Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Bunny by Mona Awad

374 reviews

lisuh's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

Her writing is so beautiful, it’s similar to the way i write poetry or at least i’d like to think so. The plot is very unexpected and beautifully crafted. The pacing was perfect! I thought it was a slow in the beginning but now having finished the book, the pacing was exactly the way i needed to read it. 

Samantha as a character, is very well rounded although i didn’t particularly like her throughout the book. She comes off as very pretentious and hateful when really she is just lonely and looking. I relate to her so much because like her I also feel very alone and wanting to belong to someone or something just anything. Even though I hated her, I felt for her. 
Anyway I fucking love jonah and he was the best (real) character in the book. He deserves all the love and non cancer causing cigarettes in the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Animal death, and Blood

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

enyltiak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I understand why this is one of those books you either love or hate. I definitely enjoyed it. I also think it's just a very strong experimental piece of literature, regardless of enjoyment. It's weird and a bit confusing, but a very interesting critique on the nature of art and its study—the repeated mention of the Work, the Body, the Performance, etc ring really true as a creative writing major (and former illustration major/art school attendee). Once you finish reading it, you really need to take a step back from it and see the whole picture.

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Drug use, Gore, Classism, Bullying, Animal cruelty, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Death of parent

edwordallanhoe's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

A secret history but make it with feral girls. Every single one of these gals were more interesting than the Greek class combined. Batsh*t crazy, you think you know what's going on -- you don't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Violence and Body horror

Minor: Toxic friendship

areebapatel's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, Body horror, Death, and Cursing

jules_reads_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, Drug abuse, Animal death, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Self harm, Addiction, Bullying, and Body horror

Minor: Death of parent and Adult/minor relationship

likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, Murder, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Bullying and Death of parent

bubblyfemme's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I really liked this book but it missed the mark at the end by being so godamn confusing. 

I liked the blunt, kind of brutal writing style and some of the themes of art school elitism and the absolute waffle that some artists spew (I study English/creative writing, and it is sometimes ridiculous.) 

However at times it was giving ‘not like other girls’ with their tiny little cakes and frillily pink dresses and how that was oh so bad. Also, I know magical realism doesn't always explain the unexplainable, but there was too many questions left completely unanswered at the end. especially the twist which also felt slightly too unexplained to actually make sense and instead just there for shock value.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Murder, Body horror, Drug use, and Death

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Sexual content

gracieniems's review against another edition

funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

silly time, good popcorn beach/airplane reading. that lead character fucking sucks though, she’s the only thing that sours the fun.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Animal death, Classism, Bullying, Death, Body horror, and Blood