Michael Finocchiaro's Reviews > Bunny

I have, like, no clue what I just read. A post-feminist Fight Club? A sort-of inverted Traumnovelle / Eyes Wide Shut? An appeal for Bunnies or an ode to wolves? The writing was interesting-very uber-millennial complete with emojis, selfies, self-indulgent musing, semi-pretentious name-dropping, sarcasm-laden descriptions.

I stare at them all through Kira's pink heart-shaped glasses. This is how she must see the world all the time. I look at their dark pink faces, so suddenly grave. I should call the police. I should run to Mexico. (p. 109)

Samantha/Smackie is a grad student at a prestigious (pour ne pas dire pretentious) university in a northeastern city (that strongly resembles Boston where the author currently lives according to Wikipedia). It is hard to tell apart what is pure fantasy from Samatha's overactive imagination and what is real, but she is definitely wired differently than just about everyone. Her erstwhile best-friend, Ava, is the polar opposite to the somewhat cannibalistic Bunnies (Eleonore/Duchess, Kira/Creepy Doll, Victoria/Vignette, Caroline/Cupcake) who are in Sam's writing Workshop with the formidable Ursula/KareKare. Ava represents her tragic past (mother died of a car accident when she was 13, her father on the lamb because of poor business decisions) and the Bunnies represent a privileged life which Facebook and Instagram and Disney promise to us if we are starborn and, preferably, white, blonde, and blue-eyed. Naturally, there is a tension between these two worlds existing in Sam's psyche which gets eventually personified in the Max/Ax/Wolf character later in the book. She is attracted to the capitalist dream that the Bunnies represent, but also repulsed by it - wanting to give in and wanting to fight, Ultimately, she only goes halfway: and that's when I realize that whatever pain I have, whatever true want I have that lives under all this greasy, spineless needing to please, isn't something I want to give them. (p. 169)

Things start out normal-enough and quickly become bizarre with violence, drugs, and sexual fantasies all mixed up like a frozen cocktail of Cray 👻🌷 (as one of the Bunnie's messages on Sam's phone might say). And then the reality drops out the bottom for about 2/3 of the book. There is a little bit of clarity at the end, but even that is elusive at best.

Overall, I would say it is a sort of amped-up, millennial version of a schizophrenic, anti-establishment story like Fight Club from a female perspective. A fun and interesting, if somewhat disturbing, read.