Book Review – The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley

Title: The Book of Bunny Suicides
Author & Illustrator: Andy Riley
Format: Hardcover
Written & Published: 2003

The Book of Bunny Suicides is a fairly accurate title, and happily it is filled with cartoons and not photography. Most suicides are portrayed on a single page with a single bunny, but some are stories over multiple pages and some are suicide pacts. Given the number of suicides, the bunnies have to get fairly creative.

If you’re someone with a sick and depraved sense of humour, this is the book for you. Some of the bunnies have suicided but others are still in the planning phase, so you are rewarded for thinking through everything in the picture. The more twisted your sense of humour, the quicker you will get the joke.

Most of the suicides draw on historical events and a variety of cultural icons. There are Hitler jokes, Star Trek references, and a complicated suicide involving an aircraft toilet. Two bunnies refuse to get on Noah’s ark, preferring instead to read a book, drink a cocktail, and do some sunbathing. Others have established a petting zoo at the local leper colony. All of them are clever in their own way.

Readers who do not appreciate jokes about death will not find this book funny, and anyone who connects this sort of humour with animal cruelty should walk away now. That said, it is a book that can be read repeatedly, your friends can’t give too many spoilers since you know the bunny will die, and it transcends language barriers. For these reasons, I am giving this book 4 out of 5 pages.

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