Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive straight into my latest review. A chaotic road trip through grief, addiction, and inherited damage — with a protagonist you won’t like but won’t forget.
In an attempt to clear up a misconception about me, it would be false to say I read absolutely anything and everything. It’s true that I read a lot, and it’s still nowhere near as much as I’d like to. A personal best might be reading over 100 books in 2021, but for much of that, we were in a Covid lockdown, I was unemployed, and I had a lot more time on my hands. In more recent years, I’ve averaged around the 80-90 mark. There are more books being published every day than I will ever get the chance to read in my lifetime. All the books out there are competing for our attention. I’m learning that I have to prioritise the books that I think I will enjoy the most, or will have something that I will take away from them. I’m also learning that there are books that I will just never get into. Maybe that’s my way of telling you not to expect a Wuthering Heights review in the coming weeks.
As I hope has become evident by now, I will give most things a chance. That’s especially true when it comes to the weird and wonderful. Those are two words that come to mind with this book. Nick Cave is a man that I can’t claim to know much about. I know he’s a highly gifted musician. Some of his songs I find absolutely beautiful, even if they’re not the most uplifting. My brother is a far bigger Nick Cave fan than I am. So while I was intrigued by this book as soon as I knew it was written by Cave, my desire to read it was stronger because I heard it was being adapted into a television series with Matt Smith playing the lead role.
Set in Brighton in 2003, Bunny Munro is a travelling salesman who sells beauty products door-to-door. He’s also quite the horny sex addict who manages to find a way of bedding the majority of the women he sells to. As a result, he rarely spends any time at home with his wife and young son, Bunny Junior. Bunny doesn’t really have the first idea about how to be a husband or a father. But everything changes when he returns home to find his wife has committed suicide.
You’d think that would be the turning point in Bunny’s life. Seeing as he’s now the only thing his son has. It should be the point where he has an epiphany and calms down to be there for Bunny Junior. In fact, quite the opposite happens. Bunny doesn’t want to give up that life. So, with social services threatening to take Bunny Junior away, father and son go on the run together. Bunny Junior becomes the unofficial navigator who waits in the car while his father “sells his products” to a plethora of “lucky women”.
At this point, it should go without saying that Bunny Munro is a wholly unlikeable character. We know from the first few pages that he’s cheating on his wife, even if we don’t initially realise how frequently. However, Bunny is never boring. He is the archetype of a flawed character who continually makes bad decisions after bad decisions. He just can’t get out of his own way. We learn that Bunny has spent his entire life idolising his father (also named Bunny) so our hearts break for young Bunny Junior because we get the idea that the cycle seems fated to continue unless something extraordinary can break it.
This novel was published in 2009, before Matt Smith had appeared as the Eleventh Doctor. That seems bonkers to think about. Especially as it’s now been thirteen years since Smith left the role, and he’s only forty-three now. I was a huge fan of Smith’s portrayal of the Doctor and even got to meet him and Karen Gillan at a DVD signing in 2010. While I have since watched every episode of The Death of Bunny Munro, I read the book first, and I immediately thought that Smith was an inspired casting choice. I could hear his voice in every line of dialogue. I could picture him doing the things that Bunny’s described doing.
If you’re looking for something weird and wonderful, this just might be a book for you. In comparison to the TV show, they’re similar but different, and I can easily say that I enjoyed them both.
My Goodreads Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 stars)
