I think this was a fantastic novel, and I’m thankful to NetGalley and Back Bay Books for giving me an advanced reader’s copy for free. While I found most of the book compelling and riveting to read, I was disappointed with the ending. My opinion is VOLUNTARY.

The story at its core involves an imperishable loving bond between two sisters born thirteen years apart and of completely different races, born in different parts of the world to two different sets of parents, united through circumstance and the laws then in place regarding the number of children allowed per family in China and the laws of international adoption. Lyndsey, the natural born, older daughter, falls in love with Grace, the minute she lays eyes on her in the orphanage in China and also becomes fascinated with learning the Chinese language as she grows older, eventually choosing to move there. Grace, on the other hand, rejects all attempts by her parents to teach her anything related to her Chinese heritage. After a series of devastating incidents, Grace finally accepts an opportunity to visit her country of birth, with intimate details regarding the time her sister spent there. When faced with a situation that might have been more revelatory, the opportunity was wasted. It’s a pity, as I think the story would have had more depth had it been pursued.

RABBIT MOON was a good, straightforward literary fiction family drama. Going back and forth between members of the Litvak family after their eldest daughter gets hit by a car while living in China, this novel is about fractured relationships, familial secrets, and the way Westerns view Asian culture in different ways.

I liked the ways the story took me, and I was consistently surprised by the plot. I didn't mind the different points of view. Lindsey is a college dropout living in Shanghai when her divorced parents are contacted about her accident and that she's currently in a coma. They head to China and have to leave their adopted daughter Grace at summer camp. I thought the author did a great job of what it's like to be an American in China, and what it's like to have a biological daughter and an adopted daughter in a family. There are a lot of complicated family dynamics in this book, and it's very sad, but I really enjoyed reading it.

A powerful character study of pain, loss, irony, and the ripple effect of poor choices. Each member of the family is drawn with nuance, facing their own justifications and grappling with the weight of consequence. The story offers a dark, thought-provoking look into the emotional and social destitution of modern China, not through political statements but through intimate, often harrowing personal narratives. It’s not a light read, but it lingers long after the final page.

I've been a Jennifer Haigh fan since Faith (one of my all time faves) and love the way she writes. This one was pretty good! Not my favorite of hers but overall enjoyable.

A gripping and emotionally layered novel, this story follows 22-year-old Lindsey Litvak, a striking redhead from Boston, who lies unconscious in a Shanghai hospital after a mysterious hit-and-run. Once a college dropout turned English teacher abroad, Lindsey was inspired to journey to China after her family adopted her younger sister, Grace, from the country years earlier.

When tragedy strikes, her estranged, divorced parents travel halfway around the world to keep vigil at her bedside confronting not only the circumstances of the accident but also the hidden life Lindsey was leading.

As secrets unravel and tensions rise, the novel masterfully explores fractured relationships, cultural ties, and the ache of reconnection. A poignant and compelling family drama.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review.

I had heard alot of great things about this book with high hopes of a great read. Unfortunatlely I was dissappointed and just can't recomoend. Good luck with the book

The characters are vivid, fully realized — sympathetic in some respects, repugnant in others. In other words, human. The ways in which they think of each other and themselves feel real and just as complicated and messy as life. The story honestly engages both heart and mind.

Thank you net galley for the arc!
3.5 stars!

Four years after Claire and Aaron's divorce they get a call that their daughter, Lindsey, has been injured in a hit-and-run. Lindsey was currently living in China teaching English and estranged from her parents. As Claire and Aaron rush to Shanghai, we uncover the events of what ended their marriage, what turned Lindsey against them, the bond between Lindsey and her younger sister Grace, who was adopted as an infant from China, and what Lindsey was up to during her time in China.

I really enjoyed the different perspectives, the family dynamics, and the different relationships. I did like reading Lindsey's story and I am heartbroken for what she went through. I wish we got to hear more from other characters though, specifically Johnny and Grace. Ultimately, the book fell a bit short for me because I felt somewhat disconnected from the characters. I’m not sure if this was due to the frequent shifts between viewpoints or something else.

Family dynamics are a source of endless fascination for me, hence my draw toward Rabbit Moon, the story of a dysfunctional, broken family searching for love and acceptance. Here’s the premise: Claire and Aaron Litvak are divorced, and their daughters, Lindsay and Grace, deal with that fracture differently. Lindsay moves to China to teach English, and Grace, adopted from China as a baby, is the only family member she stays connected to.

Haigh is a nuanced and intimate writer who knows how to build tension and explore subtle themes. This literary novel moves between Lindsay’s life in Shanghai, the deterioration of Claire and Aaron’s marriage, and the minor characters. You get to know the city of Shanghai, too. I’ve never been there, but Haigh masterfully describes the setting, creating a realistic, haunting atmosphere.

The relationships between each family member volleyed between sweet and tender to angsty and frustrating. Claire’s attitude toward each of her daughters is particularly interesting. Haigh’s psychological exploration of the mother-daughter, sister-sister, and father-mother relationships seems spot on (granted, I’m no psychologist), and her insights on the specialness of rearing a Chinese girl in a white American family are thoughtful.

Thanks to Little, Brown, & Co. and NetGalley for my advance reader copy.

This was an incredible book, in my opinion. The writing was well done and the story did not have the outcome one would expect. It touched on real life topics and tough conversations/harsh realities. I loved this book!

