Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Bunny

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Bunny by Mona Awad

247 reviews

07x20's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

kijatai's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

This was actually the first audio book I ever finished. I started listening to it while on a walk and then I couldn’t get it out of my bed and finished it during the night.

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.

Content Warnings

danicoretrashhh's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

the more i read this book, i started to feel like i was samantha. honestly, at first i didn't like it. but as i read on, i realized that the way samantha acted for the majority of the book is how i see myself and my surroundings when i have bad mental episodes. its like i can't see out of my own eyes, everything is so fast and so slow all at once. the words in my head have trouble coming out, no matter how loud i scream them. i feel trapped. i can't quite explain what i liked about this book, but i did like it. it made me think a lot about myself. my lack of resolve in my issues and my environment that constantly fails me mirrors hers. this book has left me more concerned for myself than ever before, but i think maybe i needed it.
edit: i slept on it and i think the deeper connection i felt to samantha's "new" identity or perspective is what bumped this book up to three stars. i didn't understand a lot of what was going on, but suddenly a switch flipped. and i don't know if i should credit the book with that or my own life but i understood the new samantha. i could identify with how she felt. she couldn't see out of her own eyes and what she *did* see wasn't right, but it wasn't her fault. she wanted to belong and for a little bit, she did. i do realize that this isn't a book for everyone; there's a lot of gore and the way it is written will give you a headache. it gave *me* a headache. but i liked it. it felt like seeing me in a different perspective and whether thats a good thing or not, i'm not sure. but i definitely do appreciate this book. the biggest triggers with this book are definitely the amount of gore and altered mental states, so just be aware of that before you start.

Content Warnings

renegadereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

mooniguess's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

I went into this book with no knowledge of what it’s about besides there being cult vibes. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was reading. Then in the last part it all comes together. There’s many hints towards the storyline throughout the book but you don’t realize it until the end.

The MC having schizophrenia and being an unreliable narrator helps understand the story. Once this is realized the absurdity of the book/the cult/the bunnies make so much sense.

Content Warnings

dorin_d's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

a very disorienting book with an unreliable narrator but enjoyable to read.

Content Warnings

courtneyfalling's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What a weird book. I have to be so for real that I still don't really think I know what happened. But it was visceral and compelling to read and such a surreal exploration of classism in higher ed and

the plot line with the Lion and what "didn't" happen haunts me because it's such a good depiction of that kind of grey happening in academia

.

That said I can't tell how I feel about

a lot of the book's plot being driven by Sam's mental illness. Like... the reveal Ava isn't real, the extent to which Sam is unreliable BECAUSE of psychosis... I can't tell if it's a good exploration of being mentally ill and poor in neoliberal higher ed or kind of a saneist copout?

Content Warnings

shacara_shacara's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

abbie_05's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

mushroom_frog's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This novel is incredible. It seems to be misunderstood by a lot of its readers (understandable, considering the myriad of loose ends upon the book's conclusion) but is truly an interesting and gripping story, open to interpretation in a way that is not frustrating but rather liberating.

My understanding of the book is as such:

Samantha Mackey is an undiagnosed schizophrenic, showing signs from an early age (such as her habit to delve too far into her imagination). Most of the book's seemingly supernatural, eerie or purely confusing elements are the spawn of her internalised and uncontrollable creativity, as she struggles to write and thus release all of these ideas. By the end, she is free from the Bunnies (a cult whose experiences combined not only the women's abnormal methods of 'Tapping the Wound' but also Samantha's hallucinations) and somewhat aware of her mental illness, as she is enlightened of the fact that Ava was a figment of her imagination, likely as was Max. Yet, Samantha has not entirely come to terms with her state, as is seen with the ending lines where she seems to be speaking to Jonah, but is 'answered' by the mud.

I don't usually write such long reviews but this book had me utterly captivated. Not for those who get want everything to be set out clearly from start to finish, and dislike loose ends.

Content Warnings

More...