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samflowerv6's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“We never joke about bunnies, Bunny.”
I WORSHIP YOU MONA AWAD!! Any freaks who like this book (myself included) are my favorite.
“Can I take your coat?” Cupcake offers. I turn to her. She’s looking at me so hopefully. So willing to take a coat I’m not wearing, I almost want to give her my skin.”
“What do you think, Samantha?” Fosco asks me. That it’s a piece of pretentious shit. That it says nothing, gives nothing. That I don’t understand it, that probably no one does and no one ever will. That not being understood is a privilege I can’t afford. That I can’t believe this woman got paid to come here. That I think she should apologize to trees. Spend a whole day on her knees in the forest, looking up at the trembling aspens and oaks and whatever other trees paper is made of with tears in her languid eyes and say, I’m fucking sorry. I’m sorry that I think I’m so goddamned interesting when it is clear that I am not interesting. Here’s what I am: I’m a boring tree murderess. But I look at Vignette, at Creepy Doll, at Cupcake, the Duchess. All of them staring at me now with shy smiles. “I think I’d like to see more of the soup too,” I hear myself say.”
“I look at all of my dreams and nightmares distilled into one man-shaped shape. All the love and hate I have in my heart plus one fucking bunny.”
“Behold the lavish tent under which the overeducated mingle, well versed in every art but the one of conversation.”
“They laugh. What’s so fucking funny? I want to say. But I don’t. I laugh with them. Ha. Haha. Hahaha.”
How empty and emptied I felt walking away with all my words still on his floor. Wanting so badly to pick them back up. Take it all back. Wipe away the night, my dumb tears, my endless tumbling out of words. I never meant to give this to you.
“Their cheeks are plump and pink and shining like they’ve been eating too much sugar, but actually it’s Gossip Glow, the flushed look that comes from throwing another woman under the bus.”
“We've read Jane Eyre too, you cunt, and we've read The Waves, and when we read it, you know, we wept for minutes."
“Whenever I read one of Victoria’s vignettes, I always feel so dumb because I can hardly understand them at all. And then I blame myself. I think, Kira, this must be just too brilliant for you to grasp. Surely you must have missed something. Even though there’s always been this small voice inside of me that says, Um, what the fuck is this, please? This makes no sense. This is coy and this is willfully obscure and no one but Victoria will ever get this. I would in fact need to live inside Victoria’s spoiled, fragmented, lazy, pretentious little mind to get it. And who apart from us, apart from me, is going to be willing to do that? To work all night with a Victoria Decoder? Who would even care to? And then I feel like screaming JUST SAY IT. TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED. TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK THIS MEANS AND WHAT YOU DID WITH HIM EXACTLY.”
“Read. Be a guest in other worlds.”
I WORSHIP YOU MONA AWAD!! Any freaks who like this book (myself included) are my favorite.
“Can I take your coat?” Cupcake offers. I turn to her. She’s looking at me so hopefully. So willing to take a coat I’m not wearing, I almost want to give her my skin.”
“What do you think, Samantha?” Fosco asks me. That it’s a piece of pretentious shit. That it says nothing, gives nothing. That I don’t understand it, that probably no one does and no one ever will. That not being understood is a privilege I can’t afford. That I can’t believe this woman got paid to come here. That I think she should apologize to trees. Spend a whole day on her knees in the forest, looking up at the trembling aspens and oaks and whatever other trees paper is made of with tears in her languid eyes and say, I’m fucking sorry. I’m sorry that I think I’m so goddamned interesting when it is clear that I am not interesting. Here’s what I am: I’m a boring tree murderess. But I look at Vignette, at Creepy Doll, at Cupcake, the Duchess. All of them staring at me now with shy smiles. “I think I’d like to see more of the soup too,” I hear myself say.”
“I look at all of my dreams and nightmares distilled into one man-shaped shape. All the love and hate I have in my heart plus one fucking bunny.”
“Behold the lavish tent under which the overeducated mingle, well versed in every art but the one of conversation.”
“They laugh. What’s so fucking funny? I want to say. But I don’t. I laugh with them. Ha. Haha. Hahaha.”
How empty and emptied I felt walking away with all my words still on his floor. Wanting so badly to pick them back up. Take it all back. Wipe away the night, my dumb tears, my endless tumbling out of words. I never meant to give this to you.
“Their cheeks are plump and pink and shining like they’ve been eating too much sugar, but actually it’s Gossip Glow, the flushed look that comes from throwing another woman under the bus.”
“We've read Jane Eyre too, you cunt, and we've read The Waves, and when we read it, you know, we wept for minutes."
