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A review by incipientdreamer
Bunny by Mona Awad
4.75
Kill your Darlings
Mona Awad can write. Her books seem to often feature an unreliable narrator and lots of Weird stuff going on, but despite the fogginess of the narrative her characters all have distinct voices. The second thing she does really really well is write raw relationships. The human-ness of ordinary relationships seen through a horror lens is something I never knew I needed but Awad provides with great delight. The way she writes about female friendships, the obsessiveness and the utter brutality with which we love/hate others is just amazing. I think I might have to put Awad on my top fav writers because holy shit the writing is witty, disturbing, tragic and feels so so raw.
Bunny might have made me feel like I was living through a fever dream, but the way the sentences flow off the pages! Despite being very dark, there are some elements of humour sprinkled in that really hit the spot when the story goes its absurdist paths. I am not a big fan of gore, but I seem to love Awad's style of gore, where the gore is more there for texture and less for pure shock value.
The themes of sexuality and friendship and where they blur, the way Awad depicts the artistic process, and her commentaries on classism and racism in prestigious art colleges. The way the book is half satire half horror half plain naked truth is absolutely wonderful. This was the modern Heathers I so desperately needed (Awad even cheekily hints at the movie by mentioning Christian Slater and his bomb in a trenchcoat).
This was the second book I read by Mona Awad; the first being Rouge which was also really good but the pure joy and horror of Bunny remains unmatched. Give me more of Awad's writing, please.
Mona Awad can write. Her books seem to often feature an unreliable narrator and lots of Weird stuff going on, but despite the fogginess of the narrative her characters all have distinct voices. The second thing she does really really well is write raw relationships. The human-ness of ordinary relationships seen through a horror lens is something I never knew I needed but Awad provides with great delight. The way she writes about female friendships, the obsessiveness and the utter brutality with which we love/hate others is just amazing. I think I might have to put Awad on my top fav writers because holy shit the writing is witty, disturbing, tragic and feels so so raw.
Bunny might have made me feel like I was living through a fever dream, but the way the sentences flow off the pages! Despite being very dark, there are some elements of humour sprinkled in that really hit the spot when the story goes its absurdist paths. I am not a big fan of gore, but I seem to love Awad's style of gore, where the gore is more there for texture and less for pure shock value.
The themes of sexuality and friendship and where they blur, the way Awad depicts the artistic process, and her commentaries on classism and racism in prestigious art colleges. The way the book is half satire half horror half plain naked truth is absolutely wonderful. This was the modern Heathers I so desperately needed (Awad even cheekily hints at the movie by mentioning Christian Slater and his bomb in a trenchcoat).
This was the second book I read by Mona Awad; the first being Rouge which was also really good but the pure joy and horror of Bunny remains unmatched. Give me more of Awad's writing, please.