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laurataylor's review against another edition
- 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
1.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Blood, Animal death, Death, Dysphoria, Gore, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual content, Cannibalism, Cursing, Car accident, Bullying, Torture, and Violence
erebus53's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
The writing is poetic, weird, fanciful, evocative, and conveys a sense of claustrophobic, existential dread that could easily be described as paranoid schizophrenic. Cthulhu is mentioned more than once; whether the narrator is reliable or not, is your call.
A lot of the discomforting tone of the book is tapping deep into common stressors. Our main character Samantha is forced into group work (the horror!) with a clique of rich and sheltered young women who are completely self-involved, and codependent. She nicknames them "the Bunnies" because they use the term Bunny as an affectionate pet term for each other. This stifling environment is ruled over by an abusive tutor (treated as a mentor and carer) who is continually encouraging them to get uncomfortable and use their pain in their art.
I haven't read a story set in a school with a more real feeling of loneliness, insecurity, and anxiety.. and I have read a lot of YA authors. The girls derive their strength from subjugating their individuality, becoming a hive mind that is as oppressive as it is inclusive. To be accepted one must pay a great price, and even those on the inside are continually being torn down by the narcissistic cycle of love-bombing, gas-lighting, and passive/aggressive negativity. Every interaction feels invasively vulnerable. Every interaction feels like a trap.
The town around the campus feels barren. Although there are opulent houses, there are certain parts of town that are derelict. Samantha finds herself moving out of her stifling p*ss-yellow apartment, in a building full of people with mental illnesses, into a derelict building. She lives with an aloof gothic-punk girl who she attends tango class with, and who carries a hip-flask labelled "drink me". The Alice In Wonderland theme is riffed on, quite a bit. Their relationship is almost homo-erotic, but asexually so.
The Othering in this story is next level. Girls moon over fantasy boys who are often dead superstars like James Dean, or characters from Greek myth. They are made fantasy by being utterly unreal, un-attainable, and fetishised through being exotic or not even speaking English. I only realise this after noticing the sexualisation of the tutor who speaks with a Scottish accent. It's like they are so starved for stimulation, and yet so terrified of reality that they need to create abstracted lust. There is no vulnerability with a partner who isn't really a person, bunny.
Graphic: Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Classism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Mental illness, Gore, and Sexual violence
Minor: Vomit and Suicidal thoughts
ambenicole418's review against another edition
- 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
I can’t really explain this book or my feelings on it, but I feel like there is definitely some commentary in here on loneliness and isolation, and the lengths our brain will go to help us cope with these feelings, especially when we look at Samantha and Ava’s friendship. Honestly, I think I might have enjoyed forming my own/reading other people’s interpretations of this book more than I enjoyed reading the book itself.
I do wish we got to spend some more time inside the bunny cult though. Their hive mind dynamic, weird hybrid rituals, and how desensitized they were to all of it were the most interesting parts of the book, and it feels like we spent a criminally short amount of time with them in that space.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Body horror, Death, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Addiction, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Sexual violence
chloebaboey's review against another edition
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Death, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Death of parent and Rape
zosiahalbersztat's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Moderate: Death of parent and Bullying
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Murder
farida_amr7's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Drug use, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Sexual violence and Physical abuse
planetarykat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Self harm, and Sexual violence
spcandybars's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
It's aggressively sexual in like a weird biological way that is definitely intended to make you uncomfortable and succeeds at doing so. The weird aspects of horror aren’t all that weird at all but they’re surrounded by so many unlikeable characters, so much judgement, and so much melodrama, that it makes you uncomfortable anyway. I’m not usually a person that thinks it’s necessary to like characters or like the progression of events to enjoy a book but this was just so SLOW and unpleasant in its entirety that it feels almost unreadable in some places. I honestly continued just because I’d gotten so many recommendations.
I do think it deserves points for the idea itself. It’s interesting and the last few chapters move much quicker so the elevation into the fantastic and confusing is more satisfying than literally any other place in the book.
I honestly believe that if it was in someone else’s hands, they could have made something more successfully subversive, more effectively scary, and something that can be disturbing in visceral ways through its horror rather than disturbing your peace via sheer irritation at every person, place, thing, and line of dialogue.
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual violence
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, and Gaslighting
heyyitsmel's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Animal death and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
abbycrotts's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts
the gay subtext is extreme this book is gayer than the explicitly gay book i read earlier