Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole

Juan Pablo Villalobos

(Translated by Rosalind Harvey)

Down the Rabbit Hole is narrated by Tochtli, son of a Mexican drug lord. Tochtli lives in a palace, has a collection of hats, and is either a genius or just very odd. And right now, more than anything else, Tochtli wants a Liberian pygmy hippopotamus. (Watch this video and you'll want one too) Tochtli may not get to go to school, or have any friends his own age, or remember his mother, but what money can buy he gets.

This is the story of Tochtli's quest to obtain a pygmy hippo. Somehow Down the Rabbit Hole is enchanting, bleak, funny and depressing all at once. Tochtli is a fantastic protagonist, better I would argue, than Jack in Room (Emma Donoghue) or Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon). The voice is consistent and believable and the plot doesn't suffer from the child narrator. The short length of Down the Rabbit Hole doesn't detract from the quality of writing and, if anything, adds to the pace of the novel. I've also been reliably informed that the translation is excellent.
I loved this book. Really, really loved it. It's the kind of book which you won't forget quickly and will want to recommend to all your friends. I'm not the only person who thought that either. Down the Rabbit Hole has been nominated for the Guardian First Book Award 2011 and the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. It's also a really lovely book in terms of design, and well worth the £10 RRP.

Buy it here from www.waterstones.com or from your local bookshop.

Down the Rabbit Hole is published by And Other Stories, a grass-roots independent publishers. Do check out their website and their other publications.