When God Was a Rabbit, Sarah Winman

Author: Sarah Winman
Publisher: Tinder Press
Pages: 341
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0755379306
ISBN-13: 9780755379309
Publisher:eBook | Paperback | Audiobook

Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape their everyday lives. It is a story about childhood and growing up, loss of innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love and life. Stripped down to its bare bones, it's about the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.

It took me some time to see why this book was so popular but at some point it just clicked.
There are a lot of subjects going on in this book.
The brother and sister relation. How they understand each others life. The protective big brother.
There is a lot of sexual content. Between abuse and sexual orientation. The way it is discussed is not disturbing or rude. Most things are stated as facts happening in their lives.
There is friendship and family. Childhood friends and their impact on a future life. Family ties even when weird things happen.
These subjects are woven together in a story that is really well written and crept up on me in surprise making me read faster and faster wanting to have answers. The coming of age of all the characters is well done and for me it was easy to connect to Elly always being the odd one out myself in a group of people.