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kijatai's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I really liked the narrator, Sophie Amoss. I felt like I was in the head of the main character when she was narrating and I could easily picture all the different characters by the voices she used. Her voice is also soothing.
As for the story itself, I loved it. What I actually enjoyed about it was the psychology of the main character and the depiction of creative block and the depression that can be linked to it. I’m an artist and I could relate to some things she said. How we can feel like an impostor sometimes and feel blocked or not good enough and then craving a connection to others to get out of our self-made isolation but also not wanting to.
I liked how all Sam’s emotions : fear, uncertainty, desires… were represented. Without spoiling anything, I interpreted the rituals depicted (please check content warnings) in the book more as a representation of creativity and desire. And I thought it was really interesting.
It has strong dark academia vibes. Which I’m a sucker for. I like also exploring the mentality and struggles behind cults and this book definitely and intimately explores that. It has mean girl vibes and it was nice to see how the author explores the meaning of sisterhood, girlhood, love and desires.
The relationship between Ava and Sam was what kept me hooked. I hoped for more to be honest but I won’t spoil too much. I guess that their relationship is… complex.
I’m definitely gonna get a physical copy, re-read it and annotate the hell out of it.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content
laurelmb's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
enyltiak's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Samantha, her imagination and creativity, and her fully-formed and fleshed out creations are juxtaposed with the work of the Bunnies and the trite nature of their stories—beautiful but lacking in depth and completion, not much beneath the shiny surface. Some of that's really on the nose (the diamond proems, my god!) but it's subtle enough under all the weird that some people will certainly miss it, especially other rich, pretentious artists who simply want to join the Bunnies on their mission.
The writing style was something I really enjoyed; you truly feel as though you are alongside Samantha for this wild trip, woozing in and out of understanding as she does, feeling her feelings. It felt as though it truly was written in Samantha's writing style, as though this was the prose she was working on throughout the timeline of the novel, at least based on the comments made by the Bunnies and Fosco in their Workshop. An undeniably fascinating entry in the "dark academia" canon.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Death of parent
jules_reads_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, and Self harm
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent
emmatram's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Rape
erikwmj's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Drug abuse, Gore, and Gaslighting
Minor: Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence
jetromeo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
tillynancy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
_lily74's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Gore
Minor: Drug abuse and Rape
samflowerv6's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I WORSHIP YOU MONA AWAD!! Any freaks who like this book (myself included) are my favorite.
“Can I take your coat?” Cupcake offers. I turn to her. She’s looking at me so hopefully. So willing to take a coat I’m not wearing, I almost want to give her my skin.”
“What do you think, Samantha?” Fosco asks me. That it’s a piece of pretentious shit. That it says nothing, gives nothing. That I don’t understand it, that probably no one does and no one ever will. That not being understood is a privilege I can’t afford. That I can’t believe this woman got paid to come here. That I think she should apologize to trees. Spend a whole day on her knees in the forest, looking up at the trembling aspens and oaks and whatever other trees paper is made of with tears in her languid eyes and say, I’m fucking sorry. I’m sorry that I think I’m so goddamned interesting when it is clear that I am not interesting. Here’s what I am: I’m a boring tree murderess. But I look at Vignette, at Creepy Doll, at Cupcake, the Duchess. All of them staring at me now with shy smiles. “I think I’d like to see more of the soup too,” I hear myself say.”
“I look at all of my dreams and nightmares distilled into one man-shaped shape. All the love and hate I have in my heart plus one fucking bunny.”
“Behold the lavish tent under which the overeducated mingle, well versed in every art but the one of conversation.”
“They laugh. What’s so fucking funny? I want to say. But I don’t. I laugh with them. Ha. Haha. Hahaha.”
How empty and emptied I felt walking away with all my words still on his floor. Wanting so badly to pick them back up. Take it all back. Wipe away the night, my dumb tears, my endless tumbling out of words. I never meant to give this to you.
“Their cheeks are plump and pink and shining like they’ve been eating too much sugar, but actually it’s Gossip Glow, the flushed look that comes from throwing another woman under the bus.”
“We've read Jane Eyre too, you cunt, and we've read The Waves, and when we read it, you know, we wept for minutes."
“Whenever I read one of Victoria’s vignettes, I always feel so dumb because I can hardly understand them at all. And then I blame myself. I think, Kira, this must be just too brilliant for you to grasp. Surely you must have missed something. Even though there’s always been this small voice inside of me that says, Um, what the fuck is this, please? This makes no sense. This is coy and this is willfully obscure and no one but Victoria will ever get this. I would in fact need to live inside Victoria’s spoiled, fragmented, lazy, pretentious little mind to get it. And who apart from us, apart from me, is going to be willing to do that? To work all night with a Victoria Decoder? Who would even care to? And then I feel like screaming JUST SAY IT. TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED. TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK THIS MEANS AND WHAT YOU DID WITH HIM EXACTLY.”
“Read. Be a guest in other worlds.”
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism