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dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
What the actual fuck did I just read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Self harm, Violence
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dark academia meets magic meets absurdism. It more flirts with the ideas of dark academia, and I’m again disappointed that the book isn’t as absurd as I had hoped.
I enjoyed that the book focuses heavily on the psychology of the MC, and doesn’t sanitize the MC as a particularly likable person even when she’s an interesting character.
Prior to reading this I expected the book to be much more absurd, with a more subtle subplot that revealed itself at the end with many different interpretations. I personally feel that the reveal at the end was pretty clear at the end of the first part. I feel like it was a bit of false advertisement there, because it was much more linear and clear than expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Classism
Moderate: Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Confinement, Eating disorder, Rape, Vomit, Grief, Car accident
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
well, it had its redeeming qualities, but ultimately this book came across to me as confused, especially in terms of the themes it put forward. when there is so much surrealism in the plot that you're relying so heavily on themes, those themes could have been delivered more effectively imo!
and idk if the bitter feelings re: her own pretentiousness among other pretentious art students was a feature of the character or the author, but either way it really grated on my nerves. no, more than that, the narration was SO self-deprecating that it made me outright uncomfortable. i can see how it aids the theme insofar as talking about the empty performative nature of the professional art scene, but it still wasn't my cup of tea.
the reason i'm taking a good half-star off this review, though, is that the author uses slurs in her prose to make it sound more edgy. saying someone looked like "a r*tarded baby", or referring to romani people by the g slur in fetishistic imagery, or using 'schizophrenic' as an insult... idk what she was going for with this but whatever it was, it fell flat for me.
that being said the plot was very interesting and original, the prose was engaging, the relationship between the main character and her best friend really tugged a chord with me, and i liked the ending. just, not enough to overlook the issues i had with this book.
and idk if the bitter feelings re: her own pretentiousness among other pretentious art students was a feature of the character or the author, but either way it really grated on my nerves. no, more than that, the narration was SO self-deprecating that it made me outright uncomfortable. i can see how it aids the theme insofar as talking about the empty performative nature of the professional art scene, but it still wasn't my cup of tea.
the reason i'm taking a good half-star off this review, though, is that the author uses slurs in her prose to make it sound more edgy. saying someone looked like "a r*tarded baby", or referring to romani people by the g slur in fetishistic imagery, or using 'schizophrenic' as an insult... idk what she was going for with this but whatever it was, it fell flat for me.
that being said the plot was very interesting and original, the prose was engaging, the relationship between the main character and her best friend really tugged a chord with me, and i liked the ending. just, not enough to overlook the issues i had with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol
Moderate: Self harm
Minor: Ableism, Racial slurs, Racism, Murder
Main character is non-consensually drugged at many points.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
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:
Yes
I debated on my rating for this, but as I thought back on it and looked at it from different angles, I couldn't deny that this merits 5 stars from me. I went into this expecting something odd in the way that literary fiction often can be - the lines between reality and fantasy blurred, cryptic messages about ~*life*~, depressed (or depressing) characters...and we did get all that, but I didn't expect this to be a satire of sorts. It's so FUNNY! I felt a very Samantha-like horrified laugh bubble up in my throat multiple times. Once I realized that this was akin to campy horror like Jennifer's Body, that's when the book and I really "got along". It wasn't there to mock me with its absurdity, as if I wasn't intelligent enough to Understand Literature; instead it was there to poke fun at the very idea. Even the ending was funny to me, like the finale of a horror comedy movie where it's finally daybreak and the characters have to awkwardly stand there, eyeing each other and surveying all the damage in the light of the sun.
There's fantastic commentary underneath the absurdity that is easy to digest: Samantha's extreme insecurity, her hatred for convention while she craves it at the same time, the unattainability of perfect female friendship (her idea of it, at least), etcera etcetera. I might be in the minority who didn't guess the twist aboutAva , and now I want to reread the book with this in mind. Bunny is definitely an acquired taste. I'm pleasantly surprised that I ended up loving it so much.
Re-read in 2025: Still as great as I remember.
There's fantastic commentary underneath the absurdity that is easy to digest: Samantha's extreme insecurity, her hatred for convention while she craves it at the same time, the unattainability of perfect female friendship (her idea of it, at least), etcera etcetera. I might be in the minority who didn't guess the twist about
Re-read in 2025: Still as great as I remember.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Bunny is spooky, culty horror novel reminiscent of Jennifer's Body, Heathers, or Scream Queens. Samantha starts as an outsider and who often exudes "not like other girls" vibes; one of the Bunnies said something to the effect of her liking to wallow in her own grittiness and that's a fairy apt description. She seems to be staunchly anti-Bunny, not just for their cliquishness but also for their overt femininity. But like many good stories of the genre, I see how someone could be drawn into the fold. Tiny cupcakes, nice clothes, and a seemingly single-minded camaraderie sounds like a good deal, right? We soon learn though that their twee exteriors hide something not just passive aggressive but primal and dark. Overall, I really enjoyed Awad's book and think she did a better job than a lot of similar media at addressing the classism and underlying grief that inform stories like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, Self harm, Torture, Murder, Gaslighting
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Grief, Abandonment, Classism
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
throughout most of the book I was actually really disappointed in it and was think of giving it a two star rating :/ but after completing i read some thoughts and theories other people had in mind on reddit and it kind of influenced my opinion a tiny bit, but not enough to be more than a 3 still
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore
dark
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
Exposition was the best part and the author is great. This is more some sort of magical realism than horror. My brain feels actually numb after reading it. Overall feel very confused about both plot and how I feel about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, Toxic friendship