The Constant Rabbit, by Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde is back with another stand-alone novel. Unlike Early Riser, I didn’t find this one hard to get into at all — I was drawn in right away with the usual Fforde whimsy and charm. The premise of this novel (which I categorized here on the blog under “fantasy” because there’s really no category that fits a Jasper Fforde novel) is that several years ago, an inexplicable event caused a large number of animals around the world to become anthropomorphized. These animals are now roughly human sized, capable of human-like thought and speech, and generally behaving like — well, like talking animals in a children’s story, anthropomorphized but still having certain interests, skills and quirks typical of their species.
While several different animal species were affected by “the Event,” the largest population of anthropomorphized animals (because of how quickly they breed) is the rabbit population in England, which has grown fast enough to make up a significant element of society – 1.2 million rabbits — and, of course, to provoke an anti-rabbit backlash.
There’s a not-at-all-subtle parody here of anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner sentiment in today’s Britain, with the anti-rabbit political party being called UKARP and their goal being Rabexit — the expulsion of all rabbits from England. Fforde isn’t trying to be subtle — he’s having a lot of fun with a very entertaining premise while at the same time, writing a biting (or, at least, nibbling) satire centred around Peter Knox, a decent (human) man who doesn’t think he’s anti-rabbit at all, yet makes his living working for a government department that surveils and targets rabbits. Peter’s ability to turn a blind eye to the virulent anti-rabbit sentiment all around him is challenged when a rabbit family moves in next door — and the wife turns out to be his old college friend Connie.
The Constant Rabbit is a thoroughly enjoyable and thought-provoking read. It had a much more bittersweet ending than I normally expect from Jasper Fforde books, which left me a little bit sad, but it did seem like the right ending for that story.
