Bunny
Ratings422
Average rating3.5
Book Club Pick #13
This was great! I LOVED the writing and all the snarky little comments. I wasn't expecting it to be funny and it really was.
Great choice for a book club. I thought one thing when I finished reading the book. And then after discussing I completely changed what I thought was actually going on. And that was a fun surprise.
It's definitely weird. But I had a blast.
I found Bunny to be messy and difficult to finish. Not messy in an intentional way but more so in a way where the author didn’t know where to take it. The writing style was not my favorite and presented as if it was written by someone much younger.
I'm not sure if Mona Awad intended Bunny to embody exactly the kind of hollow, edgy, art-school garbage that she's supposedly skewering in it – maybe she's just too meta and clever for me! – but that was what I felt, and I wasn't a fan. I was fully on board at first, enjoying the writing and setup, but the shine started coming off a quarter of the way in, and continued coming off until I had no goodwill left.
The main character, Samantha, is a real slog. She starts out a not-like-other-girls craven whinger, waxing misogynistic about how pink and air-headed she judges the women in her peer group to be; how they're creepy, borderline non-human bimbos, unlike her, a real person; and how, despite hardly knowing each other, she supposes they hate her for being so gritty and different. We get it, Samantha. You hate pink and collect vinyl. Whatever. She doesn't get any more compelling as the story goes on.
In general, I just couldn't buy into the characters' ages and environment. They're supposed to be post-graduate adults, but the melodrama and awkwardness that drive every character interaction feel acutely teenaged. Samantha, who can barely say hello without breaking into cold sweats, reads more like a 15-year-old than a 25-year-old with a degree and work experience. The limp character work didn't put me in the mood for the book's meandering flights of fancy, which make up most of it.
Bunny is littered with pop-culture references that I found cheap and grating. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland gets repeatedly referenced in a lazy attempt to make something intertextual happen. Characters are described as having Game of Thrones hair, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind smiles, and David Bowie eyes. (David Bowie didn't have different-coloured eyes, and it is so, so easy to Google this!)
The writing's otherwise mostly fine, but it's in service of a nonsense, nothing plot, and I don't know how rookie stinkers like “bearing” instead of “baring”, “break” instead of “brake”, and “unphased” instead of “unfazed” (twice) made it through the editorial net. The cumulative effect is of a book that isn't nearly as smart, cool or incisive as it thinks it is. It's got that Yellowface energy of a rich academic author trying to write something scathing but accidentally committing self-parody. It also reminded me of Rachel Yoder's Nightbitch, another monstrous-feminine horror-thriller that falls over itself trying to be clever, but I found Nightbitch much more credible and accomplished than this. Almost two stars, but I'm not feeling generous.
This is seriously a trip, a trip down the rabbit hole. In my head, I hear Lana del Ray reading this to me.
This sounds like what the thoughts in your would sound like. It's nonstop overthinking, to be honest, I was kinda into what's happening but those bunnies are weird as fck, like it felt like I was in an American Horror Story episode! I'm ready to forget all that.
★ ★ ★ /5
Bunny é como uma mistura bem maluca de magia, solidão e particularidades sociais. Enquanto claramente traz referências de Meninas Malvadas (Bunnies X Plastics) e Atração Mortal ao falar de amizades femininas. Também traz um quê de ocultismo de Jovens Bruxas. E toda a confusão mental de Donnie Darko e Alice no País das Maravilhas. Uma espécie de narrativa meta linguística, com narrador não confiável, e que te deixa confusa pensando no que é real ou não. Achei muito interessante a forma que a autora retrata esse processo criativo da escrita, misturando uma vibe de culto e delírio coletivo, com algo que pode significar a própria atividade de escrever. Como se os experimentos das Bunnies simbolizassem os acertos e erros dessa função. Mas acho que acima de tudo, Alice no País das Maravilhas se relaciona demais com esse livro. Tanto pelo símbolo do coelho, quanto pela questão da solidão muito característica da personagem principal. E como ela passa por núcleos malucos, sendo induzida por pessoas com quem convive, enquanto tenta achar o caminho de casa, ou nesse caso, o ambiente que mais tem a ver com ela.
Was a little difficult to believe the characters were masters students except for the literary allusions, but otherwise I enjoyed this take on the feminine fever dream and being absolutely lost in a fantasy delulu world. Disorientingly fascinating to read for some reason.
The Bunnies reminded me of a more cruel, demented, and murderous version of the Ashleys on Disney's Recess.
it's weird but compelling weird and the right kind of pretentious. kinda reminds me of Sally Rooney if she did horror. the second half was more interesting, I couldn't stop reading and i didn't expect the final plot twist
Undoubtedly beautifully written. Kind of a lot. I like it but also more confusing than I would prefer, but clearly well done.
very confusing i didn't know what was going on half the time
kind of an odd end but the plot twist kind of ate
i think this is the most bizarre book i've ever read
I'll be completely honest with you all.
I have absolutely no idea what I just read
One of my favorite books I read this year. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
Absolutely unhinged. In the best way, I loved it! The rating might increase based on jow the book stays with me, but I had a great time! Took a bit to get into the groove of it for me personally, though I would say that had more to do with my busy days rather than the book.
It was deranged and ridiculous. Highly recommend.
Immediately after finishing this I am like... maybe I should reread it? I am going to be looking up threads to see what I missed in my own reading.
4.5☆
(Didn't like the sexual stuff very much but other then that–)
I am feeling so many emotions at once, what.
This book was definitely very much a feverdream.
It's going places, idk where, but it's going places.
