April 2022 Group Read #1 - Bunny

[Alan]

Our first Group Read for April is Bunny by Mona Awad. Please remember to use chapters/page numbers/percentage and spoiler tags when discussing. Happy reading!

[Rachel]

ooh, both picks for april are on my tbr! hope i can get to them both, but bunny is my priority read for sure since i can get it from my library. :D

[inciminci]

I'll also first join this read and then the other. With all the reviews stating it's disturbing and very weird, I'm really curious what awaits me. I mean, how disturbing can it really be?

[JasonA]

Picked this up awhile back on sale and haven't got around to reading it yet. Sounds like now is the right time.

[Marina]

I'm joining in! Excited!

[Michelle]

Ive already ready Winterset Hollow so I'm going to get in on this one. Looks good. I'm excited.

[Paul]

I’ve just finished Bunny! Still happy to join in the conversations obviously

[Saffron]

I've already read Bunny but loved it and hopefully gonna reread ^_^ and I hope everyone else who reads it enjoys it!

[Trista]

I just ordered this book so I can participate. I’ve been meaning to read Bunny for a while now and I’m super excited!

[Patrick]

I've started this, I've read 9 chapters so far. I'm really not sure about it yet. The writing style is quite tough to read and up to now it's like a book version of Mean Girls or Clueless, which to a 37 year old Irish man is not really my thing! I'll stick with it and hope something interesting happens soon.

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings)]

Excited to get into this!

[Kimberly]

I've already read this one, but will be following along in the discussion to see everyone's ideas of it!!!!

[Elizabeth]

Oh this book. I am so looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts on this one! I cannot even really describe this book. It is just one you have read and then ask yourself, "what. is. this. book?!" haha. Happy reading everyone!

[evangelos]

I will join and read this.

[LTJ]

About to grab my copy now and am excited to read this with you all in April!

[Joseph]

Count me in!

[Joey's deathly tomes of death]

who would have thought that an aquarium could be so treacherous.

[afrijackson]

Read this last year and absolutely LOVED it. Hope everyone enjoy it as much as I did; and buckle up, you're in for a ride.

[Joey's deathly tomes of death]

I'm on chapter 7 and I find myself wondering if any of this is real, Ava, the bunnies, the school, The Lion.
Of course Jonah is real...

[Patrick]

So I just finished this and I have no idea what to think! On the one hand I really didn't like it, the writing style was annoying and it was far too weird despite not a whole lot actually happening. But on the other hand I found it quite compelling and it kept me interested throughout.

I didn't enjoy the plot, there was a distinct lack of horror throughout, and I found all the characters intensely annoying and yet I still kinda enjoyed reading it.

A VERY odd book, not one I would have chosen for a horror reading group.

[Alex]

Starting it tonight. I cannot waitttttt!!!

[Baylie]

Just checked it out from my library! Can’t wait to start it!

[Khara]

Alan wrote: "Our first Group Read for April is Bunny by Mona Awad. Please remember to use chapters/page numbers/percentage and spoiler tags when discussing. Happy reading!
"

I am so excited about the two announced reads for April. They were both already in my Amazon cart ready to buy. This will be my first month participating in the reading group. I'm very excited about these two books and looking forward to our conversations about them!

[Jade]

I got both reads for April! They were both on my TBR so I’m very excited 😊

[caity]

excited for this one. it’s been on my tbr for a while, and i just bought it.

[Alex]

I missed last months read but Bunny is already sitting on my shelve :)

[LTJ]

I can't wait to start this one once April is here. Just a few more days to go!

[Jacqueline]

Waiting for my copy from the library!

[LTJ]

Nice! I bet it'll be ready on Tuesday :-)

[Mary ♥]

So excited to join in on the fun! It'll be my first read with the group. <3

[Zinge]

I'm in! :D

[Khara]

I'm on Chapter 10 and I love it and hate it at the same time. (No spoilers, I promise.)

I love the academic setting, the implied dark academia, and the mystery of the bunnies (the literal rabbits). I don't want to put the book down.

I hate the Bunnies. They are definitely a group of women that I have known my entire life and have always been outside of and annoyed by. The pet names, the hugging, the cliquishness.

But, I'm loving it and I can't wait to see where this is going. I definitely need to know more about The Lion. What's his deal and what's going on there?

[Baylie]

I’m only on chapter 3 but I’m intrigued!

I went into this book pretty much blind and I think I’m going to enjoy this one a lot!!

[Trista]

I’m on page 71 so far. First of all, it’s giving me mad flashbacks to my own creative writing MFA program. Second of all, I actually like the Bunnies more than I like the main character or her best friend. We are seeing the bunnies through her POV so from her perspective they seem really irritating, but when she describes them individually they actually sound pretty interesting (bizarre, but interesting) whereas the MC comes off as a judgmental, generic loner.

This is just my hot take, of course.