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company, an imprint of Hachette Book Group
Rabbit Moon is the story of an wealthy suburban family of four from Newton MA. The younger sister, Grace, was adopted from China as a baby, and is spending the summer at a Quaker camp in New Hampshire. Older sister Lindsey dropped out of college, and for the last couple of years has been living in China. Although the two sisters are amazingly close, Lindsey is estranged from both parents. Lindsey initially taught English in Beijing, but then she moved to Shanghai. The plot revolves around the Lindsey's catastrophic decisions and the parent's train wreck of a marriage, all explained through an abundance of introspection, plot points, and backstory. The result is a slow plot until the second half of the book. Important themes of independence, self-discovery, identity, communication, and sisterhood are strong, but my favorite inclusion was the Chinese myth of the Red Thread, which says we are all born with an invisible unbreakable red thread which connects us to those we are destined to meet.
#RabbitMoon

I'm a big fan of Jennifer Haigh's writing and I thought this book was especially good. The book told the complicated story of a family, and though there were a number of time jumps and perspective shifts, I never lost sight of the characters, relationships, and emotions that were the heart of the story. This is one of those books in which the setting (Shanghai, China) plays an integral role in the book, and Haigh does a great job of portraying the sense details that make a particular place unique. This is not a book of necessarily "likable" characters (not something I ever need in a book) but it is the story of very relatable people making decisions that are understandable in context and often regrettable when looked back on. This is a book I'll highly recommend to readers who are interested in thoughtful stories of complicated family relationships and what happens when those relationships are tested.

The only thing I love more than a story about a complicated family is a story about a complicated family with deep secrets, sisterhood, and international adoption. The whole thing is a bit heartbreaking throughout, but ultimately well done. I'll be looking out for more from Jennifer Haigh.

I loved this! Haigh can write a story that's not my typical topic and have me enraptured by its characters.

Lindsey Litvak is living in Shanghai and making her own way in the world, sure, her parents think she’s teaching English in Beijing, but at twenty-two, it is easy to keep them in the dark. The only people she really cares for are her Chinese best friend, Johnny, and her sister, Grace, who was adopted from China as an infant. When a car swerves off the road and puts Lindsey in a coma, her divorced parents are forced to reunite in Shanghai and puzzle out the secrets of their daughter’s life and examine what drove them apart in the first place.

Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh is a masterpiece in writing settings. The city of Shanghai comes alive in impactful and vivid prose.

A relatively short novel, with a tragic secret that rips a young woman’s life apart, and the ramifications of not dealing with it as a family make for a compelling read, even though I struggled to connect with the characters and would have enjoyed a deeper and more transformative exploration into their lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for providing me with an advanced copy for review consideration; all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this one and I was very invested in the characters. It didn't quite hit me emotionally as much as I was expecting it to. This was my first book from this author but definitely won't be my last!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance reader's copy of this book. Unfortunately at this time I will be unable to give it my full attention, so I will provide a starred rating and return when I can give it a proper review.

This story, partially set in my hometown of Newton, MA, along with the streets of Shanghai, in part brings powerfully alive the consequences of well-to-do American families adopting unwanted Chinese girls during the era of Chinese one-child policy and the preference for male heirs. It’s also in part about a family’s estrangement from their oldest (white) daughter, Lindsey Litzvak, who has moved to live in Shanghai as a call girl.

The novel opens with a hit-and-run in the early morning hours of downtown Shanghai that leaves Lindsey hospitallzed in a coma. Just 22 years old, Lindsey had come to China to teach English with her boyfriend, but when her boyfriend heads back home Lindsey heads to Shanghai based on an employment offer to become a high-end call girl. Lindsey divorced parents, Claire and Aaron, who have been completely in the dark rush to her side in a Shanghai hospital, where they struggle based on the language barrier to figure put what’s going on medically with their daughter. Their younger 11-year-old Chinese-adopted daughter Grace in the meantime languishes in an extended session of summer camp, also in the dark about her much beloved, close sister.

Most touching in the story is Grace, who has to come to terms with her Chinese heritage along with her resentment of her adopted parents’ trying to constantly connect her to the Chinese culture. She’s forged a super close relationship with her sister and resents her parents’ seeming trying to alienate her from her American self. Slowly, Grace has to reconcile her emerging competing inner versions of self.

Meanwhile, Lindsey’s decision to move from an upper middle-class family to call girl seems superficial and not quite believable. Lindsey justifies sticking at it to afford living there as a American college drop-out, but that strains credibility for a highly risky and self-denigrating choice.

Shanghai itself becomes its own powerful character in the novel, gleamingly modern, increasingly unaffordable to most, clogged with pollution, and ultimately heartless.
All that being said, the novel kept me glued reading with its taut storyline and ambiguities around the choices of Lindsey and her parents.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company as well as NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

This book was a sad story but so well written it keeps the reader constantly engaged. The characters are all developed with great care. The storyline was truly unique. I would recommend anyone to read this book. It deals with family, emotions, and how to deal with sadness.

Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh is a complex backdrop of Shanghai. Haigh’s prose shines most when describing the city itself—its atmosphere, tension, and daily rhythms are all rendered in elegant detail.

While I understood the character of Lindsey, I found myself wanting a deeper connection to both Grace and Johnny. Their backstories felt thin and somewhat rushed, and by the end, I didn’t feel like I truly knew them. Grace, in particular, seemed like a character with more to tell, but her development was left on the surface.

The writing is strong, but the pacing felt uneven at times. There was some beautiful, deep moments but there were parts of the story that didn’t feel fully fleshed out.