“Whenever I read one of Victoria’s vignettes, I always feel so dumb because I can hardly understand them at all. And then I blame myself. I think, Kira, this must be just too brilliant for you to grasp. Surely you must have missed something. Even though there’s always been this small voice inside of me that says, Um, what the fuck is this, please? This makes no sense. This is coy and this is willfully obscure and no one but Victoria will ever get this. I would in fact need to live inside Victoria’s spoiled, fragmented, lazy, pretentious little mind to get it. And who apart from us, apart from me, is going to be willing to do that? To work all night with a Victoria Decoder? Who would even care to? And then I feel like screaming JUST SAY IT. TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED. TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK THIS MEANS AND WHAT YOU DID WITH HIM EXACTLY.”
“Read. Be a guest in other worlds.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Gore, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Physical abuse, Classism, Violence, Body shaming, and Cursing
iwait4you'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? Yes
5.0
i loved it and i don’t even totally know what i just read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent, Car accident, and Drug abuse
r0ry_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Gore, Blood, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Drug use, and Self harm
Minor: Drug abuse
meecespieces's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, and Blood
rosemaryandrue's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
No matter how Samantha loathes the cliche of girls who make up the rest of her writing group, with their overwrought work and their insistence on referring to each other as 'Bunny,' she can't help but get sucked into their strange world when they invite her to join them.
This is a dark and satirical read which pokes plenty of fun at the pretentious streak that can run deep in the people who attend MFA programs - considering the author was one of them, the mockery is more authentic and amusing. But it's also an off-kilter exploration of intense loneliness and imagination which themes I found fascinating.
I didn't always like Samantha, but the space to disagree with her makes the book more enjoyable. I enjoyed the fantastical elements of the story and various twists and turns that burst out at me, all perfectly unpredictable. The writing is vivid and easy to follow even when things turn psychedelic, which is not always easy to do.
However, the book is definitely structured in distinct acts, and I thought that they did not always blend together as they ought. The various parts of the story - the Bunnies, Samantha's relationship with Ava, and Samantha's acute writer's block - coexist and sometimes overlap, but don't successfully gel together, which in the end lowered my overall enjoyment of the book.
This is a dark and satirical read which pokes plenty of fun at the pretentious streak that can run deep in the people who attend MFA programs - considering the author was one of them, the mockery is more authentic and amusing. But it's also an off-kilter exploration of intense loneliness and imagination which themes I found fascinating.
I didn't always like Samantha, but the space to disagree with her makes the book more enjoyable. I enjoyed the fantastical elements of the story and various twists and turns that burst out at me, all perfectly unpredictable. The writing is vivid and easy to follow even when things turn psychedelic, which is not always easy to do.
However, the book is definitely structured in distinct acts, and I thought that they did not always blend together as they ought. The various parts of the story - the Bunnies, Samantha's relationship with Ava, and Samantha's acute writer's block - coexist and sometimes overlap, but don't successfully gel together, which in the end lowered my overall enjoyment of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Body horror
Moderate: Bullying, Grief, and Drug abuse
batfacedliar's review against another edition
dark
slow-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? It's complicated
3.5
very weird, did not understand what was going on.
but kinda fun
but kinda fun
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug use
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Addiction, and Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
tfredenburg's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was never boring, but frequently frustrating. I enjoyed Awad's prose for the most part and appreciated the risks she takes with this story. Grateful that I found myself unable to relate since I've never been in such a toxic workshopping environment.
I do think the main thing I struggled with was pinpointing the satire. The Bunnies are clearly satire, but Sam herself (+ Ava) is such a capital O Outsider (an argument which the book so kindly preempts) that she also comes off as a cliche. Despite the fact I should relate to her in this way, it's hard to sink into her at first. The outsiderness is strongest when it focuses on real signifiers of privilege/lack thereof. Not so much when focused on superficial aspects of the super-feminine that are harmless.
Liked the queer subtext-to-text with Sam and Ava. Thought the Bunnies all wanting to screw Max at the end was fascinatingly psychosexual.
P.S. Found Sam's narration oddly ableist for a protagonist we're supposed to find sympathetic.
I do think the main thing I struggled with was pinpointing the satire. The Bunnies are clearly satire, but Sam herself (+ Ava) is such a capital O Outsider (an argument which the book so kindly preempts) that she also comes off as a cliche. Despite the fact I should relate to her in this way, it's hard to sink into her at first. The outsiderness is strongest when it focuses on real signifiers of privilege/lack thereof. Not so much when focused on superficial aspects of the super-feminine that are harmless.
P.S. Found Sam's narration oddly ableist for a protagonist we're supposed to find sympathetic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Drug abuse
Moderate: Ableism
leligavi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Gaslighting, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment
veroverovero000's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness
Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use
carla20's review against another edition
dark
funny
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Drug use, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Death of parent