Book Review : Jessica McHugh - Rabbits in the Garden (2022)
"I knew it." Paul grunted and flopped down beside her. "Why doesn't your mom like me?"
"I don't know, but I get the feeling she doesn't like me much either." (p.33)
I usually am not a coming-of-age kind of guy. I don’t know about you, but I never thought that growing up and figuring my own shit out was a particularly great time in my life. But while the coming-of-age depicted in Jessica McHugh's Rabbits in the Garden isn't a fun or inspiring experience, I believe it would qualify as "empowering" even in my own rigid terms. It is one of these stories about beating the odds and blazing your own path would soften up the most battle-hardened readers.
Rabbits in the Garden tells the story of Avery Norton, a seemingly normal twelve years old girl who is barely starting to come into her own as a person. While out with her boyfriend Paul Dillon, she discovers her unstable mother's dark secret : she's a killer and she might've gotten rid of her dad. Before she can figure out a way forward, Avery is accused of her mother's crimes and thrown into a psychiatric institution where she'll have to live until her adult age. It should be the end of her story, but it’s only the beginning.
Gaslighting : the novel
I did not expect to fall head over heels for this novel. I knew Jessica McHugh to be a talent and a unique creative mind, but it took literally half a chapter to go all-in. There are several reasons for this and one of them is purely technical. Rabbits in the Garden is one of the good examples of effective foreshadowing I've seen in recent years. The first chapter depicts and adult Avery going back to the ruins of the psychiatric hospital, more confident and determined than you’ll read her in the upcoming pages.
It's a technique that doesn't require any skill to use, but that completely alters your perception of what you're about to read and since Jessica McHugh IS skilled, she uses it to great effect. This foreshadowing intro makes you appreciate that not only Avery is going to survive the events of the novel, but that she will grow stronger from them. If this sounds basic to you, it's because I haven't told you about another basic writing technique McHugh used spectacularly well: TORTURE YOUR DARLINGS.
I mean Avery SUFFERS through the pages of Rabbits in the Garden, mostly to the hands of her nasty, gaslighting mother who is determined to make her bear the weight of her sins. Faye Hayworth is a diabolical creation and a fascinating psychological journey into the mind of an abuser. Convinced that her actions are approved of by God because of her unwavering faith, Faye divides the world into shades of good and evil that suit her agenda. Others exist only within the rigid perimeters of her personal truth.
Seriously, she's terrifying. Faye believes every word of her self-justifying narrative and manages to convince every adult in charge because she's so ridiculously sure of herself. If I had one criticism to make of Rabbits in the Garden is that it is sometimes TOO reliant on Faye to foster drama. At some points her visits at the psychiatric hospital somewhat lose their point from a storytelling perspective and delve into a peculiar brand of torture porn. But please, don't let it prevent you from taking this wonderful journey.
Resilience and Spirituality : the novel
I'm not going to spoil and important twist of Rabbits in the Garden, but let's just say it has a strong allegorical value that makes it a borderline self-help book. Avery Norton is a fascinating protagonist because of her capacity to integrate experience into her personality, like a superpower. Both positive experiences and adversity. The dedication before chapter one sets this up well: For invisible (not imaginary) friends everywhere. What Avery lives becomes (quite literally) a part of her.
That is why I believe Rabbits in the Garden is so moving and relatable. You bear witness to the foundational moments of a badass character in such a raw, vulnerable way that it makes you think of your own and makes you think of your own invisible friends. The parts of your past that makes you who you are. Literature cannot get more powerful than that if you ask me. I lived vicariously through Avery Norton's dark coming-of-age and Jessica McHugh did not take any shortcut to make it any more commercial.
Avery is NOT a misunderstood prom queen. Rabbits in the Garden ends with such a brutal confrontation, it really seals her street cred.
*
Rabbits in the Garden was originally published in 2011 by Post Mortem Press. I believe the point of the exercise (outside of making a killer novel widely available again) was to provide context to an upcoming series featuring Avery Norton and that makes me very, very happy. Avery is one of the best characters I've read in 2022 and perhaps in a couple years. There's not greater aim for a novel that making you like a genre you usually don't care about and it's mission accomplished for Rabbits in the Garden.
