, until two unexpected things happen: first, a copy of a classic novel that she has taught for years is inexplicably corrupted; and second, Ella is selected to join ‘The Society’.

The Society is the pride of Rabbit Back, a group of writers personally selected by famed but reclusive children’s author Laura White. The writers were chosen as children and despite the Society having space for ten members, there have only ever been nine. It’s been a long time since a new member was selected, and Ella is honoured to have been chosen. But she never gets to meet Laura White herself, and soon discovers that there’s more to the Rabbit Back Literature Society than the outside world knows.

This group of nine have grown up together, and not everyone is pleased to welcome a new member – particularly one who seems to keen to unearth the secrets of the Society. Ella has to figure out The Game, the epicentre of group dynamics, whilst also trying to understand who Laura White is and what has happened to her, and whether there is any connection between the Society and the ever-spreading ‘book virus’ in Rabbit Back.

I guess this would be classified as magical realism, perhaps, or maybe it’s just the uncanny. It’s lots of little mysteries and puzzles wrapped up in one strange but intriguing package. Not all of those mysteries are resolved by the end of the book; many questions still remain unanswered, which is a little frustrating. But this didn’t feel like a careless oversight on the part of the author; rather it felt like a deliberate choice and actually quite in keeping with the slightly unsettling, never-quite-knowing-what-could-happen feel of the whole novel. I read something that suggested it has a ‘very Finnish atmosphere’ and compared it to The Moomins – I don’t know enough about Finnish culture to know how representative this is, but I thought it was an interesting comparison. And certainly The Rabbit Back Literature Society is very different to most other things I’ve read, including French and Spanish literature as well as English-language books.

One thing I did really love is the beautiful writing, which I attribute as much to a skilled translator as to the original author. I don’t often use the ‘highlight’ feature on my Kindle, but I found myself highlighting odd passages as I read, like this one:

‘Falling in love with a person’s momentary being was as irrational as falling in love with the left side of his face, or the back of his head, or some other individual part of him. That was why Ella couldn’t really blame her former boyfriend for not knowing how to love her once her childless future was made visible.’

It’s not an overly philosophical novel, but Ella is quite a reflective and philosophical person, so there are passages such as this that jumped out at me or resonated with me. At one point, Ella remembers believing as a child that everything must be being recorded by some kind of higher being, because how could the most precious moments be completely fleeting and transitory? These moments are at once beautifully written and a window into Ella’s psyche, which just happened on many occasions to echo my own.

In part related to the lovely writing, I also enjoyed the characterisation of the Society members. They are all in some way slightly eccentric, and their colourful personalities result in some quite comical situations. Overall the humour in the novel is on the dark side, but there are some more straightforwardly funny moments. Often those moments are quite visual (the writing in general is very good at evoking strong mental pictures), and actually I can imagine a TV adaptation of The Rabbit Back Literature Society working very well, for this reason amongst others – that’s something I’d love to see.

Overall I’d say the nature of the genre and plot mean this is not a particularly easy read – it’s one that takes a bit of concentration to follow. But it’s fun and different and really did keep me interested throughout. What’s stayed with me is that overall sense of magical realism and some key scenes, rather than the specific trajectory of the plot, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

The Rabbit Back Literature Society is available in paperback, Kindle and audiobook format.