Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Bunny

Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

iwait4you's review

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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.

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r0ry_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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meecespieces's review against another edition

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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

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rosemaryandrue's review

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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.

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batfacedliar's review against another edition

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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

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tfredenburg's review

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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.

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