Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Bunny by Mona Awad

109 reviews

kayceeraereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Lol ummmm what I’m the world did I just read???? Think like a Heathers, Mean Girls, Frankenstein, with some Alice in Wonderland allusions sprinkled throughout. 

But on a more critical note, it was excellent and I devoured it in 24 hours.

It was abstract, the prose was beautiful without being too much of anything, and the magical realism was *chefs kiss.*

Part One and Part Three were strong; Part Two was a bit too much of a drug filled haze, but it did add to the story, it was just a bit slow.

Go read it, but check the trigger warnings!!!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

escapinginpaper's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

hannaheiserman's review against another edition

dark funny medium-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

5.0

Extremely fun, weird, surrealist critique of MFA programs and the act of writing in general. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying

fuitfortuna's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

honestly what the fuck did i read here

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

delita's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

(antes de leer el libro, te recomiendo leer las warnings que tiene)
wtf just happened.
si me preguntan de que se trata este libro, honestamente no sabria que decir. es mean girls meets pretty little liars meets heathers (no el musical lol), y eso hizo que me encantara.
tbh lo voy a considerar mi libro favorito. ame como la autora escribe, es tan crudo y simplemente perfecto. tr hace conectar con sam un monton y con todo lo que ella siente. lo que mas me gusto es que cuando esta con las bunnies, la narración cambia y eso hace que se note mucho mas la influencia de ellas sobre smackie.
ava y sam deserved better y me hubiera gustado ver más de max (esta parte fue genial)
una lectura perfecta para comenzar la spooky szn.
voy a ahorrar para comprarmelo en fisico porque tengo anotaciones que hacer xd

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

abbycrotts's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

4.25

i thought people were exaggerating when they said this was the weirdest thing theyve ever read and that you would barely be able to comprehend it but they were sooooo right. the first half (part 1 and the beginning of part 2) is pretty put together for the most part, and i really really enjoyed it. the bunnies were my favorite characters and thats when they were utilized the most. it also reminded me a lot of some of my favorite movies like jawbreaker and heathers. however, they were really the only part of the book i really understood or cared to understand. its not that i didn’t care for the book as a whole, i did, and i do, but the second (?) act is when shit really hit the fan and i didnt really understand what was going on. the last few chapters were like a ginormous puzzle my brain barely had the energy to pick apart. but aside from all that, i think im able to understand the core of it all.

im just not the biggest fan of the whole cliche “it was all in her head” trope when i really expected something real out of it all, which would have made it all the more interesting.

but, still an enjoyable read, super camp and fun (for the most parts except for when it gets pretty gross) and i would recommend it to people who want to read something to think about for months after :)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment

the gay subtext is extreme this book is gayer than the explicitly gay book i read earlier

lucystolethesky's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault

keen's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

What a ride. If I had to compare this book to any mean girl clique, it'd be the Heathers for the Heathers musical. The main character is even named Samantha Heather Mackey.

It's rare for me to finish a book in three days. To read 100 pages each day. On average, it takes me about a week to finish a book about 400 pages long. If a story's good, I'll read 40 to 50 pages daily. So, suffice to say, this book kept me interested.

I never thought I'd be able to care so much for unlikable characters. Samantha and her friend Ava are obviously flawed people. Not the type I'd want to hang around in real life, and might even actively avoid. Yet throughout the book, I still enjoyed them. I even found myself relating to Samantha to a worrying degree. And, thankfully, her flaws are directly acknowledged. Complaints I had with characterizations were relieved by that.

Then there are the Bunnies. At times, I forgot this book was a horror story. I would get comfortable with the Bunnies and think "I wish I was with them" before remembering what this book is about. Before remembering that I really wouldn't want to have to change my identity to befriend a group of girls. A few times I commented that I felt "rancid vibes" emanating from this story.

And the ending of the book. All I can say is that it makes a reread worth it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual violence, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Rape, and Stalking

words_and_coffee's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

 Bunny is a bit of a trip, it’s dark academia with magical realism elements and a very loose explanation... so if you need answers to every question it’s probably not for you. The story follows Samantha an outsider who has a class at her elite university with a clique of girls who call each other simply ‘Bunny’. The story feels like a hybrid of the craft meets heathers with just a little pinch of eraserhead.

I liked the surreal, dark atmosphere of Bunny and found that I clicked with the writing style, I do wish there was more light foreshadowing elements for later events, and for me the lack of a explanation wasn’t a deal breaker but I feel like I would give it a higher star rating if I had more of a explanation.

Character wise at the start I had a bit of a hard time settling into Samantha’s perspective I found her quite difficult to like, but as the book went on she grew on me. I found the bunnies are hard to differentiate from each other but I feel that was a intentional decision as they seen as pretty much a amalgamation rather than individuals.

Over all though I enjoyed Bunny didn’t love it

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm and Grief

Minor: Eating disorder