Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Bunny by Mona Awad

96 reviews

loxeletters's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What an interesting read! I especially enjoyed the themes of faux-feminism, the absurdity of academia, and the relationship between you and your creation. Regarding that last point, I think I might have benefitted from having read Frankenstein? It seems there's some links here, but that's just guess work. I still really enjoyed this, and though I didn't cry, the ending broke my heart.

It was quite depressing at times, which is why I couldn't rate this as "funny" even though the satirical aspects worked well. I guess that is the horror of this book for me - I wasn't very affected by the gore, I was never really scared, more just very depressed by the ongoing loneliness of our MC.

I can't say I could've guessed most of the major twists, which is a plus :)
Speaking of which, I agree that it's quite disorienting and difficult to figure out what is real and what isn't, but I think that's the point. I mean... They even discuss in the book how disorientation can be valuable for writing lol.

I did think the final scene was maybe a bit too clean-cut.
 

Maybe the way her relationship to Jonah is portrayed could have used some more nuance. He was always nice, sure, but I feel like her realisation that he just doesn't care about others' judgement doesn't really make up for the contempt she had for him throughout the book. He is always portrayed as so pathetic, and I can't really reconcile this with her attitude towards him at the end.

 
But this is somewhat nit-picky!

My second issue was the prose - overall it was good, but some phrasings were a bit repetitive for me. Maybe some adjectives could've been cut out as well. But that's just my personal taste, I think.

Overall, a very interesting book, which leaves you questioning what is real and what isn't, while providing some much-needed cultural criticism — exactly my cup of tea!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic friendship, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Gore, Murder, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Sexual content and Car accident

deadbelle's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Interesting read although none of the characters were likeable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Animal death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Blood, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Stalking, and Self harm

kaylawtzl22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

genuinely so confused. a very good read, intriguing, and hard to put down. It feels like an A24 film as a novel. A24- if you’re reading this, please hit up mona awad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gore, Addiction, Mental illness, Misogyny, Animal death, Alcohol, Death of parent, Slavery, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Body horror, Death, Murder, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Classism

bt_wannabe's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

Mean Girls on a bad acid trip! Now that’s a “fetch” of a good time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic friendship, Death, Blood, Bullying, Ableism, Grief, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Addiction and Sexual content

kijatai's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Car accident, Bullying, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

annamgoodman's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Classism

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Alcohol, Addiction, Bullying, and Grief

mushroom_frog's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Gore, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Grief

izypup's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Kidnapping, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Misogyny, Stalking, Drug use, Cursing, Alcohol, Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Animal death, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Classism, Confinement, and Car accident

booklover_04's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

1.0

First of all, I wasn’t sure what I was going into when I picked up this book. Not my cup of tea in terms of the genre, but I wanted to give it a fair shot so I read until the end. I found that the writing style was very immature. To me, it sounded like something I would’ve read in high school. But the content was disturbing. 

I didnt feel like the end was satisfying, though it felt like it was supposed to be a closed ending with the scene where Max attacks the Bunnies. It didn’t feel like there was a smooth transition (or any transition for that matter) between Samantha coming out of the trance-like state and going back to Ava.

It felt rushed but drawn out at the same time. I think the length of the book was enough to do a better job of building up the characters and the plot. I wouldn’t recommend it personally, even putting aside my distaste for the plot, due to the writing style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Sexual content, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, and Torture

marielcariker's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I wasn’t sure about this one at the start but I was into it by the end. I appreciate any book that is committed to being as bonkers bananas as it possibly can be. I think this book commits all the writing crimes it accuses its characters of but it stopped mattering to me by the end.  There are some really amazing descriptions but every time she used the “like so many” simile trope it took me out… she wrote it so many times 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Gore, Death of parent, and Alcoholism