Cold Tree Press
Jack Rabbit Moon by Dorraine Darden
12/04/09 01:00 Filed in: Fiction
284 pages, Cold Tree Press. $23.95
Review by Stephanie Attebery
Jack Rabbit Moon tells the story of Marnie Evans, a young, destitute Texas girl on summer break in the squalid home she shares with her negligent momma. Marnie frequently escapes to the nearby state park, in search of a home amongst nature-loving people like herself, hoping that they will give her the care and attention that she craves. She thinks that she has found this in the middle-aged childless couple she befriends, Claire and “Ranger Rick” Carpenter, who live a simple and well-nourished life within the boundaries of the park.
Without some exploration into the book, one might dismiss this as a happy-go-lucky story, a too neatly tied-up tale of the little red riding-hood variety. What saves it from that fate is an assortment of characters whose good and horrible tendencies blur in delightfully real and complicated ways.
On the surface, each character possesses some overwhelming good or bad trait. Marnie is a relentless dreamer. She embellishes every event that she witnesses, believing her father’s predictions about the jack rabbits that ominously swirl by before something bad occurs. Claire is a tireless Samaritan, baking and cooking for what seems like the entire town, taking care of an elderly and lonely woman when no one else will. Ranger Rick is a guitar-playing, singing, historian who holds a weekly campfire story and sing-along with all the kiddies, parents in tow. Some possess darker characteristics. Marnie’s ne’er do good mother Jeanie, for instance, and the abusive drunk, Vaughn, who she calls her boyfriend. Marnie’s father, Charlie, fresh back into town for shady, unexplained reasons. Aunt Shelby, who insists she is the protector of Marnie’s sinner soul. And of course, there is Buddy, the un-likeable busy body, always stirring some pot in the supermarket or flower shop.
Darden allows the reader into the private thoughts of each character, enough that it prevents the book from simply becoming a story of good triumphing over bad. She keeps the protagonists from being too perfect and the antagonists too unlikable to bother with. Marnie thinks little kids at the ranger’s nature hour are stupid and wimpy. She knows she can manipulate the heart of Claire, who wants Marnie as her own child right off the bat. Despite being a drunk more concerned with applying her makeup than caring for her offspring, Jeanie is still able to laugh with her daughter when they are home alone together. Marnie’s father Charlie, fresh out of prison (or so she is lead to believe by her mamma), takes Marnie on a trip for ice cream. He is drunk and twitching as she eats her treat, but she is still pleased by him for the simple fact that he is her father. Rick loves his wife and his job as a park ranger, but he begrudgingly welcomes Marnie into the home he shares with Claire, keeping his guard up all the time, and always expecting trouble from the little girl. Claire sometimes tires of the old woman she cares for, and argues with her despite knowing that her senility makes it futile. We all do these things after all, don’t we?
Darden’s pacing is in real-time and the narrative moves in the slightly free-associative way that people’s minds tend to work, especially concerning young Marnie, who while wandering through the woods, could drift from thoughts of the Ranger’s moustache, to an anthill, to wishing her mom’s awful boyfriend Vaughn bodily harm, (a wish that justice ultimately grants).
Living in an urban environment, I always have to judge a book for readability on the bus, and this one is well within compliance of my guidelines. The print is overall very readable, with the exception of a few localized areas of blurred text. The weight of the book and font are pleasant for commute reading.
The cover artwork is very pleasing, showing the stripped, impoverished home of Marnie as a minor part of a big wild landscape, brown-eyed susans in the foreground, a misty twilight full moon in the background. In fact the cover simply complements the spirit of the book and the characters within it, who thrive and sink in this terrible, wonderful world. The park, in all its beauty, is a great location for this kind of tale, and Darden describes it beautifully. Without spoiling anything, there is plenty of action to boot, showcasing the Texas wilderness in all its beauty and deadliness.
I look forward to more Garner Park Stories in the future!
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