bunny by mona awad explained?

[@jenahstautzenberger5302]

it’s so fun to read books that are intentionally ambiguous and let the reader come up with theories about what’s going on!!! I also rlly enjoyed Bunny 🐰

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

yes!! what are your theories? 🐰🐰

[@jenahstautzenberger5302]

@@onceuponanemilyreads I am having a hard time remembering but I think one of my theories was that Ava never existed at all

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

@@jenahstautzenberger5302 i saw some ppl talking abt this on reddit when i deep dived and i could totally see it!!!!

[@SammyBrown-yr7kl]

Jenah, I could not agree more. Spot on, nailed it, bullseye, YES!

[@Lilidrko]

one of the key key chapters for me was when she was in the bus and there was a woman reading ‚signs of having schizophrenia..‘ …… because i feel like she definitely has some kind of drug induced psychosis i think … but idk

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

oh my GOD i missed that, what a THEORY!! every little detail in this book can be dissected and i love that

[@SammyBrown-yr7kl]

thought the sam thing.............. hmmmm. could be on purpose, no?

[@SarahHoney-py6db]

The ghost theory is so interesting! My theory is that she was schizophrenic and all the characters were a mix between real people/animals and characters in her mind. Ava was a swan and the bunnies being women at her school. Kinda made sense for me because this could have been picked up by the bunnies and they took advantage of her and tried to get Samantha into their cult!

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

yess love that theory!!!

[@SammyBrown-yr7kl]

:)

[@atelieroma]

One detail that I noticed is how much the seminary teacher behaves and is referred to as a Mother. Practically the leader of a sect. Then it occurred to me if she was the one who taught the Bunnies to conjure darlings or if the Bunnies were the teacher's creations. It would explain how Bunnies seem like superficial characters, not at all human, with the childishness of darlings, but they have literary references due to the creator

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

OOOH big if true, definitely got alllll cult leader vibes from that woman!

[@kristenp6132]

i definitely read Ursula as having taught the bunnies how to conjure the hybrids. Constantly referring to the Body, her having an actual hybrid in her house, and her consistent validation of the Bunnies self destruction

[@SammyBrown-yr7kl]

I also noticed that. Good attention to detail, friend-o! :D

[@victorianwhovian]

I totally agree that this book is just Samantha’s story and she’s got writing block, it would explain the memory holes, the eccentricity of the book, and the language the bunnies use (very quirky and articulate vocabulary) The characters in the book are very much like story book characters. Also, perhaps there is a point in the book that Sam cannot distinguish reality from fiction, as this would explain the scene when she confronts the Bunnies. I also usually hate ambiguous ending. But this book’s ambiguity was perfect!! It kept us guessing throughout the book, therefore we didn’t leave the book with an empty feeling.

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

love this!! i’m 50/50 on ambiguous endings and agree that this one fits the book sooo well!

[@SammyBrown-yr7kl]

I like that the main charcater was name dSamantha. Reminded me of my own name - Sam.

[@sabs6212]

thank you!! As soon as I read the reviews on Goodreads I was upset that so many people were taking it face value. I think anyone’s personal theory is valid and fun but hating the book because you took it too literally is so crazy to me lol. I also thought that the book was an experience through writers block! I want to watch some videos of Mona talking about it (if they exist)

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

LOVE this yes 100%!!! oh my gosh i’d love to rabbit hole down her talking about it, if they exist my guess is that she is just as ambiguous as the book was

[@CoolcatzCorner]

I absolutely love this book. Such a unique reading experience. I like recommending it to people because if they love it I know we’ll probably get along. When a book is described as unhinged, written by a woman, and at 3.5 stars on goodreads the chances are I’m going to love it (ie all of Ottessa Moshfegh’s books)

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

i love the genre “unhinged women” i need to read more into it! what’s your favorite ottessa moshfegh book?

[@CoolcatzCorner]

I know it’s the popular choice but definitely My Year of Rest & Relaxation. I think it does a good job of being both a funny and emotional read while touching on heavy themes of grief and depression.

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

will definitely add to my list :)

[@parnaz1623]

One theory I've read online is that Samantha is schizophrenic and Ava is a figment of her imagination and that's why Ava disappears while she is hanging out with the bunnies bc they're giving her all these pills. When I started reading the book I was surprised that Samantha feels like a real person but Ava doesn't. Ava was written like a manic pixie dream girl and by the end of the book it made me think all the characters who don't act like real people might have been created out of animals which led my to the theory - now bear with me it's a bit of a wild one - that the bunnies themselves were made out of bunnies. This would explain why they act the way they do and why they're so childish. They also explain to Samantha that the "darlings" are infantile but that some of them do end up getting jobs. I don't have much to support this theory especially because the bunnies don't have some kind of deformity which seems to be a sign of being a "darling" and I don't know where they got all their wealth. However, the guy Samantha creates out of the stag also doesn't have a deformity sooo could be that someone made the girls out of bunnies and somehow they ended up learning how to do the same through the ritual. I mean how do they even know of the ritual in the first place? Mona Awad needs to write a prequel where the backstory of the bunnies is explained!!!

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

oh my GOSH MY HEAD IS SPINNING! i love this theory; i also read about the schizophrenia online!

[@parnaz1623]

Haha glad you liked it :D@@onceuponanemilyreads

[@susanalfieri4487]

****SPOILER ALERT**** Wait, I think the book is pretty clear that Ava was conjured up the same way the darlings were, but from the swan in the lake, yes? She never WAS real in the sense of a born & raised person. She was only real the way the other conjured "people" were; she was just a more successful conjuring. That's why the Bunnies invited Samantha into their group...because she'd had success in her conjuring (of Ava), whereas their iterations were so flawed. They wanted/needed her "power."

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

@@susanalfieri4487oh WOW i love this

[@susanalfieri4487]

@@onceuponanemilyreads Also, "kill your darlings" is common writing advice. So it's funny that Awad (likely intentionally) has the Bunnies (who are in a masters creative writing program) literally kill their "darlings" when they are sustandard. Journalist/columnist, writer, and professor Roy Peter Clark at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies (here in St. Petersburg, FL) even has a writing book (one of several he's produced, love him!) titled MURDER YOUR DARLINGS. So I think Awad is really playing with this terminology/phrase in BUNNY.

[@NicolesBookishNook]

I JUST finished this novel and I could see about 5 different ways to explain this novel because it is so open-ended and they could technically be true. This book took me 2 months to finish because how Mona write being batshit crazy and being high is on point, but it isn't very pleasant to read a lot of the time 😂

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

yes it was SO open ended! i can totally see how this wouldn’t be a book you want to pick up every day; i was the opposite and could NOT get to the end fast enough

[@Erika-pq7ip]

I felt like in a fever dream and tbh I loved it

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

100%!!!

[@keepingitup6117]

One of my personal theories about this is book is that the book bunny bases around the MC journaling her story in the mental ward, mainly because of the ending that convinced me that it’s possibly true, overall a great fun book to read

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

LOVE THIS! what about the ending made you think it’s true?!

[@skylare8268]

I had this same theory!!

[@lillietheoneandonly]

I ended up DNFing this book, I’ve been consuming a ton of theories and whatnot and I absolutely love your video, it makes me wanna go back to it and actually finish!

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

AH thank you for watching! 💌💌 you SHOULD!! it def improved halfway through!

[@SammyBrown-yr7kl]

What does DNF mean.................. Donkey Needs Food?

[@yeetfailure1017]

@@SammyBrown-yr7kl”Did Not Finish”

[@Arabesqueando]

The Ava's theory makes totally sense when you remember the strange thing Samantha says about the garden at the end of the book.

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

omg remind me what she said?!

[@Arabesqueando]

@onceuponanemilyreads at the chapter 34 she mentions more than once that "Max" is digging the ground... planting something. And at the chapter 38 Samantha says that there's a tree where she "buried her". Now I'm thinking about a bodie 🤭

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

@@Arabesqueandooh my GOSH

[@ellen5464]

You are so underrated!! I love this video! also you are so beautiful and talk so calm i love it

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

oh my gosh you are so kind!!! ❤️‍🔥 thank you, welcome!

