Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Bunny by Mona Awad

44 reviews

literary__mary's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I thought this book was just okay. I really liked the premise of it and the first few chapters, but then I got a little bored and frustrated with where the narrative went. It gets really fever-dreamy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicide, Drug use, and Sexual assault

tkatt20's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

This was not what I had hoped it was going to be. I was under the impression that this book was a horror/thriller about a cult that was really dark and twisted and had a big plot twist. Maybe if you're not looking too closely then this could be considered that, but not by much. There is a small and pretty predictable plot twist, that you only understand if you're actually paying attention to every detail, but otherwise I didn't find this very thrilling. Now that is totally on me for not understanding what I was getting into, but even if I had been under the right impression, I dont think I would have liked this at all. I'd say I was semi interested for the first 40% but after that it was just utter confusion. The entire book completely flips in content and pacing without much warning or explanation, so the entire time i was trying to connect things that didn't make sense together. I love a good unreliable narrator just like the next person, but once I'm spending more time trying to decipher whats real and what isn't, then you've lost me. It became clear very early that our main character was struggling with some sort of mental illness, but even without her I really didn't care about a single character. The writing style was interesting but became so repetitive, I mean, you can only read the word "bunny" so many times before going insane. There is a good 1/3 of the book that doesn't seem to fit pacing and content wise, that probably could have been omitted without much consequence. I can kind of see what the author was going for here, but with so many unanswered questions I can see why it gets lost on so many who read this. This would be perfect for you if you are looking for something slow-paced and open-ended, but if you want the vibes of a classic thriller then I'd look elsewhere. All in all, I would say this is not what it's advertised as, it's more like a story about a very lonely girl struggling with normal people things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Rape, Mental illness, Bullying, and Classism

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Abandonment, and Self harm

samokanikan's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book! I think if you get it, you get it, and if you don't, then you don't. And that's totally fine! I had some trouble understanding it in the beginning, as I don't usually read magical realism, but I really enjoyed it the more I read. It was super interesting and I loved that plot twist at the end!!!!!! 2022 is the year where I read books out of my usual comfort zone, the first one being "A Touch Jen" by Beth Morgan, and I'm having a great time. it.
Don't go into this book thinking it's gonna be a light read--quite the opposite! This book will make you think so you can understand the magic behind it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Gore

iamnita's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I've given myself some time to think this through - watched a few reviews on BookTube. 
This book is challenging. It's a very layered experience, where you can't 'shut off' while reading or else you'll completely lose both the plot and the direction we're headed. As such, a re-read may be necessary to see what even happened. I am one who didn't see the hype in this, maybe because it's strange, maybe because horror isn't my genre, maybe because I just felt like the book went right over my head.
It's divisive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Gaslighting, Blood, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Sexism

horizonous's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Car accident, Eating disorder, Murder, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Cancer, and Death

◦ Death = Parent
◦ Drug abuse = Being drugged
◦ Mental illness = Depression, PTSD, allusion to Schizophrenia

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.0

This book made me so angry. I do feel like there's something there about desire, that these girls can grant any of their own darkest desires but still come up with these like unthreatening neutered ken doll Disney princes, but the story doesn't really engage with that. Instead it delves into this extremely unrelatable portrait of female friendship where the main character hates the Bunnies while simultaneously being desperate for their approval (if they're so stupid why do you care if they don't like your story?????).

There is this bizarre extended sequence near the end that involves a twisted hallucination of two characters critiquing the book and honestly I agreed with everything they said so clearly this book was not for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Minor: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

kelseyland's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Extremely harrowing but unputdownable book about the ways in which niceness and shame can be weaponized among groups of women. Totally fucked up but I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Gore, Blood, Self harm, Murder, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Eating disorder and Death of parent

Minor: Stalking

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.

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief and Self harm

Minor: Eating disorder