Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Bunny

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Bunny by Mona Awad

506 reviews

szink005's review against another edition

3.25

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book, much like the other reviews will tell you, was not at all what I expected going into it. While it is often described as The Secret History meets Heathers, I argue that it comes off more as a critique of the academia as told through a cynical Patrick Bateman (meshing that with the gritty humor and gore, you get a tale that's funny, weird, a little horrific, and leaves you in a liminal space of "huh?" when you finish reading it). For this, some might enjoy it while others will hate it. For me, I think it's a good read, but certainly, not one that you should try to make sense of on your own. It was not until seeing other reviews on Reddit and Quora that I truly believe I figured out where I stood with this story, and I recommend that others do the same thing upon reading the book. The one thing I will say is that I wish the ending went a bit slower— for a text that aimed to focus so clearly on the Body and Body horror especially, I wish the execution examined this a bit more.

Now, for those who have read the book and want my opinion (aka spoilers), here's what I made of it:

I thought that this text served more as a metaphor for the writing process than anything else. Some people believe that this is meant to be a story of a schizophrenic woman attempting to find out her place in the world— and ultimately doing that through writing. While I think this assumption is feasible, I find this interpretation to leave out the role of academia in the text. And frankly, if this were to be the point of the text, I would not like this book (instead of making a meaningful piece that critiques the lack of disability justice in academia, you turn mental illness into horror? boo!!!). One of the most impactful aspects of this story, when I read it, was how Sam speaks so candidly about the death of her passions in academia, her struggles to write unless she is with Ava (a project that ultimately serves to remind her of her drive and capabilities to create something she loves), and her loneliness as she navigates what truly makes a writer when with the rich white friend group who, no matter how much they try, cannot do what Sam can do (made most clear on both the night she led Workshop and their desires, jealousy, and fury when faced with Max (another creature that, though so much darker than Ava, is still an original piece of work that they can never recreate)). In the end, I think this text serves as a metaphor for the harshness of the creative writing process and how fine the line really is between creative genius and pure madness. I think that this is what made the text so nice for me, even if when I first read it I wouldn't have been able to put these thoughts together. I certainly want to reread it with more annotation to see if this belief I have still holds, since my brain was not as active as it should have been when reading this. Hence, why I believe it's something like an American Psycho instead of a Heathers.

Content Warnings

mellowreading's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a lot of fun. I don’t know if this book has a deeper meaning, I just took it at face value and enjoyed the weirdness.

Content Warnings

gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

4.0

dark funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a mind bender of a book. It was immersive and strange. It hit the nail on the head in terms of the grad school horrors - most of the characters were pretentious, entitled, absorbed in their own importance.

The twist that happened, came out of nowhere, and it was as delightful as it was grotesque.

I’m here to support women’s rights, but also I am here to support women’s wrongs

Content Warnings

jane_moriarty's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This seriously felt like a fever dream and I needed to pull myself back to reality after reading. Kafkaesk teenage fairytale set in an absurde lovecraftian New England university town.

Content Warnings

madeleinem13's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was an interesting book and at first I was ready to give up and then it got really good. Then it kind of felt meh again, and then the ending went back to really good. I really liked the message and how thought provoking this book was. There are a lot of things left unanswered like certain symbols and meanings, but maybe I just didn’t catch onto them I don’t know.

Content Warnings

danielatheinkdrinker's review against another edition

5.0

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I am flabbergasted. this book was a fever dream that I feel fucked my head up in the best way? idk I have so many questions and that alone makes it a brilliant book. Did I have absolutely no fucking idea what was happening the entire time? affirmative. go in this blindly, or read about it before I have no clue because: I spoiled the book to myself before I read it and I still have NO BLOODY CLUE what happened. my theory is I just know this book got me drunk on Melanie martinez and Lana Del Rey.

Content Warnings

helenamichelle's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

gabertron's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There is beautiful language in this book! And the story was captivating. Over all I just felt there could have been more exploration into the more fantastical side of the books world

Content Warnings

rstegema's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

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