[Trista]

I just finished and I’m honestly obsessed.
My review (no spoilers): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings)]

Trista, same! I'm finding the Bunnies a lot more interesting (I relate so hard to Creepy Doll in that looks-too-sweet-to-love-horror-movies way), and Samantha just comes off jealous and lonely. I'm only about a hundred pages in, and it's very strange. Definitely nails the graduate school vibe, for sure. I'm interested to see what happens! (view spoiler)[And why there are heads exploding out of nowhere. (hide spoiler)]

Also, it's only a theory at this point, (view spoiler)[but did anyone else get the sense that Ava is just in Samantha's imagination? It seems like no one else has interacted with her yet. 😅 (hide spoiler)] She flat out tells us she lies a lot, so we know she's not the most reliable narrator.

[Khara]

Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) wrote: "Trista, same! I'm finding the Bunnies a lot more interesting (I relate so hard to Creepy Doll in that looks-too-sweet-to-love-horror-movies way), and Samantha just comes off jealous and lonely. I'm..."

Oooooh! I didn't even think about that! I think you might be onto something with your unreliable narrator theory.

[Khara]

Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) wrote: "Trista, same! I'm finding the Bunnies a lot more interesting (I relate so hard to Creepy Doll in that looks-too-sweet-to-love-horror-movies way), and Samantha just comes off jealous and lonely. I'm..."

Also, I love the names of your bookshelves! :)

[Trista]

Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) wrote: "Trista, same! I'm finding the Bunnies a lot more interesting (I relate so hard to Creepy Doll in that looks-too-sweet-to-love-horror-movies way), and Samantha just comes off jealous and lonely. I'm..."

Absolutely. Samantha is an extremely unreliable narrator, which I love. I also think it’s kind of nuts how she’s very against assimilation, but she’s totally willing to be guilted into co-dependence by Ava. And her inability to convey what she’s actually thinking is like… almost impressive. She almost has like this inception onion of various denials happening. I think Samantha sucks, but she’s really interesting.

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings)]

(view spoiler)[I'm honestly not certain about much of anything Samantha has told us so far, even the exploding heads. Kira kind of hints that didn't happen the way she saw it, but she could also be gaslighting her to protect the Bunnies. (hide spoiler)]

Aw, thank you so much! 🥰 skhskjh you have a Christopher Pike shelf! That makes my horror movie heart so happy.

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings)]

Trista wrote: "Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) wrote: "Trista, same! I'm finding the Bunnies a lot more interesting (I relate so hard to Creepy Doll in that looks-too-sweet-to-love-horror-movies way), and Samantha..."

I don't think she is against it, tbh. It's easier to hate the Bunnies than admit she'd like to be one of them. That's a really good point about Ava too. (view spoiler)[Ghosting her for a week and acting like she didn't was meaner than anything the Bunnies have done to her (so far). (hide spoiler)]

[Trista]

Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) wrote: "[spoilers removed]

Aw, thank you so much! 🥰 skhskjh you have a Christopher Pike shelf! That makes my horror movie heart so happy."


(view spoiler)[ At this point in the book (heads exploding and whatnot) I had considered magical realism. I’m a huge fan of absurdist writing so I was adequately able to suspend disbelief. At this point I also had a very similar feeling about Ava. (hide spoiler)]

I do find this book does have an absurdist lean, but to what extent, right? I just kinda resigned myself to stuff not making sense at hopped aboard the crazy train 😂

[caity]

Anyone else getting a little bit of Heathers vibes from this??

[caity]

Update: a clearly ~very original~ thought after skimming other reviews for approximately 30 seconds... haha oops!

[Khara]

caity wrote: "Anyone else getting a little bit of Heathers vibes from this??"

Yep! For sure.

On my status update on my profile I said Clueless + The Craft + Heathers + Scanners vibes.

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings)]

That crossed my mind too! (view spoiler)[Possibly some sort of cult/occult business with the Bunnies, since that whole party was off. Weird mind control vibes with the guys. (hide spoiler)] I'm totally good with not knowing what's going on yet. 😂

Definitely an 80s black comedy vibe!

[Trista]

caity wrote: "Anyone else getting a little bit of Heathers vibes from this??"

Absolutely, but I also thought of Jawbreaker and (view spoiler)[ Fight Club (hide spoiler)]

[caity]

Trista wrote: "caity wrote: "Anyone else getting a little bit of Heathers vibes from this??"

Absolutely, but I also thought of Jawbreaker and [spoilers removed]"

Spot on.

[evangelos]

Just finished part one. In the beginning I was not sure what this was going to be about, but start enjoying it now.

Heathers and Craft vibes agree completely, and Mean Girls too.

Wouldn't have normally picked this up, so interesting to read it with the group.

[Alex]

I read this book last month and absolutely loved it! Definitely got the Heathers and Craft vibes, with some Stepford Wives thrown in for good measure. I love unreliable narrators and books that leave you wondering what was real and what was imaginary, looking forward to hearing other peoples' thoughts!