Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Bunny

genuinely so confused. a very good read, intriguing, and hard to put down. It feels like an A24 film as a novel. A24- if you’re reading this, please hit up mona awad.

Content Warnings

goldaerin's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging mysterious 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

2.0

Aims to be clever, doesn't even get to be pretentious. It feels vulgar, for the most part, and confusing to the point of sloppiness.

Content Warnings

alexiconic's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

kijatai's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings