Review By: Anonymous
Published: 2020
Genres: Fiction, Horror, Dark Academia, Magical Realism, Satire
Audience: Grades 11, 12, Adult
Number of Stars: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Goodreads Link: Bunny
Content Warnings: Cult-like friend groups, psychological entrapment, surreal violence, and body horror.
Publisher’s Summary
Samantha Heather Mackey is an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England’s Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination and her only friend, Ava, to the wealthy coeds of her cohort, Samantha is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing class. They are a clique of unbearably twee girls who call each other “Bunny” and seem to move and speak as one.
But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies’ exclusive “Smut Salon,” and find herself inexplicably drawn to their front door and into their magical world. As she begins to take part in their ritualistic off-campus “Workshop” where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her connection to her former life and her friend Ava is threatened by the terrifying power of the Bunnies’ friendship.
Review
Bunny (2020) by Mona Awad is a dark novel about a dark, academic world in a prestigious university in New England. The book follows Samantha Mackey, who is enrolled in the university’s elite graduate program in creative writing. Samantha, who is in many ways a loner, is drawn into a wealthy and eccentric clique consisting of her fellow grad students. This clique of girls, known as the “Bunnies,” has an obsession with each other that goes well beyond typical friendship. Samantha’s new friendship with the Bunnies quickly leads to a shadowy entanglement and psychological entrapment.
Awad’s writing style is very unique and in many ways unconventional. The book is packed with surreal imagery as well as creepy, bizarre interactions and circumstances. The story reads like an unsettling fever dream. Throughout the novel, I constantly questioned what I was reading. In fact, the novel was so surreal I decided to relive it a second time via the audio version. The book is comical and satirical as well. It is a mix of the movie Mean Girls with fairy-tale-like horror. I laughed the whole way through.
Mona Awad currently teaches writing classes at Syracuse University, making her a local favorite! I had the unique opportunity to chat with her one-on-one during a virtual event for an online book club. Taking a class with her someday would be a dream. If you enjoyed this, I also recommend her other works like Rouge (2023) and the 2025 release We Love You Bunny, which acts as both a sequel and a prequel.
📝 Academic & Creative Writing Connections
Because the novel is set in an MFA program, it offers a fascinating (and terrifying) look at the creative process:
- The “Workshop” Culture: The book uses magical realism to literally “bring stories to life,” serving as a metaphor for how writers sacrifice pieces of themselves or others for their craft.
- Satire of Elite Institutions: Discuss how the setting of a prestigious New England university contributes to the themes of classism and social “climbing.”
- Identity and the “Alter Ego”: Analyze Samantha’s friendship with Ava compared to her entanglement with the Bunnies. How does her sense of self change when she tries to fit into a group she previously despised?
