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A review by willowbiblio
Bunny by Mona Awad
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
"I mean, why bother if I'm just going to *tell you exactly*. Where's the fun in that? Why bother making art at all?"
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I didn't expect to be quite so smitten with this book, but here we are. Awad is incredible. This is a sort of mix of Heathers, Fight Club, a parody of The Secret History, and something entirely new. Throughout the book she drops hints about Samantha's condition- her extremely vivid internal landscape, talking to the bunnies,the woman on the bus reading the schizophrenia pamphlet. But she also consistently keeps the reader, and Samantha, guessing at *which* parts aren't real.
Samantha's extreme disdain covers for an immense longing to belong and be seen. Samantha is deeply lonely, so of course she becomes a Bunny for a time. She is an unreliable narrator- something I tend to dislike. But Awad executes it perfectly. We know that the Bunnies have always tried to include Samantha, but her solitude and separatness is integral to her selfhood.
The scene where "Rob" screamed at Samantha was so perfectly sequenced.Awad was describing these truly horrific scenes of murder of the Darlings and gore of the exploding bunnies, and yet they were balanced so well with the humor of dialogue and banality/inanity of bickering between the Bunnies that the scenes were tolerable.
Part 2 opened with repetition, but a shift. "They" became "we", and the singular first person "I" also became "we". Being with Ava created a clear switch back to that singular first person: a reclamation of self. I loved the parallel of Max waving to Ava, and Samantha to the Bunnies, and the way Awad was teasing the truth to the reader then.
I also loved how Awad's voice was so clear in the criticism fromBunny-Lion and Bunny-Ursula, sort of heading off critique of the novel itself. The characters, surreal quality, suspension of disbelief, immersion, and incredibly strong use of literary techniques was astounding. Mona Awad is a genius in this novel.
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I didn't expect to be quite so smitten with this book, but here we are. Awad is incredible. This is a sort of mix of Heathers, Fight Club, a parody of The Secret History, and something entirely new. Throughout the book she drops hints about Samantha's condition- her extremely vivid internal landscape, talking to the bunnies,
Samantha's extreme disdain covers for an immense longing to belong and be seen. Samantha is deeply lonely, so of course she becomes a Bunny for a time. She is an unreliable narrator- something I tend to dislike. But Awad executes it perfectly. We know that the Bunnies have always tried to include Samantha, but her solitude and separatness is integral to her selfhood.
The scene where "Rob" screamed at Samantha was so perfectly sequenced.
Part 2 opened with repetition, but a shift. "They" became "we", and the singular first person "I" also became "we". Being with Ava created a clear switch back to that singular first person: a reclamation of self. I loved the parallel of Max waving to Ava, and Samantha to the Bunnies, and the way Awad was teasing the truth to the reader then.
I also loved how Awad's voice was so clear in the criticism from