Hey everyone! Welcome back to our blog and thank you for your patience while life was life-ing; but enough about that, let's get into this wild novel!
Trigger Warning: VIOLENCE, BLOOD, GORE, ANIMAL GORE, ANIMAL ABUSE, DEAD ANIMALS, MAGIC, DRUGS, ALCOHOL, ACADEMIC TRAUMA, DEAD PARENTS, BAD PARENT RELATIONSHIP, POVERTY, BRAINWASHING
Whether we liked it or not, this novel was a wild ride for both of us. It is the kind of book that takes the reader by the hand, blindfolds them, and then drops them in a pot of boiling water. Bunny, Mona Awad's second novel, published in 2019, is a psychological thriller kind of slasher black magic tale that has a great premise that draws the reader in, but maybe doesn't know how to execute the consequences of the character's actions all too well.
We liked the concept of this book, but we did also feel that it was almost experimental in the wrong direction (or maybe the right direction without balance), trying to be new and different but maybe trying too hard to be exactly that. Something about the whole book felt like it was incomplete and lacking, especially towards the end. There were loose ends that were never tied, and that's totally okay for some readers, but it probably bothers most.
...this is coy and this is willfully obscure...Just say it!
Something we both loved was that when Samantha was with the Bunnies, her narration changed and made the reader feel drugged too. That's probably quite hard to do as an author, so it was nice to see some SHOWING and NOT TELLING, which is something that many fiction authors fall victim to. This also makes Samantha an unreliable narrator, which in turn makes the end of this story more questionable in a good way.
So, we need to talk about Samantha first. It feels like Samantha is reminiscent of Bella from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga in the sense that she specifically embodies the reader because she is hollow. She's really only there to experience the world around her and be lonely so the reader can relate to her, but this doesn't necessarily feel like a bad thing for Bunny. Because Samantha is rather normal at first, we get drawn into her just like she gets drawn into the Bunnies' Circle of weird violent animal magic.
As the novel goes on into the main plot, we begin to experience Samantha's drug-induced haze, which was VERY well done, and we begin to question ourselves as readers (Did I read that right? What is happening here?), thus Samantha does her job as an unreliable narrator and becomes another Bunny.
What's the lesson here, Smackie?...Never lower your gaze first.
Ava seemed to be the most divisive character in this book for us. Ceraya hated her. Brieanna hated her at the beginning. If Ava had not been a Conjure, and instead been a real human, her death would have had more severe consequences. Brieanna was taken by surprise when Ava was revealed to be Samantha's most powerful Creation in her death, but Ceraya was kind of disappointed because again, it felt like there were no consequences for anybody but Samantha. Ava and the WolfBoy (Max) were interesting because they were the best Conjures in the whole novel, but they were created by accident (kind of ) by Samantha, and the Bunnies and their weird rituals.
They smile encouragingly as they wait now for my words. As though I have words they want. They want me.
The Bunnies were by far the most fun part of this story. Creatively portrayed and honestly each a unique caricature of a weird, narcissistic, subtly different maniac. They were so similar you could barely tell them apart, but different enough to be recognizable, the four of them were definitely like a drug to the system. The aesthetics, the behaviors, and the different ways each of them spoke made them clever individuals who had a hive mind controlling them together. We loved the fun parts of Smut Salon. We disliked the constant destruction of the Darlings and the frequent manipulation tactics the Bunnies used on each other AND on Samantha, but that's what made the book interesting in the end. Watching an unreliable hero stumble upon the path to greatness because four psychotic telepathic witches decided to inaugurate you into their cult, and then watching that hero fight out of their grasp only to be revealed as the most powerful witch is quite an impressive feat to witness.
The Hive-Mind of the Bunnies and the weirdness of their connection were fun to read. After Samantha had been indoctrinated into the Bunny Mind, whenever she had dialogue, "Bunny" said.
Yes. Just I'm happy. I'm happy that you are. My friend.
Jonah, we liked a lot. We wanted more of him. The final words in the book make Brieanna wonder if Jonah is another one of Samantha's creations too, but there's no telling at this point. He seemed to be the only down-to-earth person in this entire book, mostly because he seemed to be getting help for his issues, unlike Samantha and literally everyone else who was real or not.
When he looks at me, I feel my rib cage open like a pair of French doors.
Max was quite interesting. WolfBoy, to us, seemed like an even more complex version of Ava. While Ava seemed to embody the difficult feelings Samantha had for her parents, Max looks a lot like the internalized hatred she feels for the Bunnies and herself. Max's interactions with Samantha hit a little more close to home than Ava's, and they also reflect what Samantha needs in the moment - her home.
You've been doing a lot of emotional growth, lately, that's clear.
"The Lion" had nothing to do with anything. He was just hot with a Scottish accent and had no name. We wanted more about him for sure. We even thought that if he had been in cahoots with the Bunnies as a Darling/Conjure or something he would have been much more interesting, and probably would have been the one to kill Ava in the end. Doesn't he have a book about killing women too? So that would have worked out.
Fosco was WAY more interesting and forgiving than we expected. Sure, she can be a pretentious genius, but her moments at the holiday party were very human and we appreciated her a ton in those moments. We really liked the questions she was asking and her presence at the end of the story.
We decided to have some fun and break down these characters into the different parts of Samantha's psyche.
Ava is totally Samantha's Ego, or at least reflective of it. The ego is “that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world.” (Freud, 1923, p. 25)
Max is TOTALLY the Id. "The id is the primitive and instinctive component of personality."
And the relationship between the Lion & Samantha is the complex SuperEgo of the story. "Freud’s superego is the moral component of the psyche, representing internalized societal values and standards. It contrasts with the id’s desires, guiding behavior towards moral righteousness and inducing guilt when standards aren’t met."
In the end with this book, we both felt like we were on drugs. Too many metaphors or symbols that weren't quite clear enough to make this story cohesive ran from page to page, and if the details had been just a tad clearer, this book could have been an overwhelming success.
Just because things are unreal or magical does not mean they are better.
-See you soon,
B & C
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