Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Bunny by Mona Awad

30 reviews

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

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

Minor: Dysphoria, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

jneverland's review

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

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

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

suchsweetsorrow89's review

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

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

rustycups's review

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

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

lapetitepaola's review

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

sakurasarah's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I found this book very tense, disturbing & at times, confusing. I understand where the author was trying to go with it, however I feel that it fell a bit short of that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Cannibalism, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Torture, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

lokes's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Drug use, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Murder, Drug abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Car accident, Medical trauma, Self harm, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Rape, Stalking, Bullying, and Kidnapping

rozmaran's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense

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

3.0

It was confusing as hell, the ending disappointed me slightly but it kept me invested to the last page. Overall enjoyable read but overhyped. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Stalking, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual assault, Murder, and Rape

abibliophobic_nerd's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

I think I liked it. Just like I think I understood what went on in this book. You know what, this was just a big fever dream so maybe I didn’t get anything. At all.🐇

🌷🪓🧌👻

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Blood, Slavery, Animal death, Gore, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, and Gaslighting