Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Bunny by Mona Awad

132 reviews

scr1bblecat's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense 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

This book was genuine insanity. I highly recommend it but please be careful when reading it because you WILL get completely absorbed and also terrified. Laugh-out-loud hysteria in a nutshell. I adored this book and will be going back to annotate it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Gore, Body horror, Drug abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

alexiconic's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

well-written thriller, i really enjoyed the writing style and the mystery and twists. it was a very engaging book, and i enjoyed the unreliable narrator that samantha was. the vibes put in by the book, and the writing style, put in enough doubts early on that the twists feel just unexpected enough. the mysteries and weirdness really worked for me, and that was a huge surprise. the setting of creative writing majors in a pretentious college writing a final work worked so well, it was fascinating and relatable because i, too, am starting my final thesis.

but that was also frustrating. we got so lost in samantha's mind (which is an impressive writing feat, so clearly masterfully done), that it was incredibly hard to find the "point" of the story. the book feels like it has so much to say, so much that it can say, and i wish for there to be a "point" to it all. for the book, or the author, to tell me how to read it, how to interpret it. but maybe the beauty is in how multi-interpretable it is, in the end, and maybe the fact that i feel this frustration only means the writing is that good, because this is a book that i keep coming back to and re-thinking about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Gore, Self harm, Blood, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Violence

bootsmom3's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, and Gore

Minor: Mental illness and Injury/Injury detail

grunbean's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

This is my second time reading this. The first? I dipped out after the first chapter and condemned this as a a bad book with a narrator who’s ‘not like other girls’.

I was the one thinking I was not like other girls! I had part of the story spoiled for me and I knew I had to revisit it. After the first chapter, I was hooked and could not put it down.

Is the plot perfect? No. I have a good few questions and I’m still trying to wrap my head around things. But it keeps you interested. Every page was like being allowed another lick of your favourite snack, and I was definitely full by the end of it! 

Dark, funny, and a story that will confuse you as much at it coairvates you. I know this has a mixed response as a book, but I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Death, Toxic friendship, and Animal death

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

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

shacara_shacara's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Self harm, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Blood, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

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

trackingmothman's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Classism, Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, and Violence

jetromeo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Animal death

Moderate: Classism, Sexual content, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, and Self harm

Minor: Death of parent and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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