Gentle, reflective Tristan has no intention of killing anything, so when his shot inadvertently grazes a rabbit, he saves the animal and hides it in his bag before the others notice. Tristan soon finds himself deeply connected to the wounded rabbit, whose voice comes alive to share its wisdom with the young man.
Suddenly, the weather turns and a terrible storm descends upon the party, as well as their village. In the valley below, the rushing water exposes the close-knit community’s secrets and indiscretions, while Tristan and the rabbit must confront something far worse.
Hunting Party by Agnes Desarthe is a very unusual novella about a man and a rabbit, both dealing with an inner struggle between their natures and what is expected of them. The author hooks readers immediately by beginning with the POV of the rabbit and switches to Tristan, who is constantly experiencing flashbacks to his mother during the hunt.
As the story moves slowly forward, a member of their hunting party is injured and Tristan imagines the rabbit is speaking with him about their predicament. For some reason I can't quite explain, Tristan reminds me of Candide in the story by Voltaire, having to deal with one problem after another...or perhaps it's the erratic nature of Desarthe's writing style which seems similar. In any case, I found the Hunting Party to be somewhat satirical, but I'm uncertain if that is what the author had intended.
The story held my attention throughout, but I am disappointed with the ending. I would have preferred some closure within the hunting party itself. I think Tristan should've thrown the rabbit at Emma. The ending seemed rather bland compared to the rest of novella, as if the author grew tired of writing and simply stopped.
As always,
AstraDaemon
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