In this issue of Bookisshh, we’ll take a look at the novel, We Love You Bunny by Mona Awad. It’s a campus novel that interrogates cultish MFA writing programs. The story also examines the lengths Ivy leaguers will go to exert esoterica upon academia. There’s a lot of wealth and racial privilege seated in seminars on campus. The story centers around a group of female graduate students who are insecure about their writing.When challenged about their writing the Bunny coeds become a hysterical Bunny cult who will stop at nothing to regain their confidence. When the story begins the Bunnies have graduated and are back on campus for an event. They are exerting revenge on a lone wolf non-Bunny classmate who has become a celebrated author much to the Bunny’s chagrin. They take the lone wolf girl hostage because her success is due to a violent story that involved them. You had to read Bunny, Awad’s previous book to know all that, but Awad recaps in We Love You Bunny—albeit the author states can be read as a stand alone novel.

During We Love You Bunny readers will witness toxic female friendships. Readers will face female hysteria and patriarchal systems imposing on both women and men. The story explores struggles within zones of female creativity viewed as patriarchal imposition. Additionally, there are male struggles with identity confusion. Awad’s satire is gothic, dark, politically challenging, commercially opportunistic, filled with gore, and capitalistically degrading. Sheesh! It sounds like I didn’t enjoy this book and at yet in ways I did…

Author, Mona Awad used to be an auto-read for me. Her writing masterfully employs magical realism in just the right amounts. This approach interrogates issues affecting the lives and minds of women. Awad’s writing collages, layers, and live-activates. It incorporates smell-o-vision, butchery, and is a wee bit witchy. It also includes installation art, fashion, and fantastic playlists. Awad’s work explores fairytales, poetry, Shakespeare, and Jungian and Freudian psychologies. Awad draws from classical literature, waves of feminism, and beauty myths. The narratives consider both the female and male gaze alongside body horror. This is just the shortlist.

Yet, in We Love You Bunny, Awad utilizes her creative tools extensively. She does this on almost every page. It’s as if Awad has spent a month roaming an inspiration shopping mall. She threw EVERY on sale trend item into her freebie tote. Then she tossed them into a commercial grade mixer along with her laptop and her original book, Bunny. After this, Awad recited incantations mixed with Shakespeare, Ginsberg, and music from the 80s and 90s. She poured it into a layered sheet cake mold shaped like a book. After baking for 6 years, out pops the prequel/sequel, We love You Bunny. It took 6 years to bring this book back from its afterlife. The book achieves two things. It brings back sales for her earlier book. It also burdens the reader with time/opportunity decision-loop considerations. Smart and selfish don’t you think?

The Bunny novels have a cultish fanbase. If you follow Bunny affiliated hashtags on social media, you’re submerged into a vibrant world. In this world, women are on the edge of fashion and kink. The lace is dark. The heels are skyscraper high. There are all shades of pink and purple. The vibes express, “You can look but do not touch.” Many posts feature dark-haired women. They wear vintage or conceptual clothing. These women incorporate a bunny mask or ears. For the prissier Martha Stewart types, there are bookclub or holiday pajama parties. These events feature pink bowed rabbit sugar cookies in cellophane gift bags. Afternoon tea styled miniature sandwiches and pastries are served. Champagne in flutes and a gaggle of girls with fresh blowouts. They wear white faux silk pajamas from Amazon. They’re having fun as they do the version of feminism they’ve extracted from these novels. For the dark warrior, punky, Scottish culty bunnies, many posts were staged in forestry or dramatic interiors. These girls wear various plaid and mini skirts. They also wear ripped tights and layered torn edgy T-shirts. They have on dark polish and severe makeup. Dark bunny masks or ears complete their look. These bunnies have a “F around and find out” attitude. No matter which bunny you align with as a cult member, you use the hashtag: we love you bunny. The author, Mona Awad, put a lot of effort into liking and commenting on her “fans” Instagram feeds.**I don’t use TikTok so I have no comment on the posting that happens there. Nonetheless, when the campaign launched at the end of summer to early fall for this book, Instagram was flooded. Some beautifully creepy merchandise flooded the market. Then it went silent.

