Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Bunny by Mona Awad

34 reviews

scmiller's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Car accident, and Alcohol

livcab's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

bold_badger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Death of parent

jo_lzr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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

3.0

This is one of those books that I could sit here for hours and try to express my thoughts about it but I just don't know what to say. 
Firstly, there were some quotes and scenes in this book that I really did enjoy, whether they were poetic or completely insane. 
Honestly, I could just describe this book as creepy, crazy and sad (and a bit horny). 
Also, I enjoyed the author's sarcasm for the pretentiousness of some people in the art world. I think that it was done in a very smart way. 
On the other hand, there were some parts in the story where I couldn't understand what was happening, but I understand that this is the author's purpose. 
Overall, this was an interesting read hence why I am giving it 3 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Rape

bekiethebanished's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, and Dysphoria

jneverland's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

justmys's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I don't feel like this book was for me. 

I had to keep reminding myself that it was set in a university and not a high school campus, that the characters were grown adults and not wildly troubled teenagers. Everything just felt a little off, which was mayve intentional but left me unable to click with the story or writing. 

But, I'm also conflicted as I listened to the audio book version and found myself having to play it at double speed so as not to fall asleep from boredom with the way it was read. So, I'm unsure if I may have enjoyed the book more had I read a physical copy. 

Either way, an interesting book and premise, scary and challenging but not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Classism

suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

rustycups's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This just might be my best book of the year and it's only March. The desent and continuous madness of this book is somthing I've never read before and I thurely enjoyed it. Many people find this book to confusing at certain points but I think it is ment to be that way and has a charm to it. This book has so many remberable quotes and is the first book I have ever felt the urge to tab. Overall I love this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Grief, and Alcohol

lapetitepaola's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism