Product Description

'With the intelligent, surreal humour we might expect from a member of THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, NEVER TRUST A RABBIT breathes new life into the drama of the ordinary urban thirty-something, in a series of modern morality tales about enchantment in everyday life' THE TIMES Unsettling premonitions, fortune-telling cashpoints and disappearing mazes all converge in Jeremy Dyson's first book - a collection of short stories that established him as a formidable storyteller on original publication. Reissued in Abacus with a new introduction by the author, NEVER TRUST A RABBIT has already become a cult favourite.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50556 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
* 'His stories nestle in the little vacant chink between Roald Dahl and Borges' Adam Mars-Jones, OBSERVER * 'Powerful, beguiling, and disturbingly memorable' THE FACE * 'Reflects a boldness that's rarely seen among Dyson's confreres - a willingness to d

OBSERVER
'A striking debut. His stories nestle in the little vacant chink
between Roald Dahl and Borges'

DAILY EXPRESS
'Darkly surreal humour . . . seemingly innocent scenarios that
veer into deep weirdness'

Customer Reviews

Feel cheated
I feel a little used by this book. They are nothing more than fairly banal, heavy-handed morality tales, but because the reviewers are not widely-read, they touted this book as being original, new, "no one is doing this stuff!" but of course people are, they're just not in the general fiction section of your bookstore, because their writers didn't write TV shows.

He seems to be attempting the same kind of short stories as Neil Gaiman writes - dark, edgy, unsettling, intriguing - but he isn't very good at it. He gets two stars, not one, because he's not a bad writer, as such. This reads like your average writers first high school book attempt - bland, derivitave - the one that never gets published. If he wasn't already famous, your average editor would have handed him a rejection slip saying that while he had talent, he needed to work a lot harder to hone his skills.

Also, the fabricating of the proverb to justify the book's title felt a bit cheap.

Note: I don't think he's imitating Gaiman: I doubt he's read Gaiman. If he had, he would have realised there's a whole genre out there, and learned a bit more about it before he handed his final draft in.

very funny yet strangely philosophical
i know it sounds odd but this book really made me think (as well as laugh out loud) its very funny and you dont have to be a fan of short stories to enjoy it. i reccommed it with all my might!!!

p.s. we who walk through walls is my favourite!!!

What will he think of next?
I barely need to mention that Jeremy Dyson is, of course, the solenon-performing member of the acclaimed and influential comedy outfit TheLeague of Gentleman, and it is precisely this which invites a degree ofhealthy scepticism. A collection of macabre short stories which put a darkspin on everyday life... hardly the most original of concepts. Is Dysonsimply another rank-and-file screenwriter peddling mildly quirky yetunremarkable fiction by trading on his earlier success? Without thecreative and dramatic support of Gatiss, Pemberton and Shearsmith, will hestand up to scrutiny?
Happily, it is clear from the outset that he has no intention of coveringold ground. His flair for the grotesque is as much in evidence as ever,but these stories are less gruesome horror yarns than uncompromisingfables, where come-uppances are served to appallingly convincingwrong-doers in stark, violent detail. More surprisingly, there is littlerelish in the telling; often Dyson delivers the coup de grace with abarely controlled rage which is both disturbing and exhilarating.
A background in sketch writing is a useful one when approaching shortfiction, as both forms are dependent on precision and detail, and there isnowhere to hide. Reading Dyson's short stories is like watching an expertdriver turn a car round in its own length; his ability to manoeuvre anintricate plot within a relentlessly taut narrative structure is nothingshort of awesome. He is also reassuringly at ease with dialogue (so oftena stumbling-block for young writers), finding some truly distinctive andpowerful voices among his characters.
While few stories in this collection fail to convince, there are of courseflaws such as may be expected in a debut. A wonderfully austere prosepassage will suddenly veer off into the realms of the baroque, sproutingornate ramblings worthy of Mervyn Peake. Colloquialisms are at timesoverstrained, and a couple of the plot twists have an air ofself-conscious cleverness. Such faults, however, are easily forgiven whenthey appear in the company of far more important qualities. Dyson is athis best when he is at his most oblique and abstract, as he is in thefinal story "All in the Telling", for it is then that the focus shiftsfrom his (admittedly formidable) intellect to what really lies at theheart of his writing - an almost shockingly impassioned moral outrage,directed with deadly accuracy and unrestrained force at the seamier sideof human nature.
Readers looking for a Royston Vasey fix will be disappointed, but theimmense potential apparent in this collection will make many others keento see where this restless and inventive mind will turn to next.