As earlier mentioned, 6 long years passed between Bunny and We Love You Bunny. That’s a long lapse in time to remember plot and character. What remained mostly for me were vibes. There was internalized misogyny between female characters. I observed a Frankenstein-esque transformation of men who are composited with rabbits. Additionally, there was commentary about Ivy League MFA writing programs. I didn’t have time to re-read Bunny. I wanted to fully enjoy We Love You Bunny (a whopping 479 pages) and stay on my editorial calendar. So I listened to the audiobook for Bunny. The narrator was too cutesy. It reminded me of Heathers or Scream Queens. Both of Mona Awad’s Bunny books are compared to a mashup between Frankenstein and Heathers. I don’t disagree and yes it’s this AND more. If you’ve watched American Horror Story then you’ve probably watched Scream Queens. Both series are directed by Ryan Murphy, a king of satire and campy horror. We Love You Bunny should be directed by Murphy. It is campy and satirical. The story really pokes fun at women, academia, and patriarchal systems. I watched most of Scream Queens during cardio workouts. The pitchy voices made my ears hurt. We Love You Bunny produces a similar effect. It’s VERY voicey. Characters shout and speak as if they’re at a party all the time. After all, the book is set within a college campus during Halloween time…

In We Love You Bunnyt it’s structured into five parts and each is narrated by one of the characters in the story who are the hostage holders. The lone wolf girl, also named Samantha is gagged, kidnapped and forced to listen to their versions of what happened in the earlier book, Bunny. They all tell their versions of the same story which explains the hefty page count. The experience of reading this reminds me of a skirt I bought it at a street fair. It is a wrap skirt and can be tied into 18 different skirt/dress options. I lost the card that shows you how to do the different skirt options. So I kept tying, wrapping and unwrapping the skirt. I ended up wearing said skirt the same two ways all the time. That’s how it felt having the story unfold and re-fold and unfold again. It really began to feel tedious and pointless. I wanted to put it down. There were so many pages left to go.

What kept me reading was how immersive the setting descriptions were. The settings were film-like or theatrical. It will be interesting when the production company, Bad Robot Productions adapts Bunny. I am excited to see the jewel-toned moods, the range of fashion and costumes, and rich architectural settings. I’m curious for the portrayal of magic and gore imposed upon the poor bunnies at Warren College. The book also includes sociopathy and feminist commentary which transcends first second and third wave feminism. Apparently in Awad’s world no women are getting it right. A sore spot for me is harmful practices on animals I don’t like to see them experimented upon, exploded or buried. It rubs me the wrong way, even when used for comedic purposes.I’ve liked Awad’s other books which is why I read to the last page because the author does something much different in this book than in others. She explore male characters.

Awad is hard on men. In fact, the only male with positive male influence and presence is Shakespeare. Shakespearean themes and words pepper the novel throughout. To this end Shakespeare’s states of torment read as romantic, lush, and beautiful. But Shakespeare is not a character in this book and Aerius is. Aerius is created by all of the Bunnies who during a fit of female hysteria much like the Salem witch stories emote and incant him into existence outside near a rabbit Warren during the evening. You should note that Aerius is part rabbit, part dandy, and part red haired pirate. What goes into Aerius are ideal male qualities desired by each of the Bunnies as well as each a conglomeration of shadow selves, belonging to each Bunny cult member. Aerius is also the only character who the Bunnies seek physical affection from. Aerius has deep knowledge of all of the female characters and their psychic wounds, and is therefore considered perfect because he understands each and every one of them. Aerius also becomes a project of revision for all of the women who seek to inform and improve him and they imprison him until he escapes. This is why Aerius is in a constant state of confusion or crisis.

Here is where the book becomes distracting to read. The dialogue of Aerius suffers strange syntax, and emoji symbols. The reader becomes too aware of the text changes and is removed from the actual story and Aerius’ story blows up but he has no narrative privilege in examining the past as the Bunny narrators do. He becomes a narrators do. He becomes an escapee and victim of the Bunnies and can only find true love with a male character. As he escapes the women on Halloween, he goes on a killing spree, killing what he thinks are aliens which is an unconscious mission imposed on him by the Bunnies. If you are confused and think this is too much, imagine how I felt while I was actually reading We Love You Bunny.

When I got to the end of the book, I felt exhausted. It was as if I had traveled through a cognitive renaissance. It seemed like a time warp that was hard to reconcile. Mona Awad’s books challenge many important narratives. Before you can understand what she’s interrogating, you go on a wild ride. It’s akin to the experience of the guests in Wonka Land when the golden ticket winners travel through the tunnel. The tunnel spun and projected crazy things with loud sounds at them. When the golden ticket winners came out the other side, they had to go through a tiny room into a completely different world and the world kept getting more weird and more wild. It becomes feeling claustrophobic. It’s a whole lot. I was glad when I reached the last page I won’t reread the Bunny books. Still, I did contemplate a lot of things that plague the lives of women while reading them. I understand where Mona Awad is coming from. I just wish she did a little less. I just wish she didn’t write a prequel/sequel. Sometimes a writer has to move on and apply their craft to a whole new story. When that time comes, I’m not gonna lie I’ll probably read Awad’s next tale as long as it’s not a Bunny book. But then again, maybe I might. After all, I want to know why Margaret Atwood says that Mona Awad is the next Margaret Atwood.