Teodora 's Reviews > Catch the Rabbit

3.5/5 ⭐

No, I did not dislike this book, but it's (for me) a serious case of 3.5 star rating that I will however round up. I actually enjoyed it for what it was, but it is (and be warned) a heavy story and mostly, its heaviness comes from the themes and motifs crafted along the narrative way.

Catch the Rabbit is a novel that delves into the complexities of friendship, identity, and the lingering shadows of the past. Set against the backdrop of post-war Bosnia, the story follows Sara and Lejla, two childhood friends who embark on a road trip across the country to find Lejla's missing brother, Armin (which, in my opinion, represents only a motif or a metaphor in the book).

And, talking about motifs and metaphors, the book is full of them. They are not in-your-face facts, so maybe a little bit of a historical context will be helpful.

The Bosnian War took place from 1992 and, technically ended in 1995, but I think it will need several more generations to pass in order to properly end (and heal away from people's minds and hearts, where the real war has been taking place all these years). It was a brutal conflict that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia. It involved ethnic cleansing, incredibly bloody war atrocities against the people of the land and left deep scars on the country's social, cultural, and political life. This was the base of a ongoing trauma of a nation and this trauma is so palpable throughout the whole book.

The narrative itself, as construction, in Catch the Rabbit is quite simple - going back and forth between present and past. What sets it apart is actually the themes that are disguised as a journey - an actual, physical one and an internal one.

This is a boom about friendship and identity and even the girls themselves are reimagined into let's say some sort of mythological creatures of the whole story. Their friendship is incredibly toxic but at the same time, it is incredibly strong. Sara tries to run away from a past that left deep scars on her. Lejla drags her back into a place that's going to ravage Sara's mind because she also wants to escape it all. If you look closely, you can see that both of them are trying to cope with trauma differently, they both have different types of let's say selfishness. In a way, that's justified.

This is a book about memory and trauma, about the search for meaning, about historical and cultural contexts that hang on very thin threads, about the faces of friendship and, maybe, about hope. The book ends abruptly and (for me) unsatisfactory because it leaves you there with a piece of hope in your hands but with no conclusion at all. All you need to do it try and piece it together in your head, hoping for the best.