It's hard to synopsise this book because it
is as much about the overall experience of it
as it is about “the sum of the parts”.
Also, it is a tale that can be read from many viewpoints and angles. Part of the enjoyment
can be garnered from formulating your own thoughts on what exactly this book is
about.
Below is one such viewpoint that won't spoil the book for you, but does discuss
some
aspects you might prefer to investigate yourself by reading the
book itself.
Feel free to disagree if you see fit.
The High Kicking Kung Fu Soccer Playing Bunny Rabbit Tree
is loosely framed
(in a not-altogether-serious manner) around the saying that goes something
like "the first stage in attaining true wisdom comes when one realises one
knows nothing."
At first, Arth has a kind of confidence in knowing "everything". For
example, very early on we are told (by Arth) The Meaning of Life itself.
Arth knows the meaning, but he doesn't know what to do with it.
In a quest to further explore this meaning, he decides to cover his house in
spots (as one does) while he waits for the gorilla suit to arrive that he
has just ordered over the internet..
We come to discover that Arth has been slowly hiding himself away in his big
house and is now retreating even further -into his head itself (or up his
own arse as some might choose to see it.)
Still, everything will change once he gets his gorilla suit!
Then he can walk amongst the people while he hides and not fear their gaze.
He will at last be free from others who might see him and know him and judge
him.
But Arth is torn, time and again, from his happy ramblings through his mind
to the stark reality of daily living that sees him look after two children while
his wife struggles to hold her head up in the corporate jungle (about which
Arth knows nothing).
Just as Arth quietly forms what he believes is his greatest theory ever (the
Theory of Mutton), Caroline decides she has had enough. She realises she
will never be able to change this man and that she will always be stuck in
facilitating his forever-unproductive regression (about which she knows
nothing).
Taking the children, Caroline finally pulls the rug from under Arth in a bid
to shake him, once and for all, out of his hyper-inactivity.
This is the catylst Arth requires to go a step beyond his great Theory of
Mutton and to realise that he really does in fact know nothing. This truth
is a smack in the face to Arth as much as it will be to you, the reader.
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