[@RhiannaVarney]

I've just read this book and I loved hearing your theories! Great ideas :)

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

AH thank you!! did you have any good theories?!

[@RhiannaVarney]

@@onceuponanemilyreads I loved your idea that Samantha was the one writing the book 😊

[@emmaruthreads]

sooo interesting i can't stop thinking about it. i also thought that Ava was dead/killed by the Bunnies when she was gone for so long

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

it was definitely sooo sus !!

[@Ellier215]

Your 2nd theory made me think about the author. It’s like a mirror held up to the author. But that’s just me psychoanalyzing Mona.

[@Ellier215]

It’s very meta.

[@Ellier215]

I thought the ending was hopeful but I didn’t understand the mention about the mud.

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

hmm maybe mud to say “this is purposely unclear”

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

oooo this could be an entire rabbit hole!!!

[@by.sandee]

I also think this was written by the protagonist. Thank God, I'm not the only one who thought about this possibility hahahah.

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

would be so sooo cool, like bunnyception

[@savnicole]

Yesss! 🦢 But also, what about her "dream" she woke up from where she had feathers on her bloody hands?! And then later, a patch of Ava's hair was missing?

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

that’s so INTERESTING!! i didn’t notice that!

[@moonstruckdemoiselle]

How did I miss this dream thing😢 do u remember when this occurs? Or pg number?

[@Witchy_Reads]

I had a completely different experience reading this book, but I really enjoyed your analysis and theories.

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

i can totally see how someone would dislike this book! what was your experience?!

[@Witchy_Reads]

@@onceuponanemilyreads I'm a big character reader and instantly disliked Samantha. I also found her "friendship" with Ava a bit toxic, which turned me off. Not to mention the unrequited romance vibes I got from them. I then became obsessed with the idea of the released darlings infiltrating this town only to slowly go homicidal (the beheadings) and that it would have made for a much more entertaining and better story. It's never really touched on, and I was so disappointed. It's relatively minor things, but added together, made for a less-than-enjoyable experience. I know I'm one of the few who dislike it, but I'm okay with that. 😅

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

⁠@@Witchy_Readsoh my gosh that would’ve been so cool if the released bunnies were doing the beheadings! i almost thought that was the bunnies! can totally understand dislike for samantha, i honestly hated her character for the first half of the book and thought i was going to end up with a different opinion overall

[@midnightdreams8136]

What's your skincare routine though? We need a video on that!! 😍😍

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

pan oxyl & tretinoin & moisturizer

[@miana2707]

currently watching this because i had to read this book for a literary class in college :D

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

that’s such a SLAY!!!! what a fun book to read for a class!?’

[@uptongabe]

everything makes me think "what?"

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

what

[@Sydneyfc77]

Can you tell what your Tatts mean?

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

only a couple have meaning (2 are from books) others i just liked!

[@Sydneyfc77]

@@onceuponanemilyreads aw ok how many books do you read in a month?

[@stellalaitee8041]

Why did I hate it so much? I found it so boring and couldn’t keep up with it, but I loved the idea!

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

valid!! this book is polarizing; most folks seem to either love it or hate it!

[@sabs6212]

Also you sound so much like Gabby Windey from the bachelor i love it

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

hehe thank u

[@SammyBrown-yr7kl]

I THOUGHT THE SAME THING AHAHAHAHAAH

[@vitoriaschwarz1629]

I just finished and also thought... whaaat? 😂😂 my theories are more about eschisofrenia and mental hospitals 😂 kisses from Brasil!! 🇧🇷

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

it was quite a mind bender! those theories totally check out & oh my GOSH a hi from BRASIL is so cool!!! howdy from texas! :)

[@krulowamuchomorow2615]

off top but you kinda look like Alexandra saint mleux

[@onceuponanemilyreads]

please stop you’re going to give me a big head