About The Book
A family drama set in Shanghai, where a fractured American family faces its complicated past. Four years after their bitter divorce, Claire and Aaron Litvak get a phone call no parent is prepared for: Their twenty-two-year-old daughter Lindsey, teaching English in China during a college gap year, has been critically injured in a hit-and-run accident. At a Shanghai hospital they wait at her bedside, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
Buy The Book: https://amzn.to/4g51Jjq
My Rating
*I’m very grateful to the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this book through Netgalley. As always, my review is completely honest and unbiased.*
I started reading this book knowing little, except that it was literary fiction exploring a family’s response to tragedy and its ripple effect. A twenty-something American, Lindsey, living in China, is the focus of the plot after she’s hit by a car. The accident’s impact brings her broken family back together, altering their lives and the lives of others. It also delves into Lindsay’s clandestine life in China and the events that fractured her family.
Despite not typically reading literary fiction, I found the book insightful and interesting. I was completely absorbed by the story, and couldn’t stop reading. Even though it was sad, and dealt with heavy topics, the author kept me engaged in the plot wonderfully. While I didn’t connect with the story personally, it might resonate with other readers.
The only real problem I encountered was the book being written in the third person. I’m not usually picky about book formats, but I haven’t encountered many books written in this style. It took me a while to get used to it, but I don’t think it affected my enjoyment of the story. To be honest, I didn’t find the book entertaining, but rather intriguing, thought-provoking, and sad.
“The chance to be loved was rare and fleeting.”
The characters were all very complicated. They had so much depth, they felt like real people. Each person grappled with their own private difficulties. The author did a great job highlighting the different ways being adopted impacts people; some long for their biological families, while others are content with their lives. Love, and the yearning to be loved, are also central themes in this book. It shows how some people need love to feel like they matter.
Overall, it didn’t have a happy ending, but the conclusion was realistic and satisfying. The biggest thing I got from it was that you never really know people, not even your family. We all have our own battles and internal struggles. Accidents are inevitable; some are preventable, others are not, and dwelling on “what ifs” is pointless. Life goes on, no matter what. In short, this is a very heavy read, so please read trigger warnings before going into it.
For a full list of content warnings, please visit the Rabbit Moon StoryGraph page. Many thanks, once more, to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. Also, some great news—you can listen to the audiobook of Rabbit Moon with an Everand subscription. My link (click here) lets you sign up for a free 30-day trial of the service. Before you leave, sign up for my mailing list to ensure you don’t miss any new posts.
Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny
All book synopses are sourced from Amazon or Goodreads.
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