Bunny by Mona Awad

Published 2019 · 384 pages · 89,444 words · about 10 hours at an average pace · Horror, Literary Fiction, Satire & Humor

How hard is Bunny to read?

Bunny scores 70 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 58 out of 100
Awad employs a contemporary, literary vocabulary, using words like "demitasse," "offal," and "saccadic." While not overly obscure, the language is elevated and precise, contributing to the novel's distinct voice. This is similar to the vocabulary in *The Great Gatsby*, which is elegant but accessible.
Sentence structure: 55 out of 100
The sentences in *Bunny* vary in length and structure, often incorporating descriptive clauses and parenthetical asides. While not as extreme as the long, winding sentences of *In Search of Lost Time*, the syntax requires careful attention to follow the narrator's train of thought. The book uses balanced, rhythmic sentences similar to *The Great Gatsby*.
Abstraction: 68 out of 100
The novel blends concrete descriptions of university life with explorations of identity, creativity, and the nature of reality. While the narrative is grounded in the protagonist's experiences, it delves into philosophical questions about art, belonging, and the self. This level of abstraction is similar to that found in *2666*, which is grounded but probes meaning.
Information density: 62 out of 100
Awad packs a considerable amount of detail into each page, from descriptions of settings and characters to explorations of complex themes. The narrative requires active engagement from the reader to process the layers of meaning and symbolism. This is similar to *Lolita*, which has a rich texture but flows.
Narrative indirection: 75 out of 100
The novel relies heavily on the narrator's subjective perspective, leaving the reader to question the reliability of her perceptions. The line between reality and fantasy blurs, requiring the reader to actively interpret events and motivations. This is similar to *Lolita*, where the unreliable narrator requires reading against.
Symbolic density: 78 out of 100
The novel is rich in symbolism, with recurring motifs such as bunnies, blood, and transformations carrying deeper meanings. The characters and settings often function as allegorical representations of themes such as conformity, creativity, and the dark side of female relationships. This is similar to *The Great Gatsby*, with its green light and valley of ashes.
Ironic distance: 72 out of 100
The novel employs a significant degree of ironic distance, as the narrator's sardonic observations and self-deprecating humor create a gap between what she says and what she truly means. The reader must discern the underlying emotions and motivations beneath the surface of her witty commentary. This is similar to *Lolita*, with its seduction of unreliable charm.
Resolution withholding: 80 out of 100
The novel leaves many questions unanswered, particularly regarding the nature of the Bunnies and the events that transpire at their gatherings. The ending is ambiguous, resisting closure and inviting multiple interpretations. This is similar to *2666*, where mysteries are unsolved and violence unexplained.
Structural complexity: 65 out of 100
The novel features shifts in time and perspective, as the narrator's memories and fantasies interweave with the present-day narrative. The blurring of reality and illusion adds to the structural complexity, requiring the reader to navigate multiple layers of meaning. This is similar to *Midnight's Children*, with its multiple timelines and flashback-heavy structure.

How Bunny is regarded

Bunny holds a literary regard score of 36 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Where Bunny sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (145 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, Bunny scores 73 out of 100. A second mythos, tragedy, pulls at it with a weight of 0.3. About the map of stories.

Mode: Ironic
"That's what you think you saw, okay?" Saw. I think of the silver, toothy blade that cuts things.
Symbol: Mythical (Archetypal)
SO THEN AVA SAYS I SLEEP FOR LIKE A THOUSAND YEARS. SLEEPING BEAUTY among her briars has nothing on me.
Mythos: Ironic Satire vi (irony vi)
"Sure, Samantha," says the mud, "I'd love to."
Genre: Novel + Anatomy + Confession
Can you conjure hybrid spaces? Can you perform the Body and have the Body perform, literally ? Can you make a Viking masseuse? A pre-TB Keats? A talky Tim Riggins?

Where the story of Bunny takes place

  • Warren University, the 2010s (2015 to 2019), the main setting

Scenes in Bunny that Frye would name

33 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Sparagmos, passage 130
the giant dead swan with the ax in its back lying in the middle of the room, its white wings extended as though poised for flight, a pool of dark blood oozing from its giant body. The novel's culminating dismemberment - Ava's death, disguised as a killed swan - the true sparagmos the whole pattern of exploding Drafts had been rehearsing toward.
Anagnorisis, passage 133
I stare at his face. The knives and the wolf have fallen away like so much costume makeup. His features no longer shift... His face is simply my face. Undisguised at last. The novel's decisive recognition scene - Max's composite face resolves into Samantha's own, confirming he is a projection of her own loneliness and desire, the pivot the whole book has been building toward.
Confession, passage 4
Why do you lie so much? And about the weirdest little things? my mother always asked me. I don’t know , I always said. But I did know. It was very simple. Because it was a better story. Direct statement of the narrator's compulsive self-mythologizing, the confession's organizing psychological principle.
Sparagmos, passage 30
That’s when Rob Valencia’s head explodes. Literally explodes. Blood and brains all over me, the walls... Bits of skull falling on the hardwood floor like hail. First literalized tearing-apart of a conjured body, confirming the magic is materially real rather than metaphorical.
Sparagmos, passage 42
Raises the ax high above her head... A cracking sound that makes my skull thrum. Then a heavy thud. Ritual killing of a failed Draft, ax dismemberment repeated as a cyclical process ('kill your darlings' literalized).
Pathos, passage 130
“Max,” I say and I hear the great crack in my voice, right down the middle of his name. “What is this? What happened?” But he doesn’t answer me. The book's true emotional death scene - Ava's murder - discovered and mourned in real time, the strongest pathos in the novel.

Books that share these scenes with Bunny

About the author

Mona Awad