The Death of Bunny Munro

Terrific book, a film adaptation of which Ray Winstone and John Hillcoat have been attached to for quite some time. Myself though, I think Ricky Gervais should stop making these safe comedies, and this would be a great character for him to play. Anyone agree?

This new story from musical genius Nick Cave is so visually descriptive, haunting and a direct reflection of his lyrical talents. I can practically hear his music as I read each page. The characters and locations are revealed layer by layer in grim detail. Full of madness, chaos and pain this book is not for the faint of heart. A must read for any die hard Nick Cave fan like me!

The other reviewers have covered this book nicely. Yet I must point out a bit of a similarity to the British film "Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise" which has a really stupid, senstational, and false title. Nevertheless, is a very good film that covers much of the same territory as this book: a hard-charging salesman, who is at the end of his rope. For what it's worth--I found the similarities fascinating. I recommend it. Enjoy!

Nick Cave is a strange dude. Listen to his music and get back with me. Nick Cave's new novel is a strange novel. I loved it. But then, I'm a bit strange myself. Bunny Munro is God's gift to women. At least, that's what he thinks. Bunny trolls the English highways, keeping appointments with women who have expressed the desire to test his line of beauty products. Bunny is a traveling salesman. His only allegiance is to his own perpetual lust. Bunny can never get enough and he preys on his clientele. There's also a Bunny Junior. Poor kid, nine years old, a brilliant mind, and a dad like this. We know that things won't end well. Cave makes that clear from the start. This is a morality lesson of Biblical proportions. And the porno aspects are so completely not titillating that most readers who dare to enter Cave's murky literary cave will exit exhausted. Perhaps, even delighted. Certainly not satisfied, in that lustful sense. Are you strange? Enjoy.

This novel is bound to spark lots of different reactions because it is provocative and explicit and strange and dangerous and incredibly funny and genuinely challenging. But I hope that the beauty of the writing and the seriousness of the book's moral dimensions are not overlooked because of the "controversial" aspects of the novel. For this second novel by Nick Cave is a major piece of literature that makes so much of what is being written today in this country look anodyne and flaccid. At the emotional heart of this death trip of a ride is this extremely tender and movingly captured relationship between the Bunny Munro of the title and his nine year old son Bunny Junior. It has real depth and is utterly convicing and so when you do get to the end of the rollercoaster you feel literally spent. But along the way you will experience some of the sharpest and funniest writing you are likely to find this year. Fans of Cave's music will lap it up like cream (and the audio book which he has recorded with an accompanying soundtrack by him and fellow Bad Seed Warren Ellis) but it should also win over a lot of new fans because it is so damn good. The novel's protoganist, the travelling salesman Bunny Munro, is an unforgettable and utterly flawed and tragic anti-hero that is going to live forever. Rock on Mr Cave and thanks for writing such a stunning book. And please don't leave it another twenty years before you give us a